Salt & Lavender

Before she was whipping up creamy garlic chicken and publishing a cookbook, Natasha Bull was working in organizational change management for the government of Alberta, Canada. “I was just approaching 30 and thought, ‘I don't want to be in a nine-to-five for the rest of my life,’” she recalls.

At first, she tried launching a cosmetics line — mixing potions in her apartment, as she puts it — but it wasn’t quite the right fit.

Then inspiration struck.

“I used to love reading food blogs. Not just for the recipes, but the stories and photography,” says Natasha. “Eventually I thought: if they can do it, why can’t I?”

So, in 2015, Natasha bought a domain, bootstrapped the entire website using online tutorials, and then started blogging from Edmonton while still working full-time.

Her husband Steve also chipped in at the time, helping her photograph the recipes every weekend — especially during the harsh Alberta winters, when hours of daylight were precious.

“We didn’t take a day off for three years unless we literally left the country,” she says with a laugh.

She even picked a name for the website that felt personal. “Salt” was a nod to her mom’s love of seasoning, while “lavender” captured Natasha’s passion for flowers. Together, Salt & Lavender reflects the cozy and down-to-earth vibe that readers have come to expect from the site’s recipes.

By 2019, Natasha was able to leave her government job so that she could focus on the site full-time. And in the years since, Salt & Lavender has grown into a thriving family business.

Nowadays, her sister Miranda Sayer oversees writing, research, editing, analytics, and social media — all while fielding a constant stream of emails from readers everywhere. Natasha’s husband, Steve Bull, on the other hand, takes care of the finances and customer service.

This close-knit team has also hit some amazing milestones along the way: in 2024 alone, Salt & Lavender saw more than 100 million pageviews.

Their baked pork tenderloin and lemon chicken orzo soup are among the site’s most loved recipes— but at the end of the day, what Natasha loves more than anything are messages from readers writing in to share how a dish had helped them through a tough time.

“When someone says our recipe helped them feed a sick loved one or made a stressful day a little easier, that means everything,” she says.

Today, ad revenue powers their full-time, three-person team — and has supported everything from the release of their first self-published cookbook, which has sold thousands of copies, to the resounding growth of their website’s loyal audience.

They’re even in the early stages of developing a second cookbook, just another way they’re responding to reader demand and deepening their relationship with audiences all over the world.

“We’ve intentionally kept it a tight-knit operation,” Natasha explains. “But we’re at the point now where strategic hires for video and recipe testing are on the horizon — not because we have to, but because it’ll help us connect with even more readers.”

2025 also marks 10 years of Salt & Lavender — a milestone they’re celebrating with new branding, giveaways (spoiler alert: there will be tote bags), and plans for broader outreach to connect with the next wave of home cooks discovering their recipes every day.

And to think — it all started with a craving for something more than just your typical nine-to-five.