Welcome to 2020 as we dust off the New Year's hangover and pivot to a new season for growing and designing with flowers.
Clara Qualizza of Meadow & Thicket Farm Flowers (left) and Heather Henson of Boreal Blooms (right), flower farmers and co-hosts of The Sustainable Flowers Podcast
Today's conversation is the first of several episodes I want to feature about sustainability, the environment and climate change and challenges facing our Slow Flowers Community in this new decade. While researching and writing the 2020 Slow Flowers Floral Insights and Industry Forecast, which you heard last week, my instincts were confirmed -- that the ever-more-important topic of sustainability in the floral marketplace will be front and center this year. So I've committed to inviting at least one guest per month to discuss who, what and how we can each make adjustments in our practices to be more sustainable.
Today's guests will kick things off. Please meet Heather Henson of Boreal Blooms, based in Cold Lake, Alberta, and Clara Qualizza of Meadow and Thicket Farm Flowers in Wildwood, Alberta.
Together, they women host the Sustainable Flowers Podcast, which they describe as "a conversation about sustainable cut flower growing and designing as two passionate Canadian growers trying to figure it out." I take comfort in that, because we are all trying to "figure it out," aren't we?
Just to give you a sense of the distance between us all -- and we came together through the aid of technology!
Heather and Clara each grow cut flowers for market on the northern edge of the Canadian Prairies. In 2018, these floralpreneurs launched the Sustainable Flowers Podcast as a project in which they discuss the issues they face and alternatives to conventional approaches that they are putting into practice or are trialing to ensure that their small-scale flower farming operations are sustainable. Whether that means looking to the past or forward to new technologies to learn the whys and hows, they discuss everything from peat to floral foam, Antirrhinum to Zinnias as well as their weekly adventures on their Zones 2 and 3 flower farms.
Clara Qualizza of Meadow and Thicket Farm Flowers
I'm so delighted that both are members
of Slow Flowers, as well. Their leadership as flower farmers and influencers
who view their practices through a sustainable lens is creating change for
floral professionals and consumers in the province of Alberta, across Canada
and North American, and beyond - their listenership is international.
Heather Henson of Boreal Blooms
Have a listen to our unique three-way conversation, brought to you by the magic of technology (thanks Clara!), which we recorded several weeks ago. I'm so glad that it kicks off the New Year for the Slow Flowers Podcast and sets the tone for the conversations to follow.
Clara at her farm in Wildwood, Alberta, Canada
Follow Clara Qualizza of Meadow and Thicket Farm Flowers on Social Media:
Meadow and Thicket on Facebook
Meadow and Thicket on Instagram
Boreal Blooms on Facebook
Boreal Blooms on Instagram
Boreal Blooms in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada
Registrations continue for the Slow Flowers Summit, and I'm so excited for you to join me and connect with our fabulous speakers, enjoy the incredibly beautiful venue at Filoli Historic House & Garden, and experience the many features that will immerse you in the people, principles and practices of Slow Flowers.
The Garden House at Filoli
Christina Stembel of Farmgirl Flowers
If you've not yet checked out details, you can find links to all the details about our partnership with Filoli Historic House and Garden, our venue for days 1 and 2 of the Summit (that's June 28 &29) and see our speaker lineup and programming.
By the way, Day 3 is an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour led by our friend Christina Stembel, CEO of Farmgirl Flowers. This is rare access, folks, available only to Summit attendees.