Restoration Projects at The Lavender Farm at Chateau de Vie

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The Chateau de Vie has needed a new roof for years. If you have come to The Lavender Farm, and taken the guided tour of the mansion, you have witness some of the destruction caused by the leaks in the old roof. This is our most expensive restoration project to date and will take months to complete.

We are excited it is underway, its completion will allow us to repair a number of things inside the Chateau without risk of further damage. Thank you for the support.

The Lavender Farm is registered with USDA and has a FSA number to be a working farm. The land has always been designated as agricultural (AG-1).

Many remember driving by Chateau de Vie and seeing hundreds of dead trees (over 800 citrus trees died during the time the property was going through foreclosure). One of the restoration projects is to plant new citrus. This is part of the larger project of restoring the farm land for The Lavender Farm.

The secret passages of Chateau de Vie hold lots of intrigue. At The Lavender Farm we are all about restoration and preservation and we are happy to be restoring the functionality of the secret passages.

The Lavender Farm is helping relieve pressure on local landfills. Much of what is deposited in city landfills is from landscaping. We have coordinated with multiple tree trimmers to take their wood chips so that they don’t have to fill landfills with them. Here you see us putting the wood chips to good use - and it looks good.

Restoration to the cherrywood front door started again in 2024 for the third time since 2010. The first restoration was completed in 2011. The second restoration started in 2019 and due to financial constraints and Covid was not completed.

The front door is especially susceptible to weather and sun exposure due to lack of roof overhang given the architectural design and the hours of direct sunlight the east facing door receives.

We are excited to have this restoration completed in February of 2024.

Roses are one of the crops at The Lavender Farm. The beauty of today’s efforts will be seen in photos for years to come! 

Reviving older rose bushes and adding 80 new gives us the opportunity to restore some natural beauty while increasing the farm’s crop production. We appreciate the many volunteers that came out to help on Presidents’ Day 2024 to help plant roses.