When Vicki Benoit was nearing retirement from three decades in healthcare, she knew she needed something new to fill her time, but was not quite sure what.
Last summer, she decided to try growing lavender, and with the help of her husband Ben Graveline, planted 82 plants on their property at his family farm on Mansfield’s chemin du Bois Franc.
“I just needed a purpose,” she said, acknowledging that while retirement sounded sweet, she knew she would need something to keep busy.
“Health promotion was always important to me, and lavender is therapeutic, relaxing, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory.”
This year, Benoit’s retirement project is expanding to over 20 times its size, thanks to the 1,800 new lavender plants she is planning to put in the ground over the next two weeks.
Under the business name Les Belles Lavandes, she will be selling handmade soaps, candles, linen sprays, body scrubs and more, all with a signature scent of lavender.
“Obviously we’ll have a little bit of time before we have a nice lavender field,” said Benoit, noting the plants take three years to reach maturity.
For now, the garden is growing; next could be more products, and maybe in the future, opening the field to the public as a place to slow down and relax. The field itself sits on a hillside, with sweeping views of a wide pasture that stretches out to meet the rolling hills beyond. “It’s beautiful here,” Benoit said, noting this beauty is something they hope to share with others. It’s a place, as Benoit describes it, where people can “just take a breather and enjoy life.”
Benoit said since growing up on a farm in the Pontiac, and now living on her husband’s family farm, “farming is just ingrained” in her.
So when she was exploring a perfect retirement endeavour, Benoit knew it had to be something that she and her husband could do together but would offer some flexibility too. With a passion for gardening, commitment to health promotion, and suitable soil, lavender was chosen.
“It was the right fit for me,” she said.“But also something you can start and stop whenever you like,” chimed in Graveline. Their new field required a new fence to keep out curious cattle.
“He does most of the work,” said Benoit, referring to her husband, who built the fence and plowed the field for the new plants.
Despite learning to navigate many new terrains, Benoit remains dedicated to the quality of her craft. She does her homework. Benoit took soap and candle-making classes, and always ensures she’s only packaging the best of the best lavender products under her label. But there’s a lot to learn, as each product has its own science.
“There’s so much to learn,” she said, referring to not just the plants, but running a business, packaging, pricing, and using social media to promote her products.
“I am humbled to see the response from the community,” Benoit said, mentioning how she has already noticed people slowing down and looking at what is right now, a mostly empty field.
Benoit and her husband will be selling the products of Les Belles Lavandes at Fort Coulonge’s Village en Fête in June.
