Kentucky Hidden Wonders
Uncover the best-kept secrets of the Bluegrass State with Kentucky Hidden Wonders, the podcast that takes you beyond the usual tourist attractions and into the heart of Kentucky’s hidden gems. From historic small towns and scenic backroads to underrated attractions and local legends, we shine a light on the unique places and experiences that make Kentucky truly unforgettable.
Each episode explores off-the-beaten-path destinations, secret hiking trails, charming local businesses, fascinating history, and must-visit spots in Shelby County and beyond. Whether you're a Kentucky native, a curious traveler, or someone looking for your next road trip idea, Kentucky Hidden Wonders will inspire you to explore the rich culture, outdoor adventures, and undiscovered beauty of the Bluegrass State.
Join us as we share insider tips, intriguing stories, and travel inspiration to help you experience Kentucky like never before. Subscribe now and start planning your next adventure!
Kentucky Hidden Wonders
Inside Little Mount Lavender: From Field To Storefront
Most people think lavender is just a pretty scent. We open the door to a much bigger story: a Kentucky team who planted 5,000 starts, signed a lease before they had products, and built a year-round destination inside a historic stone building where food, wellness, and craft come together.
We talk through the origins of Little Mount Lavender, the lessons learned from California farms, and how a bold idea became a brand with a clear point of view. You’ll hear how French culinary training shapes a cafe menu where lavender elevates citrus, balances sauces, and never overpowers. We dig into sourcing—multiple local suppliers, organic whenever possible, no additives, everything from scratch—and why a spotless kitchen and careful technique make such a difference. From teas and confections to oils, bath salts, and pet care, the product lineup shows how versatile true lavender can be when you honor the plant and respect how it behaves on different bodies.
Community is a pillar. The Simpsonville space hosts classes for candle pouring, bath-salt blending, and painting, alongside sold-out murder mystery nights that bring people together in the off-season. Local artisans fill the shelves with jewelry, pottery, minerals, and even fossils, turning the store into a discovery hub. We explore the farm setup—thousands of plants on a well-drained hillside, with a smaller in-town field for U-picks—and the plan for a larger, fully branded location that leans apothecary, where guests can customize blends and create on-site. If you’ve ever wondered whether lavender belongs in your kitchen, your evening routine, or your laundry room, this conversation will change how you think about flavor, calm, and clean living.
Ready to visit? Find Little Mount Lavender at 6905 Shelbyville Road, Simpsonville KY 40067. Preview products, classes, and events at littlemountlavender.com. If you enjoyed this conversation, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review to help others discover it.
🎙️ Kentucky Hidden Wonders is presented by ShelbyKY Tourism.
🥃 Plan a visit to Your Bourbon Destination® at www.visitshelbyky.com. Located in the heart of central Kentucky and less than an hour from Louisville and Lexington, ShelbyKY is the perfect Kentucky getaway. Complete with two great distilleries, action-packed outdoor adventures, and the best vacation rentals near Louisville, put ShelbyKY at the top of your list when planning a Kentucky Bourbon Trail® trip, romantic couples retreat, or a whole-family vacation.
🎙️ Kentucky Hidden Wonders is hosted by Janette Marson and Mason Warren and edited by Ethan Fisher.
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Um welcome to Kentucky Hidden Wonders. Our guest today is Jason Woodleaf of Little Mount Lavender, and welcome. Thank you.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:We are so glad that you are here. So, first off, for those few people who have no idea what Little Mount Lavender is, um, tell us a little bit about it.
SPEAKER_03:There are a few people out there still, and we're trying to reach them. This is why I'm here today. So Little Mount Lavender was a creation, oh goodness, probably seven years ago now. Uh, we were doing some Google searches on alternative crops. We wanted to do something different, but we wanted to do something fun and unique. And lavender kept coming up on the short list. So I I got a job and I we moved to California temporarily, went to a lavender farm there, went to a lavender store there, moved to Kentucky, decided we could do bigger and better than that. And California's home of lavender, right? So I didn't know that. Like originally no, not the phrase home. So they have a lot of lavender farms out there because the because of the lack of rain, they can control the irrigation, and it's really easy to grow lavender there. And they have two seasons of lavender because their summers are so long.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:So we came to Kentucky, bought 5,000 lavender plants, planted them, and and signed a lease here in Shelbyville to open a store without any products.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:And then what?
SPEAKER_00:And then seven years later.
SPEAKER_03:Well, then the pressure was on, right?
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:So the pressure was on. We had the pressure. That cart was before the horse and it was rolling. So then we started doing a little more research on what we could do with the lavender and how we can make products with it. And we started small, which I think was smart. Because then we listened to our customers over the years, through a little amount lavender, you know, what they told us they wanted, what they liked, what they didn't like. And we just grew and grew. And then COVID came and we kept growing and we kept growing still. We just moved it all to the front. And here we are getting ready to go to our third location, you know, or in our second location now, and we're moving to a larger one uh this coming summer.
SPEAKER_01:Oh like totally moving. An additional. An additional. Okay. You just had me worrying. Yeah. Sorry. Okay. Sorry. Can you can you tease where?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Um, it could be in the middle town area. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Maybe. Maybe or maybe not.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:So bigger, bigger store, would you say? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It's uh we're looking, we're looking for the traffic one. So we're looking to see how we can. This store will be our first one where we uh are fully branded um from colors and a new logo. And we're gonna launch a here's what Little Mount Labyrinth will look like, and then here's what the next one will look like as well. So we're kind of trying to start a brand where um four walls, here's what we're gonna make, and it'll be a different environment too, a little bit.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Oh, very intriguing. Well, the location that is in Simpsonville is the one, the the hidden wonder, the the gym. Uh and it is in a historic building. Talk a little bit about the building also.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so it was built in the uh 1810-ish time frame being completed. Um, it was a home for a very brief time. It's been an inn, it's been a stagecoach stop. Um, it's a beautiful building, and it worked perfect for the store uh with the stone walls and things, except for Wi-Fi. Um, but it worked perfect. We we brought our store there from our smaller store uh on Main Street, and where we landed every category in the building, it's been there since, and it was the perfect amount of space. Everything just worked out beautifully and was a combination we were looking for. We have a cafe in the back, and it's fantastic.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:We were able to add all kinds of layers that we couldn't before, and we have parking, and it's been a great spot. We've done a lot of events there lately trying to kind of rejuvenate uh a reason to come on out and to promote uh Simpsonville, Shelby County, etc. And kind of a destination place for one activity is to have fun and then to learn about lavender and then indulge in the products, of course, and the food and such.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it's a charming, charming building. Yep. And Mason, did I hear you say something that you think it's the largest lavender farm?
SPEAKER_00:Oh well, I mean, I've read that in the world. Largest lavender farm in Kentucky, definitely, right?
SPEAKER_03:I think I boast the largest lavender field in the universe. Because it's kind of like maybe not, but still. I would say largest in the universe, but definitely largest in Kentucky. There are a lot of smaller lavender farms out there, and a lot of them are uh seasonal. Okay. So they'll open for the summer, they'll have it on their property and they'll do their lavender products, which is great.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Uh people learn about lavender and it's available throughout. I had no idea there were actually numerous lavender farms in Kentucky. They are a little smaller. You have the castle that does lavender as well. They do their thing. Um, we're 363 days out of the year, though. We're we never close uh for season. Um we're open year round, um, closing two days. Yeah. Um, but yeah, so we just decided we were gonna do a little bit differently. A lot of folks, like I said, do it very seasonal and they hit it and then they they're out. Um, we harvest and then we make products all year long.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So talk about some of those products. What are those?
SPEAKER_03:Oh my goodness. Everything you can possibly imagine. We talked about food. So all of our food is infused with lavender um in some way. It's not like oversalting food with lavender or anything like that. So it just enhances flavors. Lavender is great with citrus. So anything we do with that or uh sauces and things, Jason incorporates lavender uh through his uh herbs triverbance style seasonings. Um, then we have teas and all the kinds of other things in the cupboard area. We have candles, wax melts, all of that category. Um, then we sell oils, of course, that you can diffuse. And then we combine a bunch of other oils with lavender as well for diffusing. And then we have candles and um I think I've seen pet products as well. We have a whole pet section, the super popular with the pet washes and the soaps and stuff, and then we do the soaps for ourselves. Soaps, bath salts, you name it, we carry it. I almost challenge somebody to challenge me to something. I don't have this lavender. I even have cast iron pots and pans that are lavender.
SPEAKER_01:That's amazing. And you dress in lavender too, for those that never seen you not in purple.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. It's rare.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly.
SPEAKER_00:It's rare.
SPEAKER_01:So lavender is very relaxing to people as well, the scent, correct?
SPEAKER_03:Can you talk about some of the health so we talk about we talk about oils uh in two different categories? Some uh oils that we do are for fragrance, people just enjoy them. And then there's a medicinal side to oils. Lavender is very well known for and has been for thousands of years, actually, um, to being a calmer. It's also antibacterial and antifungal. So it's been used in medkits for uh use for um those purposes um as an antibacterial. Um and it's been known for since the Egyptian times, they used it for those very purposes as well, uh, for cleanliness and for scent. Smells good. Um, it casts a different scent on a female than it does a male based on your biology.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, really?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, absolutely. Just like perfumes smell different on different people.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Lavender will cast more of a floral tone with the estrogen from a woman, and lavender will cast more of a clean camphorous smell on a man because of the testosterone and the body chemistry makeup for the colour.
SPEAKER_01:Interesting. Who knew? Who knew? Well, now we do. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:That's how we get products for both, right? So they don't all smell flowery. Right. You cast a different uh scent. So it smells.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's fantastic. And then um, back to the foods. You are very, very careful about what goes into everything that you make as far as clean living. And can you talk a little bit about the ingredients?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we literally drive ourselves crazy finding the best, um, the best products. We for as small a cafe as we are, we only have you know nine tables and a bar down there, except in the summer when we do the patio. Um, we have five different suppliers that we get products from, um, at minimum, because some do better produce, some do better meat products. Then we'd use Boar's Head locally right behind us for uh any kind of charcuterie meats and cheeses that we use. Um, the other Jason, because we're Jason and Jason, right, is very particular about no added uh things, additives, preservatives, things like that. Organic everything we can, it's possible, um, from searching out organic chicken. One because it tastes better. Um, the lamb that we use, just anything we can get locally as well, which isn't always as easy, um, you know, seasonally and et cetera. But yes, we're very, very mindful of what we want to feed people. Yeah. We could order it frozen, heat it up, and serve it all day long, and probably make more money at the end of the day. But he's very hands-on. Every sauce he makes himself, every um product he makes from absolutely from scratch. So you're never gonna get anything from there that has come off the back of a truck frozen. He has a his yes, his integrity and food is amazing, and you can taste the difference.
SPEAKER_01:Well, the food is always amazing. And doesn't he have training, like some specific training pastry?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, when he was he when he was in the military in the air force um over in Europe, he had the opportunity uh during uh leave times um over the course of the years that he was there to go to Cordon Blue and get uh a significant amount of training there. And he brought he brings all of that with him. He loves the French inspiration, which is why we do French lavender. Um, and he loves the French inspiration and all of his sauces and how he brings foods together and the taste um are always going to be complex. You're gonna taste everything and not be overwhelmed by one thing in his foods. I think that's why it's so popular.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, uh it's always always crowded, uh, which is a good thing. So, and I have to say it is the cleanest uh restaurant kitchen uh I've ever seen. I've never seen the kitchen. You've been behind the scenes, I've been behind the scenes, and it's a very clean kitchen.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, well, that's another thing. You can't where it starts, the food starts, uh, has a lot to do with uh how you put it out there too. He in a clean environment, and then you put out a product that looks picture worthy every single time. I don't know how many times I've heard where to garnish. The bread's not the right way. You're doing it backwards. So I have to back off a little bit. Pay attention and listen, Jason.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, that's all right. So where do you grow all your lavender? I mean, where is I mean, to be so big, I mean, where is all this okay?
SPEAKER_03:So I can't tell you exactly where that's where I live. Well, it's where I live. Okay, that's where my house is. All right. And people are all the time saying, Oh, we came out looking for your farm. I'm like, why? Um, but I get it. I get it. Yeah. Um, fortunately, we live off the beaten path a little bit, um, just over the border in Taylorsville. I'll tell you that. It's like the Bat Cave. Okay. Uh, you come through some woods and then you pop out, and we have the fields up on our property where we live. Oh thank goodness we chose something that wasn't easily seen from the road when we moved here and we did not plan it that way.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, people would be everywhere flocking. Flocks. Yes.
SPEAKER_03:And they feel like because they can see it, they must take pictures in it, even though it's my yard. Right. So um actually, very few people have been to our house for that very reason.
SPEAKER_01:Um but it's in a secret location and many acres of glorious lavender.
SPEAKER_03:We it takes about well, we have uh we have uh just under a thousand at the store, probably seven or eight hundred at the store. So people can do U picks and things like that. Right. Um, it's just not conducive on our property to have people there really to be the truthful part is it's uphill gravel, and then we plant it on a pretty steep hill in on the property for drainage because they don't like a lot of water. Oh, okay. Um, so we do that for that purpose, but it's not really walkable. So it wouldn't be safe to have people there to begin with. Um but we grow about 7,000 plants there, I think, right now. That's amazing. Um, plus what we greenhouse every year and what we sell to folks every year, another couple of thousand for that purpose is and replacing our plants that might, you know, struggle to survive.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um, because it happens, you know, they just give up.
SPEAKER_01:So do you have are you working on anything new that you can divulge? Anything, whether it's an event or something you'd love to do or a product that you've been dying to dying to put together?
SPEAKER_03:So we're working on what we mentioned doing some more things locally. So we've partnered with a couple of different people and we're doing um more classes in these in the store. So we have bath salt classes now. We've had candle classes for a while. We do bath salts. Um, and it's kind of a class slash event for you to go and do. So you learn about what you're gonna do. We do it and you have fun. We have a little food, a little drink. Um, we're doing painting classes with a local uh artist. Um we have one coming up this weekend. We also have a murder, our second murder mystery, which was a sellout.
SPEAKER_01:Very interested in the murder mystery. So hopefully you'll keep doing that in the future.
SPEAKER_03:I am thinking of something for for January, thinking some kind of tea party mystery or something. Yeah, give a little bit different flair to it in the wintertime when people need something to do. Yeah. We've had two murder mysteries and they both sold out. Last one sold out two weeks before it actually took place, so pretty excited about that. That was a good place to be. That one's this Friday. Um, it's a little more of a fancy one. Last time was a little more relaxed atmosphere, so we're excited to do that. Um, having those kind of things going on is fun. So a little more activity in the store is kind of something we're working on.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:And um a couple of categories. We're uh pushing our our um home cleaning, um, laundry strips, things like that. We're doing some different projects with dryer balls and scenting, and we're gonna do some new laundry strips coming out. So I'm working on that now. We're testing them at home. We test everything to make sure it's it's good, that it smells good and it works good. Right. Um, so we're working on some more of the laundry side there because people love that, and a little more of the household, maybe cleaner section.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Start doing some more stuff like that because people keep asking, do you have it? Um, and the struggle with that is we want to find alternatives to using too many chemicals.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Um, when possible. And I found somebody I think I can work with that has a full line, and like I said, we're testing the strips now, and they sent me some other things to test. So that's always been a good one.
SPEAKER_00:So uh changing gears a little bit, did either of you uh have any sort of retail experience before you decided to open a store? Like what made you say, you know, this is what we're gonna do now?
SPEAKER_03:So that's all I've really done is retail my whole life. Okay. Um, retail management, uh training, uh food safety, all that kind of stuff. Um, and then Jason, uh military, uh, opened his own businesses, things like that. So he did that side of it, a little more brave than I was because I'd always worked for somebody.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Um so when we came together, I think we both complimented each other in that really, really well. Because he naturally went to the creative part and I naturally went to the I'm going to organize product development, take care of the bills part. Yeah. And that's where we are. So I work on the not so glamorous stuff, right? Like the packaging and things like that, and finding new products. And he works on the uh talking to people out there, and he's like the face of Little Mount Lavender from you know the initial videos and things, and that's why he wears overalls and he comes in.
SPEAKER_01:That is his signature. Yes. The overalls, definitely.
SPEAKER_03:It's the signature overalls, indeed. Um, but yeah, so we I think it worked out really, really well that we both like doing the part that we do. Well, it works together.
SPEAKER_01:I can see how you both compliment each other.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I push the cart, not gonna lie. I'm behind the cart pushing a little bit. Right. He's like trying not to get remembered by the cart sometimes because he he liked doing what he's doing, but I I guess I've never really owned my own business, so I'm more of the anxious to grow. And he's like, when are we gonna be at a point where you know we can relax a little bit? Um but hopefully soon he takes some time.
SPEAKER_01:I hope, I hope so. That has to be that has to be a lot to have and a business that and and I say hidden wonder. It doesn't feel like it's hidden wonder. It feels like a lot of people know about Little Mount Lavender and love it. Absolutely love it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's nice to talk to people and say, Oh, yeah, I've been there. We were in a certain store last night buying Christmas decorations because we're starting to decorate now. Yes. Um and somebody said, Are you from Little Mount Lavender? We're like, Yeah. Oh, I love that place. So it's you're always kind of afraid what they're gonna say, but 99.99% of the time, it's like, oh, I love that place.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Um, just because it is fun. There's not a whole lot you can complain about when you go to shop in the lavender store. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:It's relaxing. Everything in there is relaxing, even from the the uh, I want to say rocks. They're not rocks, they're like geodes or the crystals.
SPEAKER_03:It's it's a rock, crystals, minerals, minerals.
SPEAKER_01:And then through just the smell as you see, the artwork, everything you look at, and you're smelling that wonderful lavender, and then tasting all your yummy.
SPEAKER_00:And you do have some local artisans that are in there.
SPEAKER_03:Very good segue. I was sticking the same thing. So, yes, we have 20. Um that's what I was writing the checks for when I came in. Uh, when I was over here, we have uh 20, 21 people who sell within the store too. Okay, it's kind of hard to tell because they seamlessly kind of blend. They do with us. We have several people who do jewelry, the crystals, minerals, um, rocks, and now we have some fossils in there, which are super cool. Ooh. Um, that's a vendor. Uh we have uh towel vendors, we have jewelry, we have pottery, we have somebody, I think I remember, made wooden bow ties.
SPEAKER_01:Do you still have those? Those are just creative and different.
SPEAKER_03:Those folks actually took a different direction um last year. Uh, but we've had people come in right behind them. And we have another two word workers in there. One does charcuterie style boards, one does other custom stuff. Um, we have a ton of people, and then people are always asking, can they be in there? Glassmakers. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:We uh it's funny, this is twice in two weeks that fossils have come up on this uh podcast. We had Reggie Van Stockham on last week, and he was talking about all the things he talks about. Uh, and fossils were a large part of that conversation. And so it's just funny that it's not come up at all in the past year. It's come up twice in two weeks.
SPEAKER_03:So well, if anybody's gonna bring it up, it's gonna be Reggie.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that is true. So and you've had uh I know he's been out there to perform music and things like that. So you've had different music acts uh perform on audio.
SPEAKER_03:We sell his books in the store, right? Oh, that's been different. That's why Reggie's in. So I if it's gonna be fossils, Reggie's gonna go out there and find them. Yes. In his adventures in Kentucky.
SPEAKER_01:In his adventures, absolutely. Well, um, what else should be for people that had nothing, they hit knew nothing about Little Mount Lavender, um tell them something that they might want to know that we haven't covered. What's the one takeaway?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, what's the one takeaway? I would say that lavender uh Is not a florally flowery fragrance. If you smell it lavender and you felt that way, it's because it wasn't the real stuff. Lavender is probably the most diverse herb out there. It's in the same family as rosemary. That's why their leaves look the same. Um, it can do pretty much anything from food to making people smell good to helping you relax. It is definitely a oil and an herb to embrace um because of the so many benefits. And I promise you that if you because I had no idea about lavender when I did it, none. Never used it, never even thought about it. But now that we're in it, it's all we use for everything, literally. Um, we love the soap, we love everything about it, we cook with it, we do everything as well. Uh, so it's not just a front that we put out there to sell it, we actually are involved in it to uh a large degree as well. Um embrace things like that because they'll they'll they can change how you see uh so many things from food to to bathing and just look at the ingredients on your products and question them.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:And then come see us.
SPEAKER_00:There you go. And speaking of, where do they do that? What's the address, hours, stuff like that?
SPEAKER_03:So we are in Simpsonville at 6905 Shelbyville Road. Uh, we're also littlemountlabender.com. Of course, you can preview everything, look at the events, check out what you what might intrigue you to come into the store. Uh, and our hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 to 6. The cafe is over from 10 to 3. We do a lunch, uh, and then they wrap that up, and then we close at six o'clock in the evening.
SPEAKER_01:Perfect. Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for being here. We love your store. And you would have to make the store, wherever that new one is, um, something so fabulous for me to love it more than the one in Simpson Belt. That one is just charming.
SPEAKER_03:Well, like I said, it's gonna be a little different. We're gonna go a little apothecary style where you can come in and get things maybe a little more customized.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Um, sit down and make bath salts to your what you would like to have them as. Maybe we can, you know, do different things. It's just a different ability to have a little bit different environment. Yeah, you know, a little bit different approach to it where we can't really can do that in the building we're in. Uh, so we're gonna change it up a little bit.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, well, that sounds wonderful. Wonderful. Thanks so much. Thank you for being here. Yeah, thanks so much for being with us. Thank you very much.
