by Tim Steury
photography by Robert Hubner
 Even as they pursued their main careers, Cathy '68 and Leeon '68 Angel
raised llamas for 16 years near Issaquah. They decided to forego
livestock in their "retirement" and now work double-time as the largest
wholesale lavender growers around Sequim.
The landscape west of Sequim has, no doubt, always been
beautiful. There’s an obvious advantage to having the foothills of
the Olympics on the near horizon. But add fields of lavender, and
you have jaw-drop stunning.
Beauty is obviously a constant here. But where Cathy ’68 and
Leeon ’68 Angel planted their lavender seven years ago, dairy cows
once grazed. And not too long before that, you might have seen a
band of Clallam people heading across the meadow toward the
Dungeness River to fish. Or north toward Sequim or Dungeness bays
to dig shellfish.
Lavender is a recent development around Sequim. By the 1990s, more
traditional agriculture in Clallam County had slipped into a
steady, sadly predictable, decline toward development. In response,
a group of local citizens gathered to figure out a way to keep area
farmland from sprouting too many weekend condos. Then someone
thought of lavender, a Mediterranean plant ideally suited to
Sequim’s mild, dry climate.
When lavender started blooming around the valley, the Angels had
already moved to Sequim from Issaquah and were raising llamas on
another property not too far from here. When their current property
came up for sale, they promised the owner they would keep the land
in agriculture. And so they have, adding a strong wholesale
component to the area’s growing lavender-based agritourism
economy.
Page
1
2
3
4
Continued
|
