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When Steve Seymour bought a 10-acre parcel in Mosier in 1999, he knew he wanted to grow some kind of crop in a grassy meadow on the property. One day Seymour and his wife, Vicki, were driving through the Hood River valley and saw several lavender farms. The pair was inspired.

鈥淒eer don鈥檛 eat it, it doesn鈥檛 have many natural enemies, it鈥檚 perennial so you only have to plant it once and it seems to be enjoying a resurgence in popularity,鈥� says Seymour, a litigator with Portland鈥檚 Samuels Yoelin Kantor.

The Seymours, who live in Mosier, decided to dedicate a half-acre to. They embarked upon an intense effort to plough and till the field and create raised rows for the plants. They planted 1,000 plants of the fall variety and waited for three years for the lavender to become mature enough to harvest.

Those plants are now three feet high and three feet wide. With the harvest season running from mid-July to early August, the Seymours are preparing for their second harvest. They hang some of the crop in a dry, dark place and strip the buds for sachets. The other half of the harvest is used for essential oil, some of which is bottled in small bottles and the rest of which is used to make candles and soaps. They sell some of their products at the Mosier Farmer鈥檚 Market, but the bulk is sold through retailers.

Seymour and a partner invested in a mechanical harvester special ordered from New Zealand. Seymour says the mechanical harvester definitely beats the other option: harvesting by hand scythe.

Seymour, whose specialty is labor and employment law and civil litigation, says the lavender farm is a calming complement to the work he does in court, where his cases center on disability, sexual discrimination and wrongful termination claims as well as non-compete agreements. He spends most workdays in Portland and telecommutes from Mosier one day a week, where his success as a farmer is evident in the sweet smell filling the air.

鈥淭he field really is pretty when it鈥檚 in bloom,鈥� Seymour says. 鈥淭he bees also love it so you have to be a little careful, but the bees are after the nectar and not you.鈥�