Listen to Heidi’s interview on YouTube, or read this shortened summary here, or both!

You’re about to be introduced to Heidi Skagen. She has a new business; it’s the fulfillment of a long-term dream of hers. Hopefully this story of her dream becoming a reality will inspire you to embrace your big dreams for the Kingdom of God. You are an influencer whatever you do and wherever you go. You were created with talents and a purpose from God. You can use your career to serve Jesus and bring glory to him, while piling up eternal rewards in heaven! Maybe her journey will inspire you to trust God and take a leap forward in your endeavors! Perhaps you’ll be motivated to try something new or find a different way of doing what you’re currently involved with that brings greater glory to God.

Heidi’s Story:

Me: Heidi, you have created a lavender farm here on your property. Yes. What inspired you to do that?

Heidi: This has been a dream of mine for over 30 years. And frankly, I thought it had died. The reason I thought so was because in 2006 my husband was tragically killed. I had five children. I just thought, ‘I’ve got to get a job.’ And so, that dream of someday getting property to create this lavender herb farm… I just thought, well, that’s a dead dream. So, I went back to school, got my landscape design degree, and a c certification in horticulture, (ornamental horticulture) and started a business. I ran a landscape design business for many years.

Then in 2021, I moved out here to Kent, to this beautiful 10 acres. I got remarried to my husband David. Our living room overlooked this huge field. And I was standing there one day; it was like a little spark, I think the Lord was putting a little spark within. Maybe that dream is not dead. So, I asked David, “Could I plant something in that field?” And he’s so sweet. He said, “Sure.”

I don’t know if he had any idea what I had in mind or how serious I was about it, but I was serious. I immediately started designing it and implementing it. I realized this dream of a lavender herb farm had been resurrected. You know there’s timing for everything under heaven. So, this is it.

Me: So, when did you start preparing the field for your lavender farm which, by the way, is right back here.

In 2022, I started implementing it. The first six months of that year I spent coming up with a design. I wanted it in the shape of a labyrinth. I didn’t want one that I found in a book or something. I wanted my own unique one. So, I studied lots and lots of labyrinths and came up with my own design.

Me: So, for those who don’t know what is a labyrin? It’s hard even to say…. Go ahead.

Heidi: A labyrinth. Thank you. A labyrinth is an intricate pathway. It’s not a maze because it doesn’t have dead ends and you can’t get lost. As long as you’re going forward, you are on a journey to get to the destination. And it labyrinths have been around for centuries.… Cathedrals would put these labyrinths in, and they are symbolic of going on a journey to grow closer to the Lord. I have created mine because ultimately that’s what I want. I want people to feel drawn to the Lord without ever having to go step inside of a church or hear a sermon. They can go out there and feel the Lord’s presence without even realizing it. And it’s a place to meditate, to pray, to think about life; and it represents a journey….

Me:  So, this year you opened your field for the very first time. Before that, it was preparation, right? It was clearing the land and bringing in soil and then ordering a multitude of plants and planting them… correct?

Heidi: Yes. In the garden world, there’s this little poem. It says that when you’re planting your garden, “first year it sleeps, second year it creeps, third year it leaps.” So, the first year I don’t know if they got that much sleep, because right after I got the plants in (they were tiny)…. I had a young friend that wanted to get married here on the property. So, we hosted a wedding here, and then (later) we had a concert. So, that was our first year.

The second year, amazingly, the lavender had grown quite a bit, almost completely covering the landscape fabric I had out there, which surprised me! So, it did more than creep, I thought. And we had another concert. I did decide to open up for one weekend, just to see what would happen and who would come. And I just put signs out on the road. I had people the whole day on both days, a constant flow of people coming just from seeing our signs. And every single one of them would comment on the peace they felt here, and the beauty they felt here, and how they couldn’t believe there was something like this in Kent! So, they were really excited about that.

This third year I opened up from June to August on Fridays and Saturdays. I just put out my signs and I put some notifications out on social media. Again, I had a constant group of people flowing through here from all over the world. That was interesting! I got to know a lot of people from the community around here, but there were people from India, from Hungary, from China, and a few others, the Ukraine. So, that was exciting!

Me: That’s amazing! Just from signs along the road.

Heidi: Yeah. Yeah. So, that was super fun! I was kind of … it’s coming to an end, but next year. So that was 2025. Yes.

Me: And during 2025 though you had it open on Fridays and Saturdays for a period of hours, so people could stop by. You had a table set up. You were selling some lavender-oriented things. What were those?

Heidi: Yeah, I had some linens, some candles, soaps and things I had made from the lavender buds. A lady came. (All lavender is edible, but some varieties are more desired for cooking). And so, she was excited to buy some of that to make sourdough bread. Then she brought me a couple loaves of that bread the following week. It was so good! Yeah, so that was fun to have the stand. Mainly everybody would come and do a u-pick. They would go out into the field, walk to the labyrinth and pick whatever different varieties of lavender they wanted and then I’d wrap it up for them to take home.

Me: Very nice. I also saw you had little bags that people could put lavender in. Were those for perfuming drawers or what?

Heidi: Yeah, they could make their own sachets. You can put them in your drawer or wherever you want the scent to be. I actually put mine in my pillowcase, so I smell it while I’m sleeping. It’s really great!

Me: Good idea.

Heidi: Yeah. Yeah. I have bees out here, too. I’m fostering some bees out in the field. The beekeeper had some products that I was able to put out. She had made them from her beeswax and stuff.

Me: Wow. Yeah. Awesome. So, tell us about the name of your farm and how you came up with it.

Heidi: That took a long time. My husband and I could never agree on anything. So, it was very frustrating. That’s probably the main reason I didn’t open last year more than just one weekend: I didn’t have a name for the farm…. And I wanted to have a name that was different from any other lavender farm. And I wanted it to have a good meaning. I wanted it to be unique to me. So finally, I was just frustrated frankly. And I thought, you know, Dr. Seuss makes up his own words. Why don’t I just make up my own word? So, I started making up my own words and I found one that I’d liked. I thought, well, I’m going to run it through Google in case it is a real word. I just want to make sure I know what it means if it is a real word. And so, I put it in. Google replies, “Did you mean Synnove?” And I looked at it. I just love how it looks even spelled out. But I wondered, do I mean Synnove? What does it mean? As it turns out, it’s a Norwegian word. It means kissed by the sun or gift from the sun, which I absolutely loved! And, when I mentioned it to David, he said, “Wow, yeah, that could work!” And I’m like, “Okay, I’m taking it.” So, I went with that word. And now I can’t even remember what my fake word was, because it led me to where I needed to go; bringing me to the right name.

Me: Excellent! So, what are your hopes for the future and what will you do during the winter?

Heidi: Well, we are in the process of doing some renovations around the farm. One of the renovations will be to add a place to do classes. And that’s what I would really like to do eventually. What I’ll probably do this winter is plan out the kind of classes I’ll do. And then next year hopefully I’ll have a place where I can hold classes throughout the year, and maybe even bring in some other artisans to teach different skills.

ME: So that would be great! You did have a craft day this summer. I came!

Heidi: Yes, that was another part of that leap. I forgot to mention that. We had the concert, and I had my open days. We also had a women’s event. It was a creative art experience where the women could go out into the labyrinth and listen to what the Lord was saying to them about how he sees them and what he calls them. Then we did a project related to that. It was impactful and fun.

Me: That was fun. The very next day, you had a concert here with a local musician and you had a huge turnout.

Heidi: Yeah, it was definitely a leap. It was a bigger turnout than any of our other concerts, so far.

Me: Yeah. And you’ve redesigned your parking area here, expanding it so more people can fit. That day of the concert, you had people going clear around here to park their cars. So, you can fit a lot of visitors here.

Heidi: Yes. Yes, we can. And that brings up one of my goals; in the future, be more streamlined with our parking arrangements. So, yeah, we’ll just see how that goes.

Me: That’s great. So, what would you like to tell the people about living life, lavender farms, or the Lord?

Heidi: …Well, one thing that’s special about this labyrinth, and it was something I had always wanted to do as a landscape designer, (but I always worked with small residential yards up in the Seattle area) I wanted to design something that could be seen in its own unique way from up above, like in an airplane…. And so, in designing this labyrinth I made it in the shape of a giant flower. So, if you were up in an airplane flying over, you’d look down and you’d see this humongous flower in the middle of this field.

And what I love about labyrinths is they’re a reminder, if you’re looking down, that life’s is a journey. When you’re in it, you smell the fragrance. You are walking forward. You hear the happy bees buzzing around you. Um, but you don’t have the big picture from up above, because you’re in it. You get to experience all this stuff. And as long as you’re going forward in life, you’re going to get to where you need to go.

And I want to leave the audience with this: If you have a dream or a goal on your heart, this is what happens in a labyrinth. You could be only one row away from that middle section, the goal of where you’re getting. You turn and the path will take you in a completely different area. It will take a lot longer now to get to that goal. You think you’re so close and then and then you turn. That happens a lot in life. We have a goal. We think we’re almost there. Then something kind of turns us in a different direction and it may take us a lot longer to get there.

But I can tell you in my experience, all those years of landscaping and planning gardens for other people, learning about plants; I am way more prepared now to be doing this farm than I would have been back in the early 2000s when me and my first husband were dreaming about something like this.

So, when the Lord puts something on your heart and it seems like it’s far away or maybe you’ve  given up on it, or you feel like you should just give up on it; be in the present and ask him what he wants you to learn as you go on your journey, because you may end up revisiting that dream. That dream may be resurrected and you’ll be better prepared for it.

Me: God doesn’t waste anything.

Heidi: No, he doesn’t.

So that’s what I would want to say: Follow your dreams.

Me: Yeah. And let the Lord set the timing of your dreams and do whatever you do to bring honor and glory to him, to build his kingdom because God cares about every part of life. He cares about businesses. He cares about government. He cares about family. He cares about the church. He cares about media and entertainment, health care, and education. He cares about every sphere of life. He wants his people there being representatives of him. Somewhere in scripture it says we are ambassadors for Christ. Yeah. So, wherever you are, you’re an ambassador for the kingdom of God. And we bless you whatever your dream is and where you’re headed and what you’re doing. So thank you for watching (or reading) and God bless.

Note to the reader: This isn’t an exact transcript of the video interview, but it covers the dialogue well. If you watch YouTube, you’ll hear exactly what went on. Hope you enjoyed this.

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Copyright 2025

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Learn more about Heidi and Synnove Lavender Farm:

https://www.facebook.com/synnovelavender https://www.instagram.com/synnovelavenderfarm/