Clear Creek Lavender

See our Products page for ordering online.

Clear Creek Lavender began as a whim on a warm evening on our farm in Oklahoma. Denise and I stood at the top of a cow pasture and imagined the space before us planted with lavender. I had returned to Oklahoma after being away for a couple of years, and was regaining interest in the farm which my family had bought when I was young. Neither of us were farmers, though Denise had grown herbs for most of her life. I was simply itching for something new and interesting to do.

We plowed the field, spoke with lavender farmers both near and far, and in the spring planted several hundred plants. That was in 2003. Through the course of our business we’ve encountered some success, some failure, and a better appreciation for people who do things on their own.

We began selling young plants and lavender bundles at the Cherry Street Farmer’s Market in our hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. People were happy to have lavender available, and often an old acquaintance would recognize one of us and have to make a mental adjustment for this new context. I was formerly a reference librarian at the Central Library in downtown Tulsa, and Denise was an accountant for an architectural firm. Now we had to admit that we grew lavender.

Within that first year, Denise made a suggestion which I initially bristled against but eventually came to see the wisdom of. “Why are we just selling plants and bundles? Look at how many lavender products there are in stores. Let’s make soap!” she said. She studied, made some investigative batches, got pretty good and consistent, and we added lavender soaps to our offerings. It’s a best-seller.

Over the years more products have been added, and some of them have been dropped because either we or our customers lost interest. We have currently pared down to the things we do best, and which customers like year in and year out.

We still attend the Cherry Street Farmer’s Market when we can, and consider it our home base. But we’ve expanded to area craft shows, and, along with the farmers from Cherry Street, count the artists we’ve met who make their living doing what they are compelled to do as great inspirations. Whether they throw pots, create jewelry, work with wood, weave, or paint, we are impressed with the human spirit we encounter at these festivals. Most of them will not make the big time, but then again, they don’t really want to. Success is being able to do it again next year.

There are plenty of lavender farms, and rather than copy how they do business, the whole point of our enterprise is to figure out how we want to do business, and make changes when we decide there is a better or more appropriate way. We differ from some farms in that we do not have open hours or a store at our farm. We are basically private people, and while we truly enjoy seeing customers at markets, we do not want them seeking us out. And although we’re often asked if we’d like to have our items in shops and boutiques, we decline. We want to be the ones selling our products to our customers. We’ll always be small because of this, but that’s how we like it.

We don’t have as many plants now as we used to, and we’re better for it. We continue to produce and sell our most popular products, which you can see elsewhere on this site. But we’re continually exploring different things to do, which after all is the spirit that led us to lavender farming in the first place. Denise is an accomplished knitter, and has parlayed that interest into hand-dyeing natural fibers, some of which are from local farms. Lost City Knits is her new endeavor. I have been working in a woodshop at the farm, making use of our native Black Walnut, Sycamore, Elm, and Hackberry trees by turning and carving wooden vases, bowls, and etuis which will complement the yarn and the lavender. Change here is constant, and sometimes you can’t see the forest for the woody perennials.

Chris Dykes and Denise Bell