OUR STORY
My name is Vivian Nielsen and I am a Special Education teacher who dreamed of one day living in the country. I loved the city life but because of the stresses that occur from working with "at risk" students I was feeling wiped out by the end of my workdays.
The Nielsen family is a group of artists and teachers who have never heard of the word can't. So when I said I wanted to move into the country and build my own house and gardens they said OK, let’s do it!
During the next five years we built a 3,000 square foot shop the old fashioned way. We built it ourselves. Me, my husband, in laws, my brother, and our two teenage children learned how to use carpenters tools and work together as a team. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun. We ended up selling our city house and moved into the shop while we worked on it. Not many people can say that they have lived in a shop!
A few things came our way that were challenging our dreams. My father in law got cancer and my teaching job was putting a toll on my physical health. Having a lavender farm open to the public was going to be a someday in the future proposition but now it looked as if the timing needed to be moved up. We took a leap of faith.
I now have two full time jobs between the farm and my own business in Spokane Key Academic & Life Coaching. I enjoy my life immensely and love every minute of it!