As I sit here, one week away from Christmas, like you, I am wondering where the year has gone. It has been an extremely busy year for me and our family as we grew our product lines, all our lavender (over 4,000 plants at this point) and entered the US Market!!!
So let's start with the store. When we started, it was just an empty space, that we gradually kept changing and to be honest, it wasn't supposed to be a store - it was going to be the Lavender Lounge to hang out. Then people started showing up to shop so we quickly changed that plan ha! We then decided to do some renovations (thanks to some raccoons that decided to live in my wall and destroy all the insulation). We now have windows, a new entrance and new flooring. But the best part is the whole new space that we unveiled! It will make for an amazing market or yoga space (more on that below).
This year has been crazy for me, not just because of Hereward Farms and the skincare line, but I also was still a partner at a marketing agency and was pretty much working two full-time jobs and trying to run a household. I couldn't do it anymore, so we made the decision that it was best that I sell my half of the business, and as of December 31st, 2021 I will be retired (haha, I keep saying that just for fun, but really we know the truth HA!).
I am over the moon that Hereward Farms has taken off and allowed me to call this my full-time gig. I am so excited and have a long list of things I haven't been able to do (new product lines for one!). Another part of my exciting journey is that I have started my Yoga Certification so that beautiful new space can be used regularly, so stay tuned. I have just started the course, so there is still a long way to go, and I am aiming to be done by Spring.
We are also super stoked that we have entered the US market - we have been featured on many different news stations, articles and blogs. It has been insane! We are so thankful to our PR agency for all their hard work, and we can't wait to see what 2022 brings us. You can check out our features here. As we say in our house now, HERE WE GO!!!
We have ordered all our plants for next year, so planning is underway. Somehow in our communication of only adding 1,000 more plants, my husband ordered over 2,500....not sure what happened there, but we will deal with that later :). The "girls" are in hibernation and covered for the winter. Let me tell you, the windstorm the other day scared the crap out of me, and we were worried it would rip the cover. Thankfully it only came off in one spot, so that was fixed, and we are thankful it is snowing today to hold it all down to prepare for our winter storms.
I wanted to also take a moment to thank every single one of you that supported us, bought from us, talked about us, and visited us.....thank you so very much. We wouldn't have been able to do this without YOU!! The love and support are so humbling, and it still brings a tear to my eye.
We want to wish everyone an amazing holiday and time with your family, and we look forward to what 2022 will bring. We will be taking a small break at the beginning of January to be with our family, and then we will be right back at it.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you, and I send you lots of love and light.
Julie, Stephen and family xo