The Lavender Project

In a pueblo in the central mountains of Mexico, the people can smell their independence. In a field surrounded by nopal cactus, each one looking like a collection of Mickey Mouse ears, are 2,000 fat lavender plants, which fill the country air with their famous aroma. This scent may be able to solve the problem that afflicts not just Rancho La Colorada (population 1,000), but so many pueblos across Mexico. The problem of the missing men and lost opportunities. With almost all of the young and middle-aged men in town gone to the States looking for work (and maybe or maybe not sending money back), Rancho La Colorado feels like a women's commune. Until two years ago, these women and a few old men were supporting themselves mostly through subsistence farming. But now a U.S. non-profit called St. Anthony's Alliance is helping the pueblo become self-sufficient through lavender, with the idea that many of the townspeople can earn money through the cottage industries--soap-making, sewing sachet bags--associated with lavender. The hope is that many of the men now working in the States will eventually be able to afford to stay at home. Now that the organic lavender plants are producing flowers, the town's co-operative has started to sell goods in the nearby tourist center of San Miguel de Allende. --- Jeannie Ralston, author, The Unlikely Lavender Queen	> The Lavender Project > Lavender Field of Dreams > Photo Gallery > Contact > Links
Lavender Field of Dreams When a group of villagers can move from daily subsistence to economic sustainability the new livelihood transforms the entire community. Three cottage industries have sprung alive with the introduction of lavender in La Colorada. We hope more will follow. The farmers, with "seed" grants and training from St. Anthony's Alliance began with just one acre of lavender in the spring of 2007. One farmer was enterprising enough to approach the Business Incubators Program at UTNG, the university in Dolores Hidalgo and in January of 2008 they received all of the technical support needed to incorporate their small business, which they named Azul Lavanda. The cottage industry moved to the next level when it received a grant from the City of Dolores Hidalgo with matching funds from St. Anthony's Alliance to purchase an oil distiller, build a warehouse and put in drip irrigation. Now with almost four acres of organic lavender under cultivation, business is blooming. Their fresh flowers, wreaths and bouquets are sold in local markets. And they are beginning to produce the lucrative organic lavender oil so highly prized in aromatherapy, perfumes, soaps and lotions. When one woman is empowered to lift herself out of poverty she can lift others out as well. Such is the case with the women's soap cooperative. With training and a small grant from St. Anthony's Alliance one woman learned to make artisan soap from fresh lavender and other organic, local ingredients. She enlisted the help of five other women and the second lavender cottage industry was born. The economic empowerment of women transforms the whole family and the community as well. This group has been so successful in just one year that they are in negotiations with a large hotel to provide their amenities and spa products. A fledgling sewing cooperative, Azucenas de Joaquin, already existed in the village but with the blossoming of lavender, suddenly, handcrafted sachet bags, embroidered eye pillows, baskets and a variety of other handicrafts were in demand. This small group of women can now afford to send their children to school and improve the quality of their lives.
Contact Azul Lavanda: azullavanda@yahoo.com.mx The Lavender Project: mariarebora@hotmail.com
Links > St. Anthony's Alliance > Jeannie Ralston > Holly Wilmeth, photographer