Donna Bayliss – Lavender in the Northstate – Biggs
( If you are reading this anywhere but my blog, you can find the original post here. )
Donna Bayliss grows lavender – acres and acres, rows and rows of multiple varieties of certified organic lavender – and rosemary, lemon verbena, scented geranium, lemon balm, chamomile, sage and clary sage, to name a few – for the organic botanical industry. But in my mind, Donna grows those fields of lavender for me and for the views her fields offer to me as I drive up or down Highway 99. Those fields make me dream and their fragrance – or the thought of it - makes me happy.
Which is exactly why Donna Bayliss grows lavender – because lavender – its sight, scent, and taste makes people happier and healthier. “There are curative powers in lavender oil. The scent of the oil is relaxing and the active elements in the oil are healing. If I had not experienced these qualities myself, I would not be so sure. But I have and I am,” Donna tells me passionately. “My goal for this ranch is to continue to offer the opportunity for consumers to experience the real essence – not cheap synthetic imposters – of these plants. I also wanted to protect my son’s legacy and raise the bar environmentally on our ranch - to use less water, no pesticides or herbicides. Growing these naturally drought tolerant and relatively disease free herbs, I am able to do all of that – and be surrounded by their beauty year-round.”
Grown as a culinary and medicinal herb throughout the world, throughout time, lavender (Lavandula) is a genus comprising multiple species and hybrids. Bayliss Ranch grows many varieties, including Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’, “which keeps its dark blue color much longer;” Lavandula x intermedia ‘Grosso’ and Lavandula x intermedia ‘Provence,’ “which have longer stems for arranging.”
The Bayliss family comes from a long line of wheat, rice and walnut farmers. “In 1865, five Bayliss brothers, began organically farming 20,000 acres in Glenn County, on which they grew wheat. In time, they moved to Butte County and transitioned to growing rice, walnuts and prunes – all organically. I began running the Bayliss Ranch in 1983. I had a feeling that growing organic botanicals might be a good new opportunity for us and so I took out an old walnut orchard and started converting it to botanicals and herbs.”
Donna has now grown that feeling into a viable business. She has 33 acres under cultivation with botanicals and herbs. She collaborates with local bee-keepers, local honey producers, and with the agricultural department at U.C. Davis. All of the ripe flowers and foliage of her herbs is distilled on-site into a certified organic and trademarked “AllPlant Essence,” the majority of which she sells to high-end, botanically based cosmetic companies around the world.
Since replacing her walnuts with the botanical crops and after installing a good drip irrigation system, Donna has reduced her ranch’s water use by 80%. She is able to use the solid material left after the distilling process, as well as rice straw from her remaining rice farms, to mulch her botanical fields, which decreases weeds, improves water retention in the soil and as the mulch breaks down improves the nutrient levels and drainage of the soil.
Donna walked me around the ranch during the last day of the summer harvest in mid-June. She was headed to Europe the next day, but happily toured me through fields on a sunny but smoky day talking about each of her crops. Dressed in sandals and a light skirt, she’d hand me bits of leaves or flowers to crush between my fingers and smell, talking to me all the while. “A few important things to keep in mind when planting these Mediterranean drought-tolerant plants in your own garden are drainage and full sun. These plants will bloom best, have the best overall form and the most intense fragrance if they get full, direct sun for most of the day. They like lean soil that drains well – which is why I have a lot of mine planted on the raised berms. They do not like to have their roots stay wet for long periods of time. And they don’t like to be over-fed with fertilizers. Really – the more you neglect them, within reason, the happier they will be,” she says laughing.
Finally, she points out that many of these crops do have limited life-times and need to be re-planted from time-to-time. Her oldest lavender plantings are 12 years old and scheduled to be replanted in the next couple of years. Less woody herbs, such as the clary sage and the lemon balm are re-planted every 3 to 5 years. The varieties that Bayliss Ranch grows are all frost hardy, although heavy frosts or snow will result in winter dormancy. Donna recommends an “aggressive pruning back to the woody stems” of your lavender plants each fall. “This will create the best plant form the next year and the most vigorous new growth.”
Personally, Donna decorates with her herbs, cooks with them, and uses the essential oils in teas, baths, cleaning products, and as perfume. “It’s hard to get enough of lavender oil.” She creates one product for direct sale – a small bottle of lavender essential oil marked with a fat cross, the universal sign for First Aid, but rendered in a lavender color rather than the traditional red, which is sold at The Bath Shoppe in Gridley and at Chico Natural Foods.
For more information on the Bayliss Ranch, visit: www.bayliss-ranch.com.