[inquisitive piano and gentle brass]
[shimmery music]
[gentle guitar music]
- Angela Fitzgerald: This might look like the French countryside.
And yet, this lush field of purple blooms
grows in Sauk county.
- Aron McReynolds: You may know lavender
is native to the Mediterranean.
Wisconsin is not in the Mediterranean.
[laughter]
- For Laura and Aron McReynolds,
these rolling hills covered in lavender
mark a new beginning.
- Laura: We had just sold our business and our house
and moved up here.
We really didn't have an idea of what we were going to do.
We were going through a really difficult time in our family,
and our marriage sort of fell apart.
- Angela: In that dark hour,
Laura found hope for better things to come.
[inspirational guitar]
- Laura: I remember seeing a picture of a lavender field,
probably in Provence, France,
and through that chaos in our lives,
I really felt that sense of peace.
- Angela: So, on a whim and a prayer,
the McReynolds charted a new course.
- Laura: When you have that inspiration,
you kind of know in your gut
that it's a big leap of faith
and you trust that it'll work out.
- Laura: I knew nothing about growing lavender.
- Aron: And then, we took a hair-brained idea
and started to do enough research.
And we're like, "Hey, this could actually work."
And then, we went for it.
- Laura: What drew us to this area
was the beautiful scenery,
the beautiful nature.
So, we found that nature, for us,
was very healing in our family.
- Angela: In that move to Wisconsin,
Laura and Aron knew
their young family had to come first.
They created a new life
and drew inspiration from an abandoned family farm.
- Aron: Well, it was something we really wanted to do
as a family.
- Lavender might not be their favorite thing.
They can still do things that they love
and that they're good at.
- Angela: Each of their three children
pursued a passion.
- Gracia, she is 12.
She is my "people person."
- Gracia: Now I'm gonna tell you some jokes.
Why does Batman stop taking Robin fishing?
Because he eats all the worms.
[laughter]
- Aron: She's always thinking about other people
and just a joy to be around.
- Have a nice day!
- Angela: Next in line is Micah.
[sheep bleats]
- Aron: Micah has a gift with animals.
He loves animals and they love him.
- Micah: I wasn't really crazy excited about the Lavender farm,
but, I mean, I figured if we could have animals,
then that'd be pretty fun.
- Angela: Gabriel is the oldest.
- Gabriel: So, this is one of our hives on the property.
- Laura: Gabriel wanted to be a beekeeper.
He was always definitely afraid of bees
when he was a little kid and he wanted to conquer that fear.
- Gabriel: Bees are really fascinating creatures
for a variety reasons, I think.
- Laura: He was kind of a walking encyclopedia
of beekeeping for a while.
- Aron: Really hear the bees humming when you're out here.
It's pretty awesome to be able to work with your kids
all day long and see them shining.
- Angela: With the help of their kids,
the 40-acre farm has grown, too,
into row after row of lavender
and is open for tours.
[truck engine]
- Aron: We have 25 different varieties of lavender
on the farm.
This is some of our French lavender.
And with your other hand, gently rub those leaves and smell.
- Angela: It's said that lavender's sweet, floral scent
has healing properties.
And this farm has done just that for the McReynolds.
- Laura: I think healing, being able to transition
from something in this spot that was difficult
and being able to do something
for our family that required a lot of courage,
a lot of change,
it actually was something that drew us back together.
- Angela: Rooted in family,
together they found comfort in this blanket of lavender.
- Laura: Knowing that we built this with our hands
and we put in
all the sweat and love and tears.
- I see a lot of hard work. [laughs]
I see a lot of memories.
I see times that the kids loved it
and times when they didn't.
Sometimes, I see the weeds. [laughs]
- Angela: Bringing this abandoned farm
back to life
brought new life back to their family.
For Aron and Laura, this journal entry
sums up their pilgrimage to find peace.
- I had felt something I hadn't in a while:
joy in the middle of pain.
We knew in that moment that God had met us here
in the deep utter places of darkness, pain, and brokenness.
We knew if God could do that for us,
he could do that for anyone.
- So, we set on a journey to create a place
where people can come,
breathe in the sweet aroma of lavender,
and reconnect with each other
despite all of life's distractions.
[peaceful guitar]
[shimmery music]
[inspirational vocalizing]