Home is where the lavender is

Marion and Greg Wiggins have big plans for LaGrange
Counties locally grown lavender



Out of town visitors looking at the products found at the Bloomfield Lavender Apothecary shop located at 107 W Spring St., LaGrange, IN 46761. (Photo by Kahlina Siemers)

Out of town visitors looking at the products found at the Bloomfield Lavender Apothecary shop located at 107 W Spring St., LaGrange, IN 46761. (Photo by Kahlina Siemers)

Rows upon Rows of lavender swaying in the summer breeze. The wind picks up the calming scent that the plants give off and delivers it right to your nose. Bloomfield Lavender Apothecary grows fifteen different varieties of lavender here in the heart of LaGrange County. Overall, they grow about 4,400 plants total and will add 3,000 more in the fall. Marion Wiggins stands next to a table cutting and bundling the lavender she has picked. She places the small bundle against a wooden wreath and wraps a wire around it. After she repeated those steps to where the lavender covered half of the wreath, she took a ribbon bow and glued it onto the wreath. It was complete. She took it and hung it up on the wall of her store. The store is home to many different products from the lavender farms or from different collaborations that she has been a part of.

Their locally grown lavender began as a hobby until there was no more room in Marion and Greg Wiggins’ home. “ The dining room was just full of lavender. Boxes everywhere,” Greg said. In search of a place to put their produce, they bought the building on West Spring Street in LaGrange. However, after having success in farmers markets, they decided to try making it a whole business. Their days consist of a variety of things day-by-day. But to sum it up, Marion creates new batches of lavender, reaches out to other businesses for collaboration opportunities, and works on the renovations for the newly purchased schoolhouse.

Marion Wiggins creates a wreath using her locally grown lavender. (Photo by Kahlina Siemers)

Marion Wiggins creates a wreath using her locally grown lavender. (Photo by Kahlina Siemers)

The Bloomfield Schoolhouse Lavender Farm is an exciting new adventure for the family. The schoolhouse will continue to serve as their lavender farmland but will also come to serve the community in many unique ways. “We’ll be hosting workshops, classes, and yoga classes. We will be doing wreath making classes, hosting tour busses, tea parties, and all sorts of get-togethers,” Marion said. She also noted about how they will be able to rent out the property to the community. People could host events such as weddings, birthday parties, retirement parties, and more. “It was really important to us that the community would be able to use the space,” Marion said.

Their buildings are a small-town wonder as it is a priority to keep the historical significance alive. Each building the couple has bought has historical preservation in it one way or another. They go through a cycle of preserving, restoring, and renovating the buildings they purchase. For example, the schoolhouse front steps are preserved because they thought keeping the wornness from the footprints of the students who attending school there was a unique part of the building history. They will also be preserving the brick wall that has people’s initials carved into it. They are restoring the floors, the molding, and the fourteen foot doors. While also renovating things such as bathrooms and entrances that accessible for those with disabilities.

Marion and Greg Wiggins says their favorite part about their business has been the opportunities it presents them for meeting new people. The LaGrange County Chamber has assisted them in making connections so that collaborations were a feasible idea. They are collaborating with multiple businesses in the area. The importance of it all lies in the relationships that Marion has been able to develop and will develop in the future. “The relationship building has been really my favorite part of the whole journey,” Marion said.

The couple recently bought the Old Publishing Company building on the south side of town. Their hopes for it are to continue to be used by the community and even more businesses. Marion brought up the third space rule. The first space is one’s house. The second space is one’s place of work or school. The third space is where everyone knows one’s name. “It’s where you can be you. It’s your third place of existing, and so, we love the idea of creating spaces that feel like that for the community,” Marion said.

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