LIVE, LEARN, GROW

2024 Summer on Vashon

TERMS

Seven weeks
Room + Board
Stipend
 

Our Intern Honor Roll
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2009 April Cumming

2010 Julia Dodd
Blair Eckenrode, Meg Christensen

2011 Alexis Hilliard

2012 Paris Haber, Shannon Toomey

2013 Audrey Hutchinson

2014 Delilah Davis, Rosalie MacNeal

2015 Hudson Gardner, Alex Zody

2016 Lindsay Chmura, Hannah Helfner, Abbey VandenBerg

2017 Molly Beck and Emily Fritze

2018 Emma Arcos, Alienor Barbez, Claire Furtwangler, Lexi VanDeWalker

2019 Lee Nelson, Lorell Perillat,
Rebecca Stenner

2020 (No Interns due to Pandemic)
Bella Crayton, Claire Furtwangler,
Janett Harrington, Charlotte MacNeal,
Rosalie MacNeal, Susanna Maize,
Sophia Munic, Lee Nelson, Michelle Rauch, Sean Robertson

Team 2021
Interns: Grace Bedecarre, Martine Bowman, Molly Lucey, Sylvie Messing
Lavender Crew: Rosalie MacNeal,
Lee Nelson, Lorell Perillat, Michelle Rauch, Sean Robertson

Team 2022
Interns: Monique Allen, Maya Bieszki, Jacqueline Chen, Max Nevius
Market Crew: Lee Nelson, Lorell Perillat
Lavender Crew: Charlotte MacNeal, Rosalie MacNeal, Ryan Chew, Daschle Dunne

Team 2023
Interns: Allyssa Anthony, Jeyli Castañon,
Ava Lee, Victoire Soumano
Lavender Crew: Lee Nelson, Charlotte MacNeal

It all started when I read an article in the New York Times travel section about college students spending their summers working as interns. Nothing out of the ordinary there, I remember thinking, but as I continued to read, I realized that these weren’t just your average internships. These college students weren’t working in cubicles; they were working outside, on farms, and were getting paid nothing except the satisfaction they received from a day’s hard work in what I would soon refer to as “the fields.” After reading that article, it was as though a seed had been planted inside me and all I wanted to do was water it and experience its growth, and that’s exactly what I did.

What could be a better way to spend my summer than to intern at a farm? I remember thinking. I have always loved to garden, travel, and try new things, so when I was offered an internship at Lavender Hill Farm on Vashon Island, WA, I accepted, and within a week I was on my first solo trip to a part of the world I’d never been, to meet people I’d never met, and to experience ways of life I hadn’t ever experienced.

Throughout my stay at Lavender Hill Farm, I was able to observe and learn what it takes to operate a small farm. I now know that it’s best to harvest the lavender in the early mornings and evenings, it’s best to wear gloves when using a scythe to cut lavender, and that it’s best to be friendly and engaging with visitors and customers and, if you don’t want to get stung, with the bees as well. I learned that, just like in life, it’s best to be organized and efficient, but still retain your spontaneity, and know when to smell the roses…I mean, the lavender. I guess what I’m trying to say is that, even though there were times of sweat and soreness throughout my internship, I wouldn’t have wanted this past summer to play out any other way. Some of the best people you will ever meet, sights you will ever see, and lavender you will ever pick await you at Lavender Hill Farm. I have my memories, and while I wouldn’t trade them for the world, now is the time for you to make yours. 

Best wishes, 

April Cumming
(Intern ’09) 

It is difficult to summarize the girth of knowledge, experience, and memories I acquired, while working on Lavender Hill Farm.  In the beginning, I chose the farm based on the location and the unique story that I could tell, but I quickly discovered it to be much more.  

After a cross-country drive from Michigan, I arrived in early June, when the English Lavender was first blooming, but the Intermediate Lavender had yet to open.  Cathy, Tom, and their family quickly took me in as one of their own, and we began preparing the beds for the short, yet flourishing season.  I had weeded many soils in my past, but never with the peak of Mt. Rainier supervising my work and the sea breeze from the Puget Sound intertwining with the floral scent.  Early into the internship, it became clear that I had found the perfect place to spend my summer.  

Within a week, the flowers had blossomed enough for the gates to open and I received my first introduction into the inner workings of a small business and the marketing of a farm store.  I varied my time between cleaning the lavender beds, preparing bunches, answering customers’ questions, and tending the farm store.  In my free time, I was allowed to pursue an interest of mine and propagate some of the retiring Silver Leaf variety.  Each day, I awoke to the buzz of hundreds of happy honeybees, the calming smell of lavender, and the joyful enthusiasm of the Lavender Hill Farm customers.  

The season was too brief and soon the remaining blossoms were cut into bunches and hung from the basement ceiling to be dried and used for sachets next season.  I left with the honeybees, carrying the nectar of a summer spent in the lavender fields of Vashon Island.  

In the beginning, I could never have imagined how much working on Lavender Hill Farm would help me in my future.  I learned how to manage a small business, supervise other short-term interns, make sachets, and maintain the fields.  Working on an organic lavender farm on an island in Washington was something that I never imagined doing, but an experience I will cherish forever.

Julia Dodd
(Intern '10)