Helen Norman’s Star Bright Farm is a wonderland: a 130-acre certified organic farm in the rolling hills of northern Maryland. Twenty-seven years ago, Norman and her husband, Mark Elmore, purchased the 1850s property — and since then, they’ve poured their lifeblood into it, creating a vibrant, dynamic farm that’s supported both their family and Star Bright’s wider community.

Above: Helen in the “Kitchen Garden” with Grizzly (the family’s Jack Russell Terrier) harvesting Swiss Chard” for dinner. Right: Looking over the Lavendula Angustifolia (English Lavender) towards the barn. Above: Helen in the “Kitchen Garden” with Grizzly (the family’s Jack Russell Terrier) harvesting Swiss Chard” for dinner. Top: Looking over the Lavendula Angustifolia (English Lavender) towards the barn.

A widely published lifestyle photographer, Norman came to Star Bright in service of a desire to return to where she’d grown up to raise her own two children: Peter and Patrick. She and Elmore were looking for “an old stone house with about 10 acres,” she says. Her brother, an organic farmer whose own property was nearby, suggested the land that became Star Bright. “We looked at it, and literally everything was falling down — but it was beautiful.

The farm sites, the way the buildings were all sited — it was all beautiful. You could see the potential.” The couple had one more unique advantage: “What's blissful about being young is you don't see that it's going to cost you every penny that you have,” she says, with a laugh. “So we bought it, and then we just slowly started renovating — the house first, so we could move in. Slowly, over the years, we rebuilt all the other structures, with the barn being the last one.” Now, the couple’s children are grown, but not far from home: Peter, who left the farm to study agriculture at the University of Vermont, is now Star Bright’s head farmer. Patrick, based in Brooklyn, shoots their videos.

Above: Star Bright Farm is a certified organic herb, small fruit, and lavender farm whose closed-loop system starts and finishes on the farm.

One of the farm’s main preoccupations came as a result of one of Norman’s assignments, photographing a lavender farm. “I decided I really wanted to grow lavender,” she says. “And Peter said sure, but not only that — he also wanted to grow aromatic and medicinal herbs.” Now the pair grow two dozen herbs on the farm, from parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme to yarrow and marshmallow root. Those herbs are used in a product range that includes herbal teas, bath teas, and bath salts. They’ve also given mother and son a chance to closely collaborate.

“You never know where your kids are going to go,” says Norman, who notes that her son Patrick returned to the farm part-time over the past couple years, between traveling for work assignments. “I grew up on the farm, and they both grew up working at the farmer's market. One of them decides to become a farmer, the other one's a videographer and he walks around and like he’s never set foot on a farm — and I’m like, ‘Patrick, you grew up here.’ But he’s a great videographer! It’s wonderful having them so close.”

For the moment, Norman and her family are preparing for spring: “It’s a whole lot of planning right now — getting the greenhouse ramped up, starting our seeding next month,” she says. “All the herbs that we grow we grow from seed or propagation.” Later this season, they’ll build a processing barn, where they’ll distill hydrosols used for consumption; they’re already working with a Baltimore cocktail bar that uses them in their zero-proof drinks. Above: Peter harvesting Lavender for bunches and distillation, and with Leah picking Lemon Balm used for dried teas and hydrosols. Top: Peter with Leah picking Lemon Balm used for dried teas and hydrosols. Above: Peter harvesting Lavender for bunches and distillation.

For Norman, it’s just the latest step in an ongoing practice that honors the materials we use — especially those we apply to our bodies, in our skin and beauty products. “There's so much emphasis on what people put in their bodies — food — and there's so little emphasis on what people put on their bodies in our skincare,” she says. “It's like, why would you put good stuff in your body and not good stuff on your body?” The key, she says, is sharing a greater appreciation of herbs and their powers. “People think yarrow is just a pretty thing in a bunch of flowers — but it’s incredible on your skin,” she says. “If you were to nick yourself, yarrow can help knit your skin back together. That’s the power of herbs.”

WHY HELEN BELIEVES IN THE POWER OF HERBS

“Herbalism has been used for thousands of years, in every culture of the world as a way to heal. Each culture collected what was native to their area and discovered its powerful uses in healing. In modern times we can sustainably grow what we need for our health and in ways that are best for the planet. Modern medicine that is created in a lab is done so to mimic what herbs have done. We believe in drawing from the source and not an engineered source."

HYDROSOL DISTILLATION AT STAR BRIGHT FARM

Hydrosols are the pure floral waters made by hydro/steam distillation of flowering herbs and transforming the resilience of plants into liquid form. In this video Peter explains hydrosols and shows how they’re made in a copper still on the farm.