As an Air Force Veteran with PTSD and trauma from service, Andrew also relished the calm of farm life and knew they needed to explore growing something besides typical row crops. “We knew being a grain farm wasn’t feasible with the amount of acreage we had, so decided to switch to lavender as a specialty crop which provides more income per acre,” Andrew said. The lavender growing learning curve was a bit steep, but the Geigers were determined to grow this plant known for its healing nature. “After a failed attempt of growing the plants from seed we decided to order plugs from a nursery,” Christina recalls. “We ordered four different varieties to see which ones would do best in our conditions. Once we had the plugs, we laid the tarp rows and then the two of us hand-planted them all. The whole process from laying the tarp to transplanting the plants took about six days that first year.”
They learned lavender doesn’t like water so they needed to control that aspect of production. “We need the water to drain, and our land is clay, so we put a tarp over the land, and plant through it so the water drains away,” Andrew explains. The tarp sheds off 95 percent of the water so they can control water via drip lines on each row on the acre with 1,000 plants.
Lavendar is a perennial plant that blooms twice a year, providing a big full harvest of beautiful rows of purple flowers around the Fourth of July. These plants are harvested by hand and distilled into essential oil. “We get a second bloom around Labor Day and it is not quite as full so that harvest is bundled for dried lavender,” Christina says.
The Geigers have two teenagers, 15-year old Lia and Luke (13), who assist with the lavender during the summer. “The kids are a big help over their summer break, which coordinates nicely when the lavender is ready,” Christina says, adding that friends also come out to help with harvest.
Andrew, who worked off farm as an electrician until recently, is the mechanical mind of family and explains the oil distilling process. “We pack the plant material tightly into two stills, each still has an additional tank filled with distilled water attached to it. The distilled water heats up to 212 degrees and pushes the steam into the tanks with the plant material. During that process, the oil separates from the flowers and moves through a chilled pipe into a separatory funnel where the water and oil separate so we can drain the water called hydrosol and then bottle the pure oil.”
Christina turns the oil into a variety of lavender products from lotion to lip balm to air fresheners. Products are sold through the Promise Keeper Farm Facebook page messages, at farmers markets as well as at several retail boutiques in Northern Indiana. They have recently added a website which is now up and running. The public is also invited to visit the farm to experience the calm, as the family talks about their faith and the farm.
Combat to Calm a Natural Next Step
Along with growing lavender, the Geigers are taking a next step in helping veterans heal. “Through Andrew’s deployment in Iraq, he brought great trauma back and it has taken 18 years to deal with problems,” Christina shares. “We have found solutions through farming and want to make that available to other veterans.”
The Geigers have started a not-for-profit organization, Combat to Calm, and are in the initial stages of development and fundraising to bring this dream of a therapy program to life. “We want to convert grain bins into a bed/breakfast of sorts, giving veterans a place to stay for free while they can come out and do work on the farm, from helping in the lavender fields, to working in the garden or cutting wood. At the end of the day, they can retreat to the bonfire with likeminded combat veterans and work on themselves,” Andrew explains. “Our goal is to be set apart. While there is help for veterans out there it is not faith based, and I grew closer to God through farm work, so we can provide a place for veterans to heal from the inside out and get better.”
Mental healing and farming share similarities. “You are always going to have setbacks,” Andrew says. “If you are a farmer, you have to get used to that and can’t let that distract you from main goal, it is just like life where you have to combat things you’ve never imagined and must use your faith to move forward.”
Click here to view The Promise Keeper Farm website.