Frequent questions

The lavender field and market hours change throughout the season. We currently don’t have regular open hours. We are a small family farm, and the lavender field and market stand is located on our homestead. We try to keep a balance of offering U-Pick days, market hours and events while also having time where our property is quiet for our family to spend time together and care for our lavender! Please check our facebook page or call us (608-284-8718) to make sure we are open before you come! I can’t always answer the phone as I am often with guests at the lavender field, making products or harvesting. If I don’t answer, please listen for the voicemail message to find out more about open hours!

We are located in the countryside of rural Black Earth. Enjoy the ride out and the scenic views of the Driftless area. Please be sure to check that we are open before coming out, as we do not have regular hours. If we are open, once you get here you’ll park in front of the wildflower prairie and take a short walk to our South lavender field that has about 250-300  lavender plants in several varieties. You can also shop at our lavender market stand and walk through the cut flower garden. A few times a month we offer workshops and events that you can register for on our web site, including sauna nights, yoga classes, watercolor painting and more!

Our farm is surrounded by the beauty of the Driftless area and unique small town charm. Check out the historic downtown of Mazomanie just a few miles away, stop at local shops and great places to eat in nearby Mount Horeb and Spring Green, or visit the infamous Shoe Box just a few minutes from us in downtown Black Earth! If you enjoy nature, the Rettenmund Prairie just down the road has mowed trails, and the Dane County Park, Morton Forest, is just a couple minutes away and features hiking trails that lead up to stunning views.

Yes, weather and season permitting. Please check our facebook page or call ahead (608-284-8718)  to make sure we are open for U-Pick! Pick your own bunches are $10 each. Cash or card is accepted. We provide cutting tools and rubberbands, and will show you how to cut from the plant in order to keep the plant healthy for years to come! If it’s a sunny day, we recommend bringing sunscreen and sunglasses as the field is out in the open with no shade. Good walking shoes are important – the common areas of our farm are all grass, and the Mediterranean style rows of our lavender field are pea gravel. A water bottle is also a good idea!

Yes! To see our upcoming experiences, visit our Events page. We also offer private group workshops for yoga, painting, bath bombs, sauna and more, depending on availability and the size of your group. These can be a great option for girls’ nights, celebrations or Mother-Daughter gatherings! Contact us for more info: indigoridgefarm@gmail.com or 608-284-8718.

We have a clean port-a-potty outdoors on-site for our visitors. There are also bathrooms available about ½ mile down our road at Morton Forest, a Dane County Park with a parking lot and walking trails.

We do our very best to welcome all visitors! The grassy yard area that leads to the field and the market stand are wheelchair accessible, as long as the ground is dry (if it’s wet or soggy, a wheelchair might be tough to use across the grass). From the parking area to the field and market stand, there is a flat to gently sloped walk of about 200 feet. While the lavender rows have pea gravel between them, a wheelchair can be pushed inside the field on the grassy area and visitors can fully view and enjoy the lavender! The grassy area surrounding our market stand is flat. To enter the stand, there is one 6” step. If you have accessibility needs, feel free to reach out in advance so we can help plan your visit.

Absolutely! We love welcoming families. Children must be supervised at all times and with an adult.

We kindly ask that you leave pets at home. This ensures a safe, peaceful experience for all guests, and helps keep our farm animals calm (we have goats, horses, chickens, ducks, and barn cats, as well as dogs of our own). 

While we do not have bee boxes on the farm, lavender naturally attracts many happy, hardworking bees. They’re gentle and are so busy finding nectar, they typically don’t bother anyone! But, if you or someone in your group is allergic, please use caution and bring your EpiPen or any medication you may need.

We grow different varieties of lavender that bloom at slightly different times from late May to mid July. The peak of the blooming season can vary depending on weather conditions, but typically falls around the second and third weeks of June. Some of our varieties have a second, lesser flush of blooms in late August.

Yes! All the lavender we grow is edible, but some lavenders will have a sharper, more herbaceous smell and taste due to a higher camphor content in the essential oils of those varieties. For baking, making lemonades, coffee or other drinks, we recommend using the fresh or dried buds of English lavender. These plants have shorter stems of lavender, but have a sweeter, more floral taste and are prized for their culinary use. We grow many English varieties, including: Hidcote Blue, Munstead, Annet, Jean Davis and Super Blue.

While it can be tempting, do not put your lavender in a vase with water! You can put your bundle in a dry vase if you are very excited to have it as part of your décor right away! The way your fresh picked bundle looks (however the stems are arranged or leaning) is the way that it will dry. For optimal drying, hang the bouquet upside down to promote stems staying straight. Hang the bouquet out of direct sunlight and in a dry location with minimal humidity or dampness. This will help preserve your lavender color and scent! 

Most lavender bundles dry completely in 2–4 weeks, depending on humidity and airflow. As the bouquet dries, know that the stems will shrink slightly as the moisture leaves the stems.

Give it a gentle squeeze! This will help release the essential oil within the tiny glands of the buds and refresh the lavender scent you love! Lavender bouquets and sachets will stay looking fresh and keep scent for a year or more when kept out of direct sunlight!