Let's Talk About Lavender Part I
Our Very First "Field Trip" Garden Tour!
Welcome to our very first installment of “Field Trip,” a series that takes you, dear reader, inside gardens and farms of all shapes and sizes across the globe — and spotlights the interesting people who keep them alive. Today, we’re talking to Mark and Jasmine Froude, former media executives-turned-botanical skincare entrepreneurs living the actual dream among fields of lavender on New Zealand’s South Island.
Last March, Bradley and I went to Sydney for my dear friend Susie’s wedding and spent a week driving New Zealand’s South Island beforehand. As we get further into this Sub, you’ll come to learn just how deep my love runs for Australia (when we had to evacuate our house during the L.A. fires, I forgot our marriage certificate but packed the vintage floor-length, metallic, accordion pleated Oscar de le Renta gown I knew I wanted to wear to Susie’s reception. Nothing was keeping me from that trip). I lived in Sydney from 2015 to 2017 while working for Vogue Australia and was going back every year (to keep my airline status, among other reasons) until the pandemic hit. Before this latest adventure, Bradley and I were last there in 2022, when we got engaged in front of a Sydney Harbour sunset so dazzling, any attempts at proper description would be for naught.
I have a somewhat similar adoration of New Zealand, where I spent a week celebrating after quitting said job at Vogue Australia and where Bradley had never before been. With his love of awe-inspiring nature, galaxies that are visible to the naked eye and all things ‘Lord of the Rings,’ I knew it was time to go.
We were headed to Milford Sound — a breathtaking spec on the map in the middle of Fiordland National Park — to spend two days and nights doing absolutely nothing (a welcome and necessary respite after months of displacement, uncertainty and endless days cleaning out our fire-damaged house in N95 masks). To break up that day’s seven hour drive from our previous stop further up the island, we timed lunch in Arrowtown, a charming old gold mining village nestled in the mountains twenty minutes from the ski resorts and international airport of Queenstown. When I last visited in 2017, I fell madly in love with the quaint town’s 1800s architecture and unexpectedly vibrant mix of shops, galleries and cafes.
After housing freshly made sausage rolls at Arrowtown Bakery, we wandered down the main street and came across a shop that I didn’t remember from my last visit: Black Teal Bay, an apothecary inside a small green clapboard storefront that — if the dried flowers and books in the front window were any indication — was exactly my vibe.
Boy, was it ever.
Stepping into the jewel box shop was like walking into a stylish hug. Modernly open wood shelves filled with essential oils, soaps, lotions and bath salts paired perfectly with amber glass vessels holding dried lavender and calendula. Closer inspection of the products revealed that every item was certified organic and made in house. Passing by shelves of plants, pottery, honey, teas, and more skin care revealed a backroom nook filled with hundreds of books. Everything from travel guides to gardening how-tos to novels left my mouth agape, and I think I may have actually done a little jump when I noticed a minuscule but lush back patio that invited guests to sip tea with one of the many tomes. I was in awe.
“This is my ideal store,” I said to Bradley, who smiled in agreement, very much acknowledging my obsession with organic, natural skincare (which I tend to pick up as travel souvenirs whenever a new line catches my eye).
We still had hours of driving ahead so I quickly loaded up a basket: calendula hand cream, immortelle lip balm, a variety of Manuka and cedarwood-filled soaps and some lavender bath salts in case our next hotel had a good tub. And off we went.
When we were readying to leave Milford Sound two days later (the tub was whatever, but the view was one I hope I never forget), I was still thinking about Black Teal Bay. So we timed our four-hour drive back to Queenstown to allow time for another visit. And that’s when I met Mark Froude, who founded the brand with his wife Jasmine in 2022. Nearly every single product in the shop is made from certified organic botanicals grown on their nearby land (Jasmine even makes the Black Teal duck-shaped pottery and hand-carved wooden vases dotting the shelves). The couple also formulates and distills everything themselves.
Mark and Jasmine didn’t set out to be natural skincare entrepreneurs. They were living in Singapore, where Mark led APAC ad sales for Bloomberg and Jasmine worked as a yoga teacher alongside her own career in media. In 2012 they decided to buy some rural property on Lake Wakatipu in Mark’s native New Zealand.
“It was very scrubby,” Mark later described his property to me over Zoom, once I got back to Ojai and started willing Going to Seed into existence. “It was covered in pines and weeds.”
The Froudes spent the next five years going back and forth from Singapore, clearing their land by hand and doing some planting during holidays and breaks. They ultimately built a house on the property and moved permanently in 2018 “without a particular plan.”
“We didn’t have a lot of background in gardening,” he said. “We had to study things as we went along, and learn from experience. And sometimes a bit of YouTube and a bit of reading books and things like that. [We’re] really quite isolated where we are. So we just essentially tried to figure it out ourselves. Even small things like making fences — we had to go on the internet to figure out how to build a fence.”
While Mark initially put his focus into mastering the day-to-day management of the land (which included learning how to nurture the soil and operate as an organic, no-spray farm), Jasmine’s interest and background in wellness moved her towards learning the ins and outs of product formulation. And what better botanical to formulate from? Enter, lavender.
“Jasmine quite liked lavender. I didn’t know anything about it, frankly,” Mark laughed. “We thought we’d plant some lavender. And then we ended up planting more. From our point of view, we needed plants that would grow.”
“It’s quite a forgiving plant and also a very giving plant,” Jasmine added. “The therapeutic part of lavender [is] really interesting to me.” The duo needed crops that would grow in the rocky, hard, glacial soil on their property. Not to mention something that could withstand extremely hot summers and very cold winters (their corner of New Zealand is the winter sport capital of the Southern Hemisphere, after all).
“It seemed like a good fit between what we could grow and what we’d like to grow. And what we potentially could do something with,” said Mark. “At that point we were just thinking of distilling a little bit [to] see what happens. We had no plan beyond that.”
Soon, Jasmine was learning how to use a traditional copper alembic still (a more high maintenance but superior tool versus more industrial stainless steel) to capture her lavender’s essential oils. She also gained an understanding of composting, mulching and worm farms to keep the soil healthy. And Mark, who didn’t realize just how many varieties of the purple plant even existed when he first started (hint: a lot), was educating himself on how to harvest his land fully by hand, using a sickle. Eventually, the couple felt confident enough in their lavender journey to broaden their horizons, planting the calendula, immortelle and chamomile — to name a few — that are found in their products today.
Same as the lavender, these other “wellness” plants came with a learning curve. After much research into uses and formulations that was largely driven by Jasmine, the Froudes decided to see if there was any demand for their goods.
“We were quite excited when someone actually bought it.” said Mark.
When the couple isn’t working in their shop, their typical day is dictated by season. In autumn, plants are being trimmed back and prepped for colder weather. Things stay fairly calm throughout the winter, with a haircut here and there. New plantings happen in spring. And come summer harvest time, flowers are gathered sans machines every few days and hand watering sometimes lasts until 10 pm. Then everything has to be distilled. “The days in the summer are very, very long.” said Mark.
“Our focus is really to keep [the land] manageable in a way that we can work with nature, rather than using using heavy machinery or pesticides,” Jasmine added.
Despite the hard, physical work that goes into their burgeoning business, the Froudes seem content with this new rural rhythm away from their former life in Singapore.
Jasmine loves the constant newness. “Especially in the garden, new things to look at, new things to do, new inspiration. So that’s that’s a good change for me.”
Added Mark: “The easiest thing would have been to sit in a chair and look out the window, but we wanted to challenge ourselves and to be connected. That’s why we keep embarking on these sorts of new things.”
This curiosity translates into sage advice for those wanting to grow their own botanicals.
Jasmine encouraged “trial and error” and trusting “experience” when it comes to figuring out how to make your plants thrive.
“Every plant is different,” added Mark. “You could have a lavender plant, say, sitting in one place in the ground and two meters away, another lavender plant that you treat the same way and [the outcome is] totally different. One could be doing well, one could not be doing well, and it could be a variety of reasons. You just have to roll with it, basically.”
As for the nearly depleted tin of calendula and lavender hand cream that sits on my nightstand and has become a bedtime staple, it seems I’m SOL until my next New Zealand jaunt. The Froudes, who are quite happy running their shop and continuing to learn about the best ways to care for their plants and their land, have no interest in expanding — especially, said Mark, to the States.
“Then it becomes like a real job.”
Black Teal Bay, 30 Buckingham Street, Arrowtown, New Zealand.