June 27, 2025 • 35 mins
On this week's episode of The Rural Woman Podcast™, you'll meet Michelle Gnam.
Michelle is a greenhouse grower, flower farmer, and community builder based in Fairview, Alberta. After six years in the oil and gas industry, Michelle followed her instincts back to her hometown in the Mighty Peace Region to build something beautiful—literally.
For full show notes, including links mentioned in the show, head over to wildrosefarmer.com/mightypeace
. . .
THIS WEEK'S DISCUSSIONS:
[04:20] Returning Back to Agriculture
[09:02] From Garages to Greenhouses
[17:19] Seasonal Transitions in the Flower Fields
[22:09] Community Engagement and Agro-Tourism
[26:34] The Journey of Flower Farming and Future Aspirations
. . .
This week's episode is brought to you by Mighty Peace Tourism
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Meet the Team
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:56):
Hi, I'm Katelyn Duban and thisis the Rural Woman Podcast. I'm a
first generation farmer whomarried into agriculture. Born and
raised in a city, I was sounfamiliar with where my food came
from, but I was determined tofigure it out. Through my journey
into agriculture, I saw womenwho were strong but humble, often
(01:19):
taking a backseat. To me.These women were leaders who deserved
a seat at the table. I createdthe Rural Women Podcast to share
the voices of women in anindustry whose stories often went
untold. The ruralentrepreneurs who live and breathe
their work full of grit andpride. We come here to share our
(01:43):
stories, to be in communitywith each other, to be challenged
and inspired, but mostimportantly, to be celebrated and
to be heard. We may not alllive farm, ranch or homestead the
same, but we are allconnected. We are rural women and
(02:03):
our stories are worthy ofbeing told. Hey everyone. Welcome
back to another episode of theRural Woman Podcast. Today you'll
meet Michelle Gnam, greenhousegrower, flower farmer and a community
builder based in Fairview,Alberta. After six years in the oil
(02:25):
and gas industry, Michellefollowed her instincts back to her
hometown in the Mighty Peaceregion to build something beautiful.
Quite literally.
From humble beginnings in heracreage garage to running a full
scale greenhouse and flowerfarm, Michelle has created a space
that's not only Instagramworthy, but but deeply rooted in
(02:46):
community, sustainability andjoy. In today's episode, you'll hear
all about the blooms, therhythm of Michelle's growing season
and what it's like to raiseflowers. And a business where the
town melts into thecountryside. We're also exploring
what makes life in the Peaceregion so rich. From hidden gems
to the beauty of small townliving. This episode is brought to
(03:09):
you in partnership with MightyPeace Tourism, who are passionate
about sharing the stories andthe stunning scenery scenery of Northwestern
Alberta. If Michelle's storyhas you dreaming of flower fields,
fresh air and farm freshexperiences, it might be time for
you to start planning your owntrip to.
The Mighty Peace region.
(03:30):
You can head to the link intoday's show notes to learn more@mightypeace.com
that's mighty peace.com sopour yourself a cup of coffee and
get ready to be inspired by astory that's full of growth both
in the greenhouse and beyond.Without further ado, my friends,
let's get to this week'sepisode with Michelle.
(03:59):
Michelle, welcome to the RuralWoman Podcast. How are you today?
I am awesome. Thank you.
I am so excited to get to knowyou better and to share your story
with my audience. I have donemy deep Dive into all things Michelle.
And I'm so excited to learnmore. More about you, your business,
and the beautiful part of thecountry that you live in. So for
(04:22):
the listeners who areunfamiliar with you, Michelle, give
us your background. Tell uswho you are, where you're from, and
how you are related to agriculture.
My name is Michelle Gnam. Igrew up in Whitelaw, Alberta, which
is in the northwestern part ofAlberta. I grew up on a cattle farm,
and I have always been. Beeninvolved in agriculture, working
(04:45):
on the farm, growing up. Ilove it here. I always wanted to
return here. I never reallyknew it would be in agriculture until
later in my life. I kind ofsteered clear of it for a while.
But, yeah, I'm back and I loveit. And I guess I recognize all the
wonderful things aboutagriculture more as an adult than
I did as a kid, for sure.
I think most kids growing upon farms can have a piece of that
(05:09):
in them. You don't appreciateit until maybe it's not part of your
everyday life, for sure. Canyou share with us maybe some of your
favorite memories that youhave from growing up on the cattle
farm?
Oh, we had all kinds of fun onthe cattle farm. The best days were
probably when we were handlingcows with my dad. He was hilarious.
That's when we got to see allsides of him and all the colors,
(05:32):
and it was intense. You werechasing cows, There was fence posts
thrown and things happening,and it was just a lot of fun. And
our whole family got involvedand it was a great time.
That's awesome. I'm sure youlearned some choice language, maybe
during those busy times.
He had a pretty good filter.
Good, good. So you mentionedthat, you know, you didn't expect
(05:55):
to be back in agriculture inthe way that you are. You actually
left the farm and started yourcareer in oil and gas. So what brought
you back to agriculture?
It was a combination ofthings. So I started my career in
oil and gas after university.It was kind of like a way to get
back north with the educationI had got, and I really enjoyed it.
(06:18):
But in 2014, my dad was in afarm accident, and so he was left
quadriplegic. And so we spenta lot of time traveling back north,
renovating and helping themtransition to what life looked like
after that. And more and more,I just felt that draw to be closer
to home because we were byGrand Prairie, which was about an
(06:40):
hour and a half away, sotraveling was a lot. And then I had
kids, and I really struggledwith being away from them and being
in remote sites on A dailybasis when you get the daycare call
that your kid is sick and youneed to pick them up. It's a tricky
thing with two parents in theoil field. So we had a small town
(07:03):
greenhouse come up for sale inthe fall after just at the end of
my second maternity leave. AndI kind of took a deep dive into what
greenhouse growing was allabout. And it seemed so intriguing
to me and amazing. And Icouldn't believe that I had never
really thought of it beforebecause my mom always had an amazing
garden growing up. And it wasthe secret garden. You walk through
(07:24):
the lilacs and it was justbeautiful and magical. So after I
took a deep dive, we kind ofwent down that road and we didn't
get to buy it and I went backto work and I requested to go part
time and it didn't work out.So I kind of decided, well, if that's
not going to work for me, I'llbuild my own career. So I continued
(07:48):
to take a deep dive. I tookthe Floret online course about flower
growing because from from theget go, I knew that I didn't want
to just. Well, not justgreenhouse growing is all encompassing,
but I wanted a longer season.I wanted to keep going after June.
I wanted to grow beautifulseasonal flowers all year long. And
so I did a lot of training,bought some textbooks, and I started
(08:12):
growing that spring in mygarage. And quickly I learned what
seeds you grow run out of roomreally quick when you have to transplant
them. My husband built agreenhouse for me on that acreage
and yeah, moved into that.Sold flowers at the farmer's market
in Grand Prairie. Our firstyear before we decided we were really.
(08:33):
I loved it. I caught the bugfor growing and I wanted to do more
of it. So we decided we wantedto do two things. Move closer to
home and back to Fairviewarea. And we wanted to build a greenhouse.
So I took a dive into whatthat would look like.
I have the utmost respect forfolks who find something that they're
(08:57):
passionate about, go all inand then encompass this afterwards
and being like, how am I goingto incorporate this into my whole
life? How do I make this partof my whole life? And obviously the
accident with your dad andwanting to be closer to him and be
more with your children andall of those things. Those are so
many things that so manypeople right now are relating to.
(09:21):
Talk to me about kind of yourregion and the growing region. You
know, you've mentionedFairview and the Grand Prairie area.
But for the folks who arelistening who have no idea where
that is. Give us your. Yourdescription of where you live.
Okay. So I would say Fairviewis a farming community, and it's
like an hour or 100 km northof Grand Prairie. And Grand Prairie
(09:44):
is kind of a central hub forthis northwestern part of the province.
That's where lots ofbusinesses there is a lot of oil
and gas activity. And it'salso a big farming and forestry community.
So that's kind of this area.Lots of resource development. And
I would say Fairview is moreof a farming hub, though we do have
some oil and gas as well, though.
(10:06):
Yeah, I've been to Fairview,and I've been in the Fairview area
for conferences before, andit's absolutely beautiful. I myself
am from the south part of ourprovince in Alberta, so our landscape
is much different than thelandscape near Fairview. I remember
driving and wondering whereall of the pivots were or any of
(10:29):
the irrigation was. None ofthose things were around, so. But
you do have a lot more treesthan we do down here.
Yeah, lots of beautiful trees.Lots of amazing thunderstorms and
rain. Right.
I was disappointed, though.When I was up there and driving,
I didn't see a moose. That waswhat I wanted to see on my bucket
list while I was driving. Ididn't see one.
(10:51):
It's not the greatest thing tomeet in your vehicle anyway.
That's, you know, also what myhusband said to me. He was like,
it's nice. You want to seeone, but probably not on the highway.
Yeah, yeah, They're. They'rehard on things.
Talk to me about, you know,you started in your garage and, you
know, have grown, I would say,relatively quickly in the grand scheme
of things. So talk to me aboutthe first season of growing in your
(11:14):
garage, selling at thefarmer's Market to where you guys
are today.
It was kind of like a field ofdreams concept where I felt like.
Like the first year in thefarmer's market was tough. It was
a. I would say, a bad year forthe Grand Prairie Farmers Market.
They were redoing the wholedowntown, so it was tough to transport
everything and sell there. AndI felt like, you know, if I build
it, they'll come. Thecustomers will come if I build this
(11:36):
beautiful location. So that'swhere I started. And I put the deposit
on our greenhouse. And then wedidn't get really taken seriously
that we were going to bebuilding this in the fall. So I ordered
it straight from Ontario, andI decided, okay, I'm building this
myself. I'm off work. I can dothis. I can build a greenhouse. I
(11:56):
can. And I wanted a gutterconnect because of the high ceilings
and the beautiful atmosphere.It's a little bit nicer to grow in
because it doesn't get so hotso fast. I had natural ventilation.
All the things wanted to be asgreen as I could and growing. And
so that fall we had our postsdelivered. We barely got them in
(12:16):
the ground before the groundfroze solid in November. And I waited
and waited for the weather tocooperate to build a greenhouse.
And it didn't really come. SoJanuary 1st, at this point, I was,
I think, six months pregnantwith my third son. We kind of. I
didn't really have a choice. Iencompassed the help of some of my
(12:38):
husband's uncles and one of mydad's best friends. And we put together
the GutterConnect greenhouse.We worked on it from January until
the end of February. It was alot of cold work, but we got her
done. And February 28th, Ithink we pulled the plastic just
in time for plants to come, Ithought. But then we actually had
(13:00):
a windstorm on March 1 thatblew the roof right off the greenhouse.
And that was. That was hard.After a little cry, I got it together
and I called our insurancecompany and I called our greenhouse
construction company andeverybody worked really hard to get
the parts we needed to us allthe way from Ontario, which is not
(13:22):
a close place for shipping tonorthern northwestern Alberta. And
yeah, we barely got it fixed.I had geraniums in the bathtub for
two weeks while I needed mygreenhouse plastic to go back on.
And that first year we grew alittle bit of flowers and vegetables.
I didn't have a really goodperspective on the market yet, so.
(13:42):
And I started my flowersubscription, which was weekly flowers
from June until the end ofSeptember. And we had a great first
season. We gathered the datawe needed for the next year. And
from there we've grown. We'vefigured out what our customers are
looking for. I think for themost part, we're always trying to
do better at that. And yeah,I've kind of nailed down what growing
(14:06):
here looks like for the flowerfield as well. It's tricky. It doesn't.
Nothing will teach you in atextbook like life lessons, right?
Absolutely. And that's theperfect way to put it, especially
when you're going into a newbusiness of any sort. But when you're
going into a business thatthere are so many things outside
of your control, like theweather, it really. It is the school
(14:29):
of hard knocks when it comesto farming. Talk to us about your
typical growing year. Youobviously have the greenhouse that
helps the year round growing,but you also do flowers outside of
your greenhouse too. So walkus through your typical growing year.
I don't think I could do theflower field without the greenhouse.
(14:49):
They go really well togetherin this climate because we have a
very short growing season. Soon a typical year, I guess would
start with calendar year, itwould be January. January is basically
spent planning, marketing andstarting a few seeds, receiving seeds,
all those things. And then inFebruary, we start seeding. We do
a lot of the seeding for thegreenhouse and the flower field in
(15:11):
February. In March, we startto receive plants from young plant
growers. And so that's mainlyfor the greenhouse. We don't plants
in for the flower field.That's all started by us. And then
it's kind of a whirlwind oftransplanting, growing, keeping on
top of insect management andjust getting the plants to the stage
(15:33):
they need to be for our May1st opening. May is very busy in
getting plants out the doorinto their next homes. And. Well,
and also we plant the wholeflower field in May, which is. Yeah,
that's a feat. Also we growthe flower field in. The annuals
are grown in landscape fabric.So I lay that down, have to get irrigation
(15:55):
down. We do drip irrigation sothat we don't lose so much to evaporation.
And I transplant all the plugsthat I started in the greenhouse
usually by the end of May, anddirect seed all of our sunflowers.
And then like yesterday I justfinished transplanting dahlias and
we start cutting at the startof June. So then we're cutting flowers
(16:17):
and the greenhouse slows downa lot in June. So it kind of is a
nice transition for us. We doour weekly flower bouquets and into
July. We start with weddingsand we start our U pick season in
August. This summer we aregoing to do our U pick. So our U
pick season is going to startwith open farm days. We're doing
some. We're going to do farmtours on August 17th and that actually
(16:42):
transitions really well intoCanadian flowers week, which is the
following week. So we'll dosome U picks that week and then the
summer's end festival inFairview, which we always like to
put a parade or a parade floatin. And we'll continue our U picks
until the end of Septemberwhen we usually get some frost. It's
not a long season for us. Ithink September 16th is our average
(17:05):
frost date. But my sunflowersare usually happy until October and
Then end of September, we haveto wrap up the whole flower field.
I've kind of learned now that,like, whether there's frost or not,
I need to pull everythingelse, everything out the week after
Thanksgiving. And because youcan hold that warmth a little bit
longer. But when winterdecides to be here, it's here. And
(17:26):
if you don't have things out,you're out of luck. So we pull everything
out at the end of October, andwe quickly. By we, I mean me. It's
just me in the fall. And thenwe quickly get our tulips planted
for the next season, becauseour. That's when we have our June
tulips is October and theninto. Well, I guess it starts in
(17:49):
September, but then we'reordering for the next season, transitioning,
planning, doing winterworkshops into November and December
with. We do some locally growngreens. My cedar trees are taking
a really long time to grow, soI do bring in some B.C. cedar for
our winter work workshops. Andyeah, that's kind of how a year in
(18:10):
the flower field and thegreenhouse looks like for me, that
is.
A full year of flower farmingfor you. How do you decide each year
what you are going to grow?
So for the flower field, Imake notes weekly, like, what is
filling our bouquets, what'sworking, what's growing? Well, here
there's lots of things thatjust. It's not warm enough here to
(18:33):
grow. And some of those I trythe next year in my greenhouse because
I do have the. The time, likethe room over the summer, it's empty,
but it's challenging to growin there. In the summer, it's hot,
so it's kind of what I thinkis going to look beautiful. I plan
my color palettes ahead oftime so that the season colors are
transitioning from spring andthe light pinks and the light purples
(18:56):
and pale colors, and we kindof get more vibrant as the season
goes on. And yeah, I try andhave like a kaleidoscope of colors
in the field so that we cancreate different things and seasonal
things at different times.
(20:31):
Michelle, what have been someof the biggest growing pains that
you have faced as a newfarmer, a new flower farmer?
Having all these beautifulflowers in a cooler and no place
for them to go is a. Is agrowing pain. It's a beautiful growing
pain. But you, you really needto market up front and get, get the
(20:53):
word out and get your productout and. Yeah, that's. That's a tricky
one.
Yeah, for sure. What have beensome of your most successful adventures
in the marketing space?
For your farm, social media isa game changer. If you are posting
regularly and often andsharing your story and sharing what
is blooming right now on yourgreenhouse or in the flower farm,
(21:18):
it's night and day. You. If Ipost regularly for days on end, people
will remember to come. They'llcome and visit the greenhouse because
it's beautiful and they wantto be there. But if you get forgotten
quickly, if sometimes ifyou're not on top of it, and that's
a tricky thing for me, I havea hard time with it.
Right. Well, essentiallyyou're doing everything for this
(21:42):
business, from growing theflowers to doing the behind the scenes
work of bookkeeping and beingthe professional marketer, which
I think most farmers don'thave that experience of professional
marketing.
No, I don't think I've ever.I'm not the greatest salesman. We'll
say that I'm the grower.
(22:02):
Right. But you are, you know,you are the grower and you are producing
something that's so beautifulfor your community and giving that
to your community is so special.
Yeah. I'm lucky. It's such abeautiful product. I just have to
take pictures of it and it's apretty easy job to do, right? Yeah.
Sells itself almost.
(22:22):
Just gotta click post.
Yeah. What are some of yourfavorite plants and flowers that
you grow versus what are theones that you really don't like to
grow?
Okay. Well, so it's hardbecause it's like two things. Right.
So in the greenhouse, I reallylove petunias. They're beautiful
and they love this area for abasket flower. Right. And in the
(22:48):
flower field, I absolutelylove dahlias. They're beautiful.
And I love sunflowers and thatit's hard in the flower field because
I think that growing flowerslocally and seasonally, it really
makes you appreciate differentthings at different times. And that's
what it's all about. Right.Tulips are gorgeous in the spring.
And then we have ranunculusand then we have peonies, and then
(23:11):
we have our field grownAsiatic lilies, we have oriental
lilies. Everything has its ownplace and its own beauty. And it's
kind of amazing to watch ittransition throughout the year. So
I kind of have favorites onevery season. Things I don't like
to grow, I guess are probablythings that are hard for me. But
I still, I didn't like growingroses. They hurt. That's what I don't
(23:34):
like to grow.
Right.
I still, I think I still havea thorn in my finger from. Because
we have some roses in thegreenhouse right now that we sell.
And yeah, I have some, somethorns in my fingers from them still.
That's fair. That is a fairanswer for that. Well, and like you
said, when you're growingseasonally and locally, you really
(23:55):
can appreciate what is able togrow and through what condition it's
able to grow. And just to seethe different stages of it from,
you know, seeds, if youstarted it in your greenhouse, to
all the way to somebody'swedding bouquet. Like what a beautiful
transition that is for somebodspecial day. How has it been received
(24:17):
in your community? What arethe folks and visitors saying about
visiting your farm?
I think it's been really wellreceived. We have a fantastic community
who likes to come and sharethe space and we have people who
just come and take pictures,people who come to our U picks and
just buy a few flowers. Butthey just really love to come and,
(24:39):
and enjoy either thegreenhouse or the flower field. It's.
It's a nice place to be. It'swarm. It's like, it's pollinator
friendly. There's bees andthings buzzing and yeah, it's a wonderful
place and I think ourcommunity's really embraced it.
That's awesome. You hadmentioned the workshops that you
have in the winter season.What are some of other events that
(25:03):
you're hosting on the farm orthat you're looking at hosting?
We do our U picks in thespring. We always do an Easter egg
hunt at Easter for kids andthat's lots of fun. We do private
workshops as well. We do someflower wreath making in the fall
with our dried flowers. That'sbasically the events that we host.
(25:24):
Those in itself are a lot ofevents to host. And I feel like farmers
like myself who, you know,we're on a grain farm, we're not
looking at the agro tourismaspect of agriculture, but it is
huge and it is a big industry.And specifically in your region,
there are a ton ofopportunities to look into agritourism
(25:50):
and to have people out onfarms. What are some of the must
sees in your area when itcomes to things to do and places
to go?
Well, the Peace River Valleyis beautiful and amazing. We have
a riverboat and we spend lotsof time in the valley. I love to
go down to Dunvegan in thesummer. It's a gorgeous like provincial
(26:12):
campsite and we like to godown to the market gardens and get
strawberries and have minigolf and ice cream. Like it's a beautiful
place. Climb the hill eventhough it freaks me out because it's
kind of scary, but my kidslike to climb it like billy goats.
Yeah.
I love. Love that part of thepeace country and the whole river
valley. We do camping up inmany islands as well, which is kind
(26:35):
of a little bit more of aremote campsite. There's quadding,
there's sandhills. Isbeautiful in the area. There's so
much to do and so much to see.
What has been kind of, youknow, when there are folks coming
to your farm and they are fromout of town, they're from out of
the region, what are theytelling you is their favorite part
(26:58):
of peace country?
I think the community isprobably their favorite thing. Like
it's. People are friendly.It's a beautiful place to be. There's
big skies and long days, whichI think is kind of unlike a lot of
place like it. It is. It'sdifferent than anywhere else. You
can fit so much into a daybecause the days are so long.
(27:19):
Yeah, absolutely.
People are amazed with. Ithink the peace River. The peace
river valley is a. Is a prettyamazing place. When you come down
the hill, it's. Yeah, it'sgorgeous. And then, yeah, we have
beautiful farmland.
I think I was amazed thatthere was just so many things to
do. And that is something. Assomebody from southern Alberta, when
I think of things to do inAlberta, I think of Calgary and Edmonton.
(27:42):
But, you know, just a couplehours north of Edmonton and there
is this hub of activity. Isthere any hidden gems that you love,
like local cafes or seasonalevents that happen?
So I love the old bistro inFairview. It's a beautiful little
coffee shop. And they like.It's beautiful outside too. They
(28:03):
have tulips. They have amazingbaskets. They have a windmill out
front. It's such a little gem.And they have great coffee, which
I love coffee. So it's one ofmy favorites. I love golfing. So
we do lots of golfing inFairview. As well as Hines Creek.
They have. Heinz creek is moreof a rural golf course. And it's
a little bit smaller, but it'sa real hidden gem. And the condition
(28:26):
at the Fairview golf course isalways amazing. And the summer's
end festival. Oh, I love thesummer's end festival in Fairview.
The kids love it too. There'slots of fun things to do. They usually
have bouncy castles, a carshow. There's a parade. We put a
parade float in. And thensomething we also do every year is
there's a haunted forest inFairview. And it's a lot of fun.
The kids get really scared.There's lots of screaming. It's really
(28:48):
cool.
For the, the spooky lovers,that would be a great activity. As
somebody who is a big scaredycat, I might skip that one. But the
year end festival sounds likeone I would like to go to.
Yeah, it's fun. There's astreet dance. It's a good time.
What do you think makes thePeace country memorable for you?
(29:09):
For me it's the big skies, theamazing wildlife and just being able
to go out and find adventure.Whether you're like, whether you
like ATVs or you like walkingand hiking and all the things. Like
there's, there's so manyplaces to see here and it's so beautiful.
(29:32):
And I really do love our longdays and our amazing thunderstorms
and all the things that gowith northern Alberta.
Absolutely. Very good.Obviously winter is a real season
that we have here in Canadaand especially northwest Alberta.
So what are some of theactivities that you can do during
the winter that make it maybea bit more enjoyable?
(29:53):
Oh, curling. I love curling.It's. Yeah, it's been a family sport
for a long time. I lovecurling. We have a great curling
rink and competitive and youget together with friends. We also
do lots of skiing. We havegreat ski hills around here. We have
the Fairview ski hill that welove to visit and the Worsley ski
hill which is an amazingplace. They have a chairlift even
(30:14):
and the kids love it and theyhave good snow always. It's. It's
a great place. And thenhonestly like we, we chase the kids
around with hockey in thewinter which is good. It's community
and it's great.
That's awesome. Well, and thePeace country area is. When I think
of it, I think of communityand the time that I've gotten to
spend there at the event thatI was able to go to. Just a warm
(30:36):
feeling overall and folksthere really love where they live
and it really shows.
Yeah, I think we have a good community.
Yes. What is next for you inthe journey of flower farming?
Well, I did somethingdifferent this year. I thought I
should try and grow fall moms.So. So I have mums arriving on Friday
(30:58):
so they come as liners andthen I'll grow them over the summer.
So yeah, it's go big or gohome with lots of crops. So we'll
have 250 potted mums to sellin the fall. But I think it'll go
nicely with the rest of thethings we do. I would like to continue
growing. We've already addedon one greenhouse to our greenhouse,
but in the next two years, Iwould like to build another and just
(31:22):
have a little bit more spacefor our. All the things we would
like to grow that we justdon't quite have room for. And yeah,
I want to continue withweddings. I really love doing wedding
installations. I think they'remy favorite thing. So more of that
and yeah, just more of sharingmy flowers. Sometimes I think that
(31:43):
is probably my biggestweakness is like, making sure the
public can. Can get them. Ican't hoard all the beautiful things.
It's.
Yeah, I'm sure it's verytempting to bring in the most beautiful
blooms to display on yourkitchen table versus giving them
to anyone else. I. I know the feeling.
(32:05):
Yeah, it is. It's hard.
Michelle, what is the mostrewarding part about being a rural
woman and a farmer for you?
Being able to really see. Seeyour work to something beautiful,
whether it's a seed into abeautiful plant or all the flowers
you cut into a beautifulbouquet. It's very rewarding to see
(32:28):
that progress. Lots of theworld is lots of and even lots of
what I do can be very digital.Like, we do like the bookkeeping
and it's all very good andnice, but it's. It's not very rewarding
compared to seeing somethingyou create be so beautiful and then
also bring so much joy tosomeone else. Like, flowers are amazing.
(32:49):
They can remind you ofsomeone. They can bring memories.
And I really love being ableto share that with people.
I love that. And like. Andflowers do bring memories and certain
smells, certain colors offlowers. Anything like that can really
strike good memories withpeople and create new memories with
people that they will have fora lifetime. So I've always dreamt
(33:12):
of being a flower farmersecretly, but I have heard many stories
from many flower farmers and Iknow the work that goes into it and
it is a lot of work. So Icommend you and your family for starting
this business and growing thisbusiness to where it is and providing
such a beautiful space foryour community. So congratulations
(33:35):
on all of your success and Iwish you a very happy growing season
and look forward to followingyour story along in the future.
Awesome. Thank you.
Michelle, for the folks whowould like to connect with you after
the show, where can they findyou online?
They can find us on ourwebsite, www.grownorthgardens.com
(33:57):
or Facebook or Instagram @grownorthgardens.
Perfect. And I will link thoseas well as all of the information
to your beautiful mighty peacecountry in the show. Not people can
find you, connect with you andsee what your beautiful area has
to offer.
Awesome. Thank you.
(34:21):
Thanks for listening to theRural Woman Podcast the Rural Woman
Podcast is more than just apodcast. We are a community. A huge
thank you to the Rural WomanPodcast Team. Audio Editor Max Hofer
A special thanks to ourPatreon Executive Producers Sarah
Riedner From Happiness by theAcre to learn how you can become
(34:43):
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(35:03):
leave a rating and review onApple Podcasts or any other platform
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(35:25):
social media. Let's strengthenand amplify the voices of women in
agriculture together. Untilnext time my friend. Keep sharing
your story.
Hi, I'm Katelyn Duban and thisis the Rural Woman Podcast. I'm a
first generation farmer whomarried into agriculture. Born and
raised in a city, I was sounfamiliar with where my food came
from, but I was determined tofigure it out. Through my journey
into agriculture, I saw womenwho were strong but humble, often
(01:19):
taking a backseat. To me.These women were leaders who deserved
a seat at the table. I createdthe Rural Women Podcast to share
the voices of women in anindustry whose stories often went
untold. The ruralentrepreneurs who live and breathe
their work full of grit andpride. We come here to share our
(01:43):
stories, to be in communitywith each other, to be challenged
and inspired, but mostimportantly, to be celebrated and
to be heard. We may not alllive farm, ranch or homestead the
same, but we are allconnected. We are rural women and
(02:03):
our stories are worthy ofbeing told. Hey everyone. Welcome
back to another episode of theRural Woman Podcast. Today you'll
meet Michelle Gnam, greenhousegrower, flower farmer and a community
builder based in Fairview,Alberta. After six years in the oil
(02:25):
and gas industry, Michellefollowed her instincts back to her
hometown in the Mighty Peaceregion to build something beautiful.
Quite literally.
From humble beginnings in heracreage garage to running a full
scale greenhouse and flowerfarm, Michelle has created a space
that's not only Instagramworthy, but but deeply rooted in
(02:46):
community, sustainability andjoy. In today's episode, you'll hear
all about the blooms, therhythm of Michelle's growing season
and what it's like to raiseflowers. And a business where the
town melts into thecountryside. We're also exploring
what makes life in the Peaceregion so rich. From hidden gems
to the beauty of small townliving. This episode is brought to
(03:09):
you in partnership with MightyPeace Tourism, who are passionate
about sharing the stories andthe stunning scenery scenery of Northwestern
Alberta. If Michelle's storyhas you dreaming of flower fields,
fresh air and farm freshexperiences, it might be time for
you to start planning your owntrip to.
The Mighty Peace region.
(03:30):
You can head to the link intoday's show notes to learn more@mightypeace.com
that's mighty peace.com sopour yourself a cup of coffee and
get ready to be inspired by astory that's full of growth both
in the greenhouse and beyond.Without further ado, my friends,
let's get to this week'sepisode with Michelle.
(03:59):
Michelle, welcome to the RuralWoman Podcast. How are you today?
I am awesome. Thank you.
I am so excited to get to knowyou better and to share your story
with my audience. I have donemy deep Dive into all things Michelle.
And I'm so excited to learnmore. More about you, your business,
and the beautiful part of thecountry that you live in. So for
(04:22):
the listeners who areunfamiliar with you, Michelle, give
us your background. Tell uswho you are, where you're from, and
how you are related to agriculture.
My name is Michelle Gnam. Igrew up in Whitelaw, Alberta, which
is in the northwestern part ofAlberta. I grew up on a cattle farm,
and I have always been. Beeninvolved in agriculture, working
(04:45):
on the farm, growing up. Ilove it here. I always wanted to
return here. I never reallyknew it would be in agriculture until
later in my life. I kind ofsteered clear of it for a while.
But, yeah, I'm back and I loveit. And I guess I recognize all the
wonderful things aboutagriculture more as an adult than
I did as a kid, for sure.
I think most kids growing upon farms can have a piece of that
(05:09):
in them. You don't appreciateit until maybe it's not part of your
everyday life, for sure. Canyou share with us maybe some of your
favorite memories that youhave from growing up on the cattle
farm?
Oh, we had all kinds of fun onthe cattle farm. The best days were
probably when we were handlingcows with my dad. He was hilarious.
That's when we got to see allsides of him and all the colors,
(05:32):
and it was intense. You werechasing cows, There was fence posts
thrown and things happening,and it was just a lot of fun. And
our whole family got involvedand it was a great time.
That's awesome. I'm sure youlearned some choice language, maybe
during those busy times.
He had a pretty good filter.
Good, good. So you mentionedthat, you know, you didn't expect
(05:55):
to be back in agriculture inthe way that you are. You actually
left the farm and started yourcareer in oil and gas. So what brought
you back to agriculture?
It was a combination ofthings. So I started my career in
oil and gas after university.It was kind of like a way to get
back north with the educationI had got, and I really enjoyed it.
(06:18):
But in 2014, my dad was in afarm accident, and so he was left
quadriplegic. And so we spenta lot of time traveling back north,
renovating and helping themtransition to what life looked like
after that. And more and more,I just felt that draw to be closer
to home because we were byGrand Prairie, which was about an
(06:40):
hour and a half away, sotraveling was a lot. And then I had
kids, and I really struggledwith being away from them and being
in remote sites on A dailybasis when you get the daycare call
that your kid is sick and youneed to pick them up. It's a tricky
thing with two parents in theoil field. So we had a small town
(07:03):
greenhouse come up for sale inthe fall after just at the end of
my second maternity leave. AndI kind of took a deep dive into what
greenhouse growing was allabout. And it seemed so intriguing
to me and amazing. And Icouldn't believe that I had never
really thought of it beforebecause my mom always had an amazing
garden growing up. And it wasthe secret garden. You walk through
(07:24):
the lilacs and it was justbeautiful and magical. So after I
took a deep dive, we kind ofwent down that road and we didn't
get to buy it and I went backto work and I requested to go part
time and it didn't work out.So I kind of decided, well, if that's
not going to work for me, I'llbuild my own career. So I continued
(07:48):
to take a deep dive. I tookthe Floret online course about flower
growing because from from theget go, I knew that I didn't want
to just. Well, not justgreenhouse growing is all encompassing,
but I wanted a longer season.I wanted to keep going after June.
I wanted to grow beautifulseasonal flowers all year long. And
so I did a lot of training,bought some textbooks, and I started
(08:12):
growing that spring in mygarage. And quickly I learned what
seeds you grow run out of roomreally quick when you have to transplant
them. My husband built agreenhouse for me on that acreage
and yeah, moved into that.Sold flowers at the farmer's market
in Grand Prairie. Our firstyear before we decided we were really.
(08:33):
I loved it. I caught the bugfor growing and I wanted to do more
of it. So we decided we wantedto do two things. Move closer to
home and back to Fairviewarea. And we wanted to build a greenhouse.
So I took a dive into whatthat would look like.
I have the utmost respect forfolks who find something that they're
(08:57):
passionate about, go all inand then encompass this afterwards
and being like, how am I goingto incorporate this into my whole
life? How do I make this partof my whole life? And obviously the
accident with your dad andwanting to be closer to him and be
more with your children andall of those things. Those are so
many things that so manypeople right now are relating to.
(09:21):
Talk to me about kind of yourregion and the growing region. You
know, you've mentionedFairview and the Grand Prairie area.
But for the folks who arelistening who have no idea where
that is. Give us your. Yourdescription of where you live.
Okay. So I would say Fairviewis a farming community, and it's
like an hour or 100 km northof Grand Prairie. And Grand Prairie
(09:44):
is kind of a central hub forthis northwestern part of the province.
That's where lots ofbusinesses there is a lot of oil
and gas activity. And it'salso a big farming and forestry community.
So that's kind of this area.Lots of resource development. And
I would say Fairview is moreof a farming hub, though we do have
some oil and gas as well, though.
(10:06):
Yeah, I've been to Fairview,and I've been in the Fairview area
for conferences before, andit's absolutely beautiful. I myself
am from the south part of ourprovince in Alberta, so our landscape
is much different than thelandscape near Fairview. I remember
driving and wondering whereall of the pivots were or any of
(10:29):
the irrigation was. None ofthose things were around, so. But
you do have a lot more treesthan we do down here.
Yeah, lots of beautiful trees.Lots of amazing thunderstorms and
rain. Right.
I was disappointed, though.When I was up there and driving,
I didn't see a moose. That waswhat I wanted to see on my bucket
list while I was driving. Ididn't see one.
(10:51):
It's not the greatest thing tomeet in your vehicle anyway.
That's, you know, also what myhusband said to me. He was like,
it's nice. You want to seeone, but probably not on the highway.
Yeah, yeah, They're. They'rehard on things.
Talk to me about, you know,you started in your garage and, you
know, have grown, I would say,relatively quickly in the grand scheme
of things. So talk to me aboutthe first season of growing in your
(11:14):
garage, selling at thefarmer's Market to where you guys
are today.
It was kind of like a field ofdreams concept where I felt like.
Like the first year in thefarmer's market was tough. It was
a. I would say, a bad year forthe Grand Prairie Farmers Market.
They were redoing the wholedowntown, so it was tough to transport
everything and sell there. AndI felt like, you know, if I build
it, they'll come. Thecustomers will come if I build this
(11:36):
beautiful location. So that'swhere I started. And I put the deposit
on our greenhouse. And then wedidn't get really taken seriously
that we were going to bebuilding this in the fall. So I ordered
it straight from Ontario, andI decided, okay, I'm building this
myself. I'm off work. I can dothis. I can build a greenhouse. I
(11:56):
can. And I wanted a gutterconnect because of the high ceilings
and the beautiful atmosphere.It's a little bit nicer to grow in
because it doesn't get so hotso fast. I had natural ventilation.
All the things wanted to be asgreen as I could and growing. And
so that fall we had our postsdelivered. We barely got them in
(12:16):
the ground before the groundfroze solid in November. And I waited
and waited for the weather tocooperate to build a greenhouse.
And it didn't really come. SoJanuary 1st, at this point, I was,
I think, six months pregnantwith my third son. We kind of. I
didn't really have a choice. Iencompassed the help of some of my
(12:38):
husband's uncles and one of mydad's best friends. And we put together
the GutterConnect greenhouse.We worked on it from January until
the end of February. It was alot of cold work, but we got her
done. And February 28th, Ithink we pulled the plastic just
in time for plants to come, Ithought. But then we actually had
(13:00):
a windstorm on March 1 thatblew the roof right off the greenhouse.
And that was. That was hard.After a little cry, I got it together
and I called our insurancecompany and I called our greenhouse
construction company andeverybody worked really hard to get
the parts we needed to us allthe way from Ontario, which is not
(13:22):
a close place for shipping tonorthern northwestern Alberta. And
yeah, we barely got it fixed.I had geraniums in the bathtub for
two weeks while I needed mygreenhouse plastic to go back on.
And that first year we grew alittle bit of flowers and vegetables.
I didn't have a really goodperspective on the market yet, so.
(13:42):
And I started my flowersubscription, which was weekly flowers
from June until the end ofSeptember. And we had a great first
season. We gathered the datawe needed for the next year. And
from there we've grown. We'vefigured out what our customers are
looking for. I think for themost part, we're always trying to
do better at that. And yeah,I've kind of nailed down what growing
(14:06):
here looks like for the flowerfield as well. It's tricky. It doesn't.
Nothing will teach you in atextbook like life lessons, right?
Absolutely. And that's theperfect way to put it, especially
when you're going into a newbusiness of any sort. But when you're
going into a business thatthere are so many things outside
of your control, like theweather, it really. It is the school
(14:29):
of hard knocks when it comesto farming. Talk to us about your
typical growing year. Youobviously have the greenhouse that
helps the year round growing,but you also do flowers outside of
your greenhouse too. So walkus through your typical growing year.
I don't think I could do theflower field without the greenhouse.
(14:49):
They go really well togetherin this climate because we have a
very short growing season. Soon a typical year, I guess would
start with calendar year, itwould be January. January is basically
spent planning, marketing andstarting a few seeds, receiving seeds,
all those things. And then inFebruary, we start seeding. We do
a lot of the seeding for thegreenhouse and the flower field in
(15:11):
February. In March, we startto receive plants from young plant
growers. And so that's mainlyfor the greenhouse. We don't plants
in for the flower field.That's all started by us. And then
it's kind of a whirlwind oftransplanting, growing, keeping on
top of insect management andjust getting the plants to the stage
(15:33):
they need to be for our May1st opening. May is very busy in
getting plants out the doorinto their next homes. And. Well,
and also we plant the wholeflower field in May, which is. Yeah,
that's a feat. Also we growthe flower field in. The annuals
are grown in landscape fabric.So I lay that down, have to get irrigation
(15:55):
down. We do drip irrigation sothat we don't lose so much to evaporation.
And I transplant all the plugsthat I started in the greenhouse
usually by the end of May, anddirect seed all of our sunflowers.
And then like yesterday I justfinished transplanting dahlias and
we start cutting at the startof June. So then we're cutting flowers
(16:17):
and the greenhouse slows downa lot in June. So it kind of is a
nice transition for us. We doour weekly flower bouquets and into
July. We start with weddingsand we start our U pick season in
August. This summer we aregoing to do our U pick. So our U
pick season is going to startwith open farm days. We're doing
some. We're going to do farmtours on August 17th and that actually
(16:42):
transitions really well intoCanadian flowers week, which is the
following week. So we'll dosome U picks that week and then the
summer's end festival inFairview, which we always like to
put a parade or a parade floatin. And we'll continue our U picks
until the end of Septemberwhen we usually get some frost. It's
not a long season for us. Ithink September 16th is our average
(17:05):
frost date. But my sunflowersare usually happy until October and
Then end of September, we haveto wrap up the whole flower field.
I've kind of learned now that,like, whether there's frost or not,
I need to pull everythingelse, everything out the week after
Thanksgiving. And because youcan hold that warmth a little bit
longer. But when winterdecides to be here, it's here. And
(17:26):
if you don't have things out,you're out of luck. So we pull everything
out at the end of October, andwe quickly. By we, I mean me. It's
just me in the fall. And thenwe quickly get our tulips planted
for the next season, becauseour. That's when we have our June
tulips is October and theninto. Well, I guess it starts in
(17:49):
September, but then we'reordering for the next season, transitioning,
planning, doing winterworkshops into November and December
with. We do some locally growngreens. My cedar trees are taking
a really long time to grow, soI do bring in some B.C. cedar for
our winter work workshops. Andyeah, that's kind of how a year in
(18:10):
the flower field and thegreenhouse looks like for me, that
is.
A full year of flower farmingfor you. How do you decide each year
what you are going to grow?
So for the flower field, Imake notes weekly, like, what is
filling our bouquets, what'sworking, what's growing? Well, here
there's lots of things thatjust. It's not warm enough here to
(18:33):
grow. And some of those I trythe next year in my greenhouse because
I do have the. The time, likethe room over the summer, it's empty,
but it's challenging to growin there. In the summer, it's hot,
so it's kind of what I thinkis going to look beautiful. I plan
my color palettes ahead oftime so that the season colors are
transitioning from spring andthe light pinks and the light purples
(18:56):
and pale colors, and we kindof get more vibrant as the season
goes on. And yeah, I try andhave like a kaleidoscope of colors
in the field so that we cancreate different things and seasonal
things at different times.
(20:31):
Michelle, what have been someof the biggest growing pains that
you have faced as a newfarmer, a new flower farmer?
Having all these beautifulflowers in a cooler and no place
for them to go is a. Is agrowing pain. It's a beautiful growing
pain. But you, you really needto market up front and get, get the
(20:53):
word out and get your productout and. Yeah, that's. That's a tricky
one.
Yeah, for sure. What have beensome of your most successful adventures
in the marketing space?
For your farm, social media isa game changer. If you are posting
regularly and often andsharing your story and sharing what
is blooming right now on yourgreenhouse or in the flower farm,
(21:18):
it's night and day. You. If Ipost regularly for days on end, people
will remember to come. They'llcome and visit the greenhouse because
it's beautiful and they wantto be there. But if you get forgotten
quickly, if sometimes ifyou're not on top of it, and that's
a tricky thing for me, I havea hard time with it.
Right. Well, essentiallyyou're doing everything for this
(21:42):
business, from growing theflowers to doing the behind the scenes
work of bookkeeping and beingthe professional marketer, which
I think most farmers don'thave that experience of professional
marketing.
No, I don't think I've ever.I'm not the greatest salesman. We'll
say that I'm the grower.
(22:02):
Right. But you are, you know,you are the grower and you are producing
something that's so beautifulfor your community and giving that
to your community is so special.
Yeah. I'm lucky. It's such abeautiful product. I just have to
take pictures of it and it's apretty easy job to do, right? Yeah.
Sells itself almost.
(22:22):
Just gotta click post.
Yeah. What are some of yourfavorite plants and flowers that
you grow versus what are theones that you really don't like to
grow?
Okay. Well, so it's hardbecause it's like two things. Right.
So in the greenhouse, I reallylove petunias. They're beautiful
and they love this area for abasket flower. Right. And in the
(22:48):
flower field, I absolutelylove dahlias. They're beautiful.
And I love sunflowers and thatit's hard in the flower field because
I think that growing flowerslocally and seasonally, it really
makes you appreciate differentthings at different times. And that's
what it's all about. Right.Tulips are gorgeous in the spring.
And then we have ranunculusand then we have peonies, and then
(23:11):
we have our field grownAsiatic lilies, we have oriental
lilies. Everything has its ownplace and its own beauty. And it's
kind of amazing to watch ittransition throughout the year. So
I kind of have favorites onevery season. Things I don't like
to grow, I guess are probablythings that are hard for me. But
I still, I didn't like growingroses. They hurt. That's what I don't
(23:34):
like to grow.
Right.
I still, I think I still havea thorn in my finger from. Because
we have some roses in thegreenhouse right now that we sell.
And yeah, I have some, somethorns in my fingers from them still.
That's fair. That is a fairanswer for that. Well, and like you
said, when you're growingseasonally and locally, you really
(23:55):
can appreciate what is able togrow and through what condition it's
able to grow. And just to seethe different stages of it from,
you know, seeds, if youstarted it in your greenhouse, to
all the way to somebody'swedding bouquet. Like what a beautiful
transition that is for somebodspecial day. How has it been received
(24:17):
in your community? What arethe folks and visitors saying about
visiting your farm?
I think it's been really wellreceived. We have a fantastic community
who likes to come and sharethe space and we have people who
just come and take pictures,people who come to our U picks and
just buy a few flowers. Butthey just really love to come and,
(24:39):
and enjoy either thegreenhouse or the flower field. It's.
It's a nice place to be. It'swarm. It's like, it's pollinator
friendly. There's bees andthings buzzing and yeah, it's a wonderful
place and I think ourcommunity's really embraced it.
That's awesome. You hadmentioned the workshops that you
have in the winter season.What are some of other events that
(25:03):
you're hosting on the farm orthat you're looking at hosting?
We do our U picks in thespring. We always do an Easter egg
hunt at Easter for kids andthat's lots of fun. We do private
workshops as well. We do someflower wreath making in the fall
with our dried flowers. That'sbasically the events that we host.
(25:24):
Those in itself are a lot ofevents to host. And I feel like farmers
like myself who, you know,we're on a grain farm, we're not
looking at the agro tourismaspect of agriculture, but it is
huge and it is a big industry.And specifically in your region,
there are a ton ofopportunities to look into agritourism
(25:50):
and to have people out onfarms. What are some of the must
sees in your area when itcomes to things to do and places
to go?
Well, the Peace River Valleyis beautiful and amazing. We have
a riverboat and we spend lotsof time in the valley. I love to
go down to Dunvegan in thesummer. It's a gorgeous like provincial
(26:12):
campsite and we like to godown to the market gardens and get
strawberries and have minigolf and ice cream. Like it's a beautiful
place. Climb the hill eventhough it freaks me out because it's
kind of scary, but my kidslike to climb it like billy goats.
Yeah.
I love. Love that part of thepeace country and the whole river
valley. We do camping up inmany islands as well, which is kind
(26:35):
of a little bit more of aremote campsite. There's quadding,
there's sandhills. Isbeautiful in the area. There's so
much to do and so much to see.
What has been kind of, youknow, when there are folks coming
to your farm and they are fromout of town, they're from out of
the region, what are theytelling you is their favorite part
(26:58):
of peace country?
I think the community isprobably their favorite thing. Like
it's. People are friendly.It's a beautiful place to be. There's
big skies and long days, whichI think is kind of unlike a lot of
place like it. It is. It'sdifferent than anywhere else. You
can fit so much into a daybecause the days are so long.
(27:19):
Yeah, absolutely.
People are amazed with. Ithink the peace River. The peace
river valley is a. Is a prettyamazing place. When you come down
the hill, it's. Yeah, it'sgorgeous. And then, yeah, we have
beautiful farmland.
I think I was amazed thatthere was just so many things to
do. And that is something. Assomebody from southern Alberta, when
I think of things to do inAlberta, I think of Calgary and Edmonton.
(27:42):
But, you know, just a couplehours north of Edmonton and there
is this hub of activity. Isthere any hidden gems that you love,
like local cafes or seasonalevents that happen?
So I love the old bistro inFairview. It's a beautiful little
coffee shop. And they like.It's beautiful outside too. They
(28:03):
have tulips. They have amazingbaskets. They have a windmill out
front. It's such a little gem.And they have great coffee, which
I love coffee. So it's one ofmy favorites. I love golfing. So
we do lots of golfing inFairview. As well as Hines Creek.
They have. Heinz creek is moreof a rural golf course. And it's
a little bit smaller, but it'sa real hidden gem. And the condition
(28:26):
at the Fairview golf course isalways amazing. And the summer's
end festival. Oh, I love thesummer's end festival in Fairview.
The kids love it too. There'slots of fun things to do. They usually
have bouncy castles, a carshow. There's a parade. We put a
parade float in. And thensomething we also do every year is
there's a haunted forest inFairview. And it's a lot of fun.
The kids get really scared.There's lots of screaming. It's really
(28:48):
cool.
For the, the spooky lovers,that would be a great activity. As
somebody who is a big scaredycat, I might skip that one. But the
year end festival sounds likeone I would like to go to.
Yeah, it's fun. There's astreet dance. It's a good time.
What do you think makes thePeace country memorable for you?
(29:09):
For me it's the big skies, theamazing wildlife and just being able
to go out and find adventure.Whether you're like, whether you
like ATVs or you like walkingand hiking and all the things. Like
there's, there's so manyplaces to see here and it's so beautiful.
(29:32):
And I really do love our longdays and our amazing thunderstorms
and all the things that gowith northern Alberta.
Absolutely. Very good.Obviously winter is a real season
that we have here in Canadaand especially northwest Alberta.
So what are some of theactivities that you can do during
the winter that make it maybea bit more enjoyable?
(29:53):
Oh, curling. I love curling.It's. Yeah, it's been a family sport
for a long time. I lovecurling. We have a great curling
rink and competitive and youget together with friends. We also
do lots of skiing. We havegreat ski hills around here. We have
the Fairview ski hill that welove to visit and the Worsley ski
hill which is an amazingplace. They have a chairlift even
(30:14):
and the kids love it and theyhave good snow always. It's. It's
a great place. And thenhonestly like we, we chase the kids
around with hockey in thewinter which is good. It's community
and it's great.
That's awesome. Well, and thePeace country area is. When I think
of it, I think of communityand the time that I've gotten to
spend there at the event thatI was able to go to. Just a warm
(30:36):
feeling overall and folksthere really love where they live
and it really shows.
Yeah, I think we have a good community.
Yes. What is next for you inthe journey of flower farming?
Well, I did somethingdifferent this year. I thought I
should try and grow fall moms.So. So I have mums arriving on Friday
(30:58):
so they come as liners andthen I'll grow them over the summer.
So yeah, it's go big or gohome with lots of crops. So we'll
have 250 potted mums to sellin the fall. But I think it'll go
nicely with the rest of thethings we do. I would like to continue
growing. We've already addedon one greenhouse to our greenhouse,
but in the next two years, Iwould like to build another and just
(31:22):
have a little bit more spacefor our. All the things we would
like to grow that we justdon't quite have room for. And yeah,
I want to continue withweddings. I really love doing wedding
installations. I think they'remy favorite thing. So more of that
and yeah, just more of sharingmy flowers. Sometimes I think that
(31:43):
is probably my biggestweakness is like, making sure the
public can. Can get them. Ican't hoard all the beautiful things.
It's.
Yeah, I'm sure it's verytempting to bring in the most beautiful
blooms to display on yourkitchen table versus giving them
to anyone else. I. I know the feeling.
(32:05):
Yeah, it is. It's hard.
Michelle, what is the mostrewarding part about being a rural
woman and a farmer for you?
Being able to really see. Seeyour work to something beautiful,
whether it's a seed into abeautiful plant or all the flowers
you cut into a beautifulbouquet. It's very rewarding to see
(32:28):
that progress. Lots of theworld is lots of and even lots of
what I do can be very digital.Like, we do like the bookkeeping
and it's all very good andnice, but it's. It's not very rewarding
compared to seeing somethingyou create be so beautiful and then
also bring so much joy tosomeone else. Like, flowers are amazing.
(32:49):
They can remind you ofsomeone. They can bring memories.
And I really love being ableto share that with people.
I love that. And like. Andflowers do bring memories and certain
smells, certain colors offlowers. Anything like that can really
strike good memories withpeople and create new memories with
people that they will have fora lifetime. So I've always dreamt
(33:12):
of being a flower farmersecretly, but I have heard many stories
from many flower farmers and Iknow the work that goes into it and
it is a lot of work. So Icommend you and your family for starting
this business and growing thisbusiness to where it is and providing
such a beautiful space foryour community. So congratulations
(33:35):
on all of your success and Iwish you a very happy growing season
and look forward to followingyour story along in the future.
Awesome. Thank you.
Michelle, for the folks whowould like to connect with you after
the show, where can they findyou online?
They can find us on ourwebsite, www.grownorthgardens.com
(33:57):
or Facebook or Instagram @grownorthgardens.
Perfect. And I will link thoseas well as all of the information
to your beautiful mighty peacecountry in the show. Not people can
find you, connect with you andsee what your beautiful area has
to offer.
Awesome. Thank you.
(34:21):
Thanks for listening to theRural Woman Podcast the Rural Woman
Podcast is more than just apodcast. We are a community. A huge
thank you to the Rural WomanPodcast Team. Audio Editor Max Hofer
A special thanks to ourPatreon Executive Producers Sarah
Riedner From Happiness by theAcre to learn how you can become
(34:43):
a Patreon Executive Produceror other ways to financially support
the show, head on over towildrosefarmer.com to learn more.
Be sure to hit the Follow orSubscribe button wherever you listen
to the podcast to get thelatest episodes directly on your
playlist list. And if you areloving the show, please be sure to
(35:03):
leave a rating and review onApple Podcasts or any other platform
that accepts ratings andreviews. You can connect with us
on social media, theWorldWoman podcast, and with me,
WildRoseFarmer. One of thebest ways you can support the show
is by sharing it. Send thisepisode to a friend or share on your
(35:25):
social media. Let's strengthenand amplify the voices of women in
agriculture together. Untilnext time my friend. Keep sharing
your story.
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