Sign up for our Newsletter

Roanoke Lavender Farm in Riverhead (Credit: Lee Meyer)

Roanoke Lavender Farm, as owners Kelly and Jimmy Maris put it, was a dream project.

“It was my husband’s dream, he always wanted to do it,” Ms. Maris said. 

“I find lavender very calming,” added her husband. “When I turned 60, I started looking for a place [to farm].”

The idea to open the farm on the North Fork came when the couple, who hail from Rockland County, would visit a friend in Greenport. Mr. Maris, a former contractor who always loved lavender, loved the area and decided to put down some (literal) roots on Sound Avenue to start the farm. 

Jimmy and Kelly Maris of Roanoke Lavender Farm. (Credit: Lee Meyer)

“He’s got a green thumb,” Ms. Maris said of her husband. Roanoke Lavender Farm plants lavender, fruit trees, vegetables, and plans to sell apples and pumpkins this year. “We figured we wouldn’t just be a lavender farm. We just like the word lavender!” 

Located in Riverhead, Roanoke Lavender Farm sells English, French and Spanish lavender, which just bloomed and is in the process of being cut and sold. But there’s much more to this charming and lovely Sound Avenue stop, including honey from the farm, fruits, vegetables, free-range eggs and other produce. There are chickens and goats roaming the farm, and in the gift shop there are also items curated by Ms. Maris, who also owns Mimi’s Treasures, a children’s boutique in Pearl River, NY.

Looking around the brightly lit shop, you’ll find soaps, face masks, lotions, birdhouses, umbrellas, bath bombs and more interspersed with the farm’s beautiful lavender plants, flowers like lilacs, butterfly bush and forsythia, vegetables and fruits.

“The sachets are all our sachets, the bunches are all our bunches, the plants are all our plants,” she said. As for the gifts, “We try to support a lot of women-made companies and American-made companies.”

Another unique offering at Roanoke Lavender Farm is homemade Greek food, including tiropita and spanakopita. They also sells Stani Greek yogurt, a Connecticut-based company.

The farm, which is currently in its second year open to the public, has had a great response from customers.

“When somebody gives you a compliment, it makes you want to go even further,” said Mr. Maris.

Roanoke Lavender Farm is located at 3360 Sound Avenue, Riverhead.

X
X