Farmer Florists. Why we do what we do!

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A recent blog post over at Kitchen 1204 about The True Cost of Flowers brought up good points on why we do what we do here at Prairie Tough.

The article discusses environmental aspects of the flower industry as well as labour conditions on farms in South America and Africa. On top of that imported flowers pose a real health concern to us. The blog post goes into quite some detail on the issues and for anybody interested in the “dark side” of the commercial flower industry I recommend the book “Flower Confidential” by Amy Stewart. Reading either one doesn’t make anybody feel good about buying commercial flowers any longer.

I don’t want to re-hash what was already written, although add a few points to the concerns from my view:

Flowers are your best friend regarding attracting bees and other pollinators. We need all the help we can get! It’s in the news all the time lately. How important pollinators and beneficial insects are. No pollination, no food. Chemicals in agriculture and monocropping are two practices that are decimating our little helpers. We try to counter that by prolonging the growing season by using diverse plants all of which offer shelter, food and habitat to insects.

We want to show what you can grow in Alberta. Have you ever heard “nothing grows here!”? We hear that a lot. It’s not true! There is a vast variety of plants and especially pretty flowers that can grow here. Whether in agriculture or in a backyard, there are so many choices you will run out of room before you run out of plants. Many garden centres and nurseries offer only a small selection of perennials that we can grow here. I am not sure why they prefer to sell the same boring annual bedding plants year over year. Scratch that, I know why!

We believe agriculture in Alberta would gain from more diversity in farm products. There are not many who grow flowers on the Prairies. Nature is very diverse and this diversity brings stability. We are working on establishing a farm that is diverse and can whether market swings and other potential threats to the business. Growing flowers is a completely different market than your typical commodity and food production.

One of our first customers made an interesting comment on why she hardly ever buys flowers in a flower shop. She said: “They have no soul.”
Flowers grown locally and in a natural enviroment have a different “feel” to them. They are fresher, more charming and many smell heavenly. One thing is guaranteed, commercial flowers are bred for different aspects like speed of growth, productivity, transportability, conformity and longevity. A big change in these flowers is that scent get’s virtually bred out of them as essential oils in the flowers make them perish faster. Our flowers are grown as naturally as possible, harvested just before delivery and do smell like real flowers.

The Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers just released a beautiful video about local flowers and their farmers:

So why do we do what we do?

  1. Offer exceptionally fresh, high quality, locally grown flowers
  2. Help pollinators with an all natural habitat without pesticides, herbicides or artificial fertilizers
  3. So our customers can enjoy flowers that aren’t harmful to home and family
  4. Contribute to our local economy and rural employment in Alberta
  5. Opportunity to teach about flowers and plants that grow in our region
  6. Support the Buy Local movement

What can you do?

  1. Buy local and seasonal whenever possible
  2. Ask where flowers come from and what they are treated with
  3. Enjoy your local bouquets and their sweet scent!