Other sections of this web site, such as
"Products" and "Visiting Us" will provide you with the key information you may be seeking if you came here looking for
that information.

HOWEVER, for those of you who are interested in
knowing more about us, and especially what makes us the unique venture we have become over the past eight years
since we began, the following extracts from the
"PELINDABA PROJECT" exhibit in our
downtown Friday Harbor store will
provide you with the gist of the story.

This exhibit briefly describes what has made us as widely known and highly regarded as we have become — not because that is what we planned, but rather because of how we have met and embraced the forces of evolution.

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HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS

AN OPEN-SPACE PRESERVATION PROJECT

When, in the late 1990s, South African born Stephen Robins, the owner of Pelindaba Lavender, decided to build a home elsewhere on San Juan Island island, (off the northwest coast of Washington state, half way to Vancouver Island), rather than selling off the 20 acres of beautiful valley property originally acquired as a foothold in 1989, he decided to preserve it as open space --- but with a difference.

The idea was to share the open space with other residents and island visitors rather than just passively protecting it from residential development, and to do so by making it productive while enhancing its natural beauty.

Thus was born “PELINDABA”,
the Zulu word for
“PLACE OF GREAT GATHERINGS”.

- a name that incorporated two key senses of the word
– great gatherings of crops & great gatherings of people .....

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EVOLUTION of the CONCEPT

Guided all along by our Vision Statement, PELINDABA has evolved as it has grown from its open space preservation roots to a sustainable agriculture and economic development prototype as well as a community cultural haven.

This evolution has been organic, each new activity being born out of an opportunity seen by us or suggested by others.

Throughout, however, the touchstone has been to ensure that nothing we entered upon would compromise our purpose to do well by our island environment – physically, economically and culturally.

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SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
A Practical Path to its Fulfillment

With economic sustainability a key objective, we soon determined that we had to go well beyond our original concept of simply growing lavender and selling the crop to others who would then incorporate it into their own value-added products. Within a year of planting our first plants in 1999, we redefined the plan by :

Extending Farming operations to include value-added product handcrafting, thereby

•  Reducing economic exposure to the significant risks commonly associated with commodity crop production

•  Affirming a focus on quality rather than quantity (and the added benefit of knowing intimately our source of flowers, buds and essential oil – our own fields!)

•  Retaining full product value within the venture

Encouraging the public to visit and experience a specialized farming operation by:

• Opening and esthetically enhancing the gardens and fields for visitors to wander through and even picnic among the lush rows of flowering fragrant plants

• Establishing an on-farm Gift Store (“The Gatehouse” - see below) and Nursery

• Hosting a free-admission Annual Harvest Festival with demonstrations, talks and workshops, accompanied by music, theatricals, food and refreshments

Providing educational resources by

• Establishing a Demonstration Garden with more than 60 lavender cultivars demonstrating its wide diversity

• Developing self-tour facilities with signage and audio aids

• Conducting docent guided tours, notably for ElderHostel groups from all across the United States

• Sharing lavender farming and product experience as a member of several worldwide internet forums

Providing a rural community resource by

• Making the lawns and fields available for community and private functions, including weddings

• Offering food and liquid refreshments at the farm (and facilities for visitors and islanders to consume them)

• Inviting painters and photographers to paint and photograph for their artistic endeavors as and when they wish (we never lock our gates)

• Offering a bucolic outdoor setting for sculptors to exhibit their works

Actively supporting and expanding the concept of sustainable agriculture and organic farming practices throughout the County by

• Being an active participant and member of the San Juan Island Farmers Market

• Mounting educational displays at the annual San Juan County Fair

• Serving on Boards of relevant San Juan County community groups, including the Agricultural Resources Committee, Visitors Bureau and
Economic Development Council

• Developing mutually cooperative activities with other county farmers and nurseries

• Giving talks to community and service groups throughout the county

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HANDCRAFTED PRODUCTS
From Farm to Store to Home

Unlike most other lavender farms, we retain full product value within the venture by extending farming operations to include on-farm value-added product handcrafting, thereby

• Affirming a focus on quality rather than quantity (and the added benefit of knowing intimately our source of flowers, buds and essential oil – our own fields!)
  
  
• Providing highly flexible local employment opportunities for island families, handcrafters and artists 

and then making these handcrafted products available to the public through multiple channels

• Opening the initial on-farm gift store – “the Gatehouse” – in 2001
• Wholesaling to selected spas, restaurants, and gift and gourmet food stores across the country – since 2002
• Embracing the internet — building and maintaining a vibrant website and customer service center - 2003
• Developing our own Downtown Friday Harbor Product Gallery and Tearoom into an island cultural haven – 2004
• Offering licensing opportunities to unrelated retailers and distributors - 2006
• And most recently, opening Pelindaba Downtown Seattle, our first off-island bricks-and-mortar venture – 2007

In short — a sustainable open space preservation model that successfully harnesses mutually compatible farming, manufacturing, marketing and agritourism activities that are as environmentally sound and enhancing as they are economically viable.