Bristow couple’s lavender field lost to fire

A Bristow couple said it will take years to regrow their lavender field after a grassfire destroyed it earlier this month. 

There are signs of new growth everywhere you look at the Lavender Silk Farm in Bristow, except where lavender once thrived.

The field sits just in front of Tom and Dilfuza Williford's home.

"This is our bread and butter. This is our job,” Tom said.

Dilfuza makes skincare products that they sell at the OKC Farmer's Public Market. The two were coming home from the market earlier this month when they found the source of their livelihood had burned.

Firefighters had already done their job.

"We noticed that there was smoke. It was black,” Tom said. “There was still two places on fire. We had a place up here and a place down there that was still on fire and just really rattled us a little bit."

The devastation comes a year after another loss for Dilfuza. Her mother, Feruza, died last year.

"Taken, like one after another; it was just hard,” she said.

Dilfuza expects some of the plants to survive but said they are vulnerable.

“It just gives me something to hang on to,” Dilfuza said.

The couple had hoped to invite people out to their property for tours through an agritourism program with the state. That dream is now on pause until the lavender grows again.

"We have clients from Kansas. We have clients from Texas. And they drive to Oklahoma's farmers market just to get products physically,” Dilfuza said.

The couple plans to buy organic lavender so Dilfuza can keep making her products. It's not lost on her that so many people in Green Country have been impacted by fire this season.

"Not only right now I'm thinking about myself, I'm thinking about those people in Mannford and other places who lost things,” Dilfuza said.

And while some work to rebuild, the Williford’s plan is to wait patiently for new growth to continue. 

They have started a GoFundMe to help rebuild.