{"id":2943,"date":"2022-11-11T07:35:05","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T12:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/?p=2943"},"modified":"2022-11-10T13:41:52","modified_gmt":"2022-11-10T18:41:52","slug":"sophia-watkins-lavender-land-steward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/sophia-watkins-lavender-land-steward\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophia Watkins: Lavender Land Steward"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_2944\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2944\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2944\" src=\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/MM-FEATURE-Women-of-Valor_Sophia-Watkins-full-scaled-e1668105667473.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/MM-FEATURE-Women-of-Valor_Sophia-Watkins-full-scaled-e1668105667473.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/MM-FEATURE-Women-of-Valor_Sophia-Watkins-full-scaled-e1668105667473-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/MM-FEATURE-Women-of-Valor_Sophia-Watkins-full-scaled-e1668105667473-696x557.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/MM-FEATURE-Women-of-Valor_Sophia-Watkins-full-scaled-e1668105667473-525x420.jpg 525w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2944\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo courtesy of Sophia Watkins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Sophia Watkins is a third-generation Latino farm owner in the Montgomery County Agriculture Reserve. She owns Soleado Lavender Farm, a 30-acre refuge for pollinators.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s something I started because I wanted to continue a legacy of land stewardship and sustainable agriculture in Montgomery County,\u201d Watkins said. From 4,000 plants, lavender\u2019s harvested and dried for products sold in the farm\u2019s store, like essential oils.<\/p>\n<p>Both artists, Watkins and husband Kevin met through their passion for creativity. Incorporating art in the farm\u2019s events is \u201can important return for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the farm is closed to visitors, the online store remains open. \u201cComing out of COVID\u2026there\u2019s been so many challenges in just being open,\u201d Watkins said.<\/p>\n<p>The owners hope to host holiday sales and a mid-fall open house. Watkins expressed interest in photography events, painting and a small lavender festival. Lavender blooms in the months leading up to summer, with the best time to visit in the middle of June.<\/p>\n<p>The farm also conducts internship programs for people in agriculture, such as environmental studies students. The interns get experience with the foundations of agriculture. \u201cThat\u2019s sort of been something we\u2019re expanding on,\u201d Watkins said. \u201cWe want to offer more to those people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sophia Watkins is a third-generation Latino farm owner in the Montgomery County Agriculture Reserve. She owns Soleado Lavender Farm, a 30-acre refuge for pollinators. \u201cIt\u2019s something I started because I wanted to continue a legacy of land stewardship and sustainable agriculture in Montgomery County,\u201d Watkins said. From 4,000 plants, lavender\u2019s harvested and dried for products [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":2944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sophia Watkins: Lavender Land Steward - Montgomery Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/sophia-watkins-lavender-land-steward\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sophia Watkins: Lavender Land Steward - Montgomery Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sophia Watkins is a third-generation Latino farm owner in the Montgomery County Agriculture Reserve. She owns Soleado Lavender Farm, a 30-acre refuge for pollinators. \u201cIt\u2019s something I started because I wanted to continue a legacy of land stewardship and sustainable agriculture in Montgomery County,\u201d Watkins said. 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