Port Williams Lavender
#5 on Farm Tour Map
Farm Tour Route C
1442 Port Williams Road
Sequim, WA 98382
360-582-9196
Lovely, quiet and serene, Port Williams Lavender invites you to enjoy a leisurely stroll through its long, elegant curving rows of lavender, with over 6500 plants. Farm owners Michael and Sue Shirkey offer guided tours and essential oil distillation demonstrations. Pick a lovely bouquet, shop the outdoor market, make a unique lavender creation, or browse through the plant nursery. Add great food and music and your experience at Port Williams Lavender will be remembered time and time again.
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Couple Continue Historic Legacy of the Neighborly Family Farm
Story by Betty Oppenheimer
After discovering lavender farming in Sequim in the late 1990s, Susan and Michael Shirkey purchased 9 acres of historic Port Williams dairy farmland in 1999, and moved from the suburbs south of Seattle into the house next door in 2001. They hit the ground running, planting 4 ½ acres with 7,000 starts that are now mature plants.
“We just work hard,” laughed Susan. “In the beginning we didn’t have time to come up with a long term game plan, but we were excited about having people here, to relax and have fun. The farm reflects our personalities.”
Now in their third year on the farm tour, Michael and Susan are working to make the farm increasingly user-friendly.
“We want people to have the freedom to walk the farm. We’ve set up the paths through the fields so that people end up in the middle instead of on the edges. Even during the festival, there’s plenty of space for everyone,” she added.
For Michael and Susan, the key issues have become history and family. They’re fascinated by the long farming history of the Port Williams area, and display photos of the area in its heyday as prime dairy farmland.
“We’re pleased that we have been able to keep this acreage in farmland.”
Back in Sequim’s pioneering dairy days, it was all about family and neighbors pitching in. And it has become that way for the Shirkeys, too.
Neighbors, friends and family have become an essential ingredient in the success of the farm. Michael travels so much for his work as an aviation consultant, said Sue, that without their continuing support and encouragement, she wouldn’t be able to maintain the enthusiasm to keep the farm going. This need for support not only brings the neighbors together but the impact on Michael and Sue’s families has become increasingly important, too. Sue and her three brothers grew up in Seattle but then, as siblings usually do, went their separate ways. “The farm has pulled us back together – brothers along with sister-in-laws, nieces and nephews. It’s been a wonderful, positive thing. It’s built new relationships.” Michael and Sue’s two son’s Josh (in Seattle with his family) and John (from San Francisco) also enjoy coming out and helping as work and time permits. “We are truly a family business in every sense of the word!”
Susan’s personal experience of new relationships with family and community, she said, are a mirror of the spirit she’s found in Sequim.
“This farm oozes a spirit of camaraderie and family. We want to share that and be a positive asset to the community,” she said. Susan was the president of the Sequim Lavender Growers Association for the 2004 festival year.
When he is at home, Michael mans the portable, 100 gallon still (built by lavender pioneer Robert Norman) that he uses to distill not only Port Williams’ but also other farm’s lavender into essential oil. Port Williams Lavender sells its oil “straight” in various quantities, as well as uses it in the many products sold from their on-site lavender shop and on their Internet store. All of their products are locally made from Port Williams grown lavender.
The Port Williams Lavender Cookbook project brought Michael together with his brother Tarry, a former chef at the historic Williamsburg Inn in Virginia, and his wife Pam. It is filled with recipes developed by Michael and his brother, and features watercolor artwork of the farm by local artist Pat Taynton. Michael does a lot of cooking, and has tested lavender in a variety of dishes.
“Lavender is supposed to be a mystery flavor,” he said. “The best compliment anyone can pay you is to ask ‘is there lavender in this?’ It should be subtle.”
The Shirkeys have lots of plans for the farm, as it matures. They are creating a self-guided walking tour, so that if they are not available to explain everything to every visitor, the signage will assure that folks learn about their central pergola, various outbuildings, and the historic irrigation ditch that runs through the farm, in addition to the details about the many varieties of lavender.
“It all comes back to the plant itself,” said Susan. “It’s a beautiful plant with so many uses, and so many aspects to pull you in. Every year, in January, when I see the first opening in the sky as the weather starts to clear, a tingle starts. I begin to think about the lavender, the new products, the new possibilities for the farm. It’s like watching spring come – plants budding and ideas budding. And when the first people start to come, it’s so exciting!”