This is the second of a four-part series of farmer interviews conducted by students in a Community Service Learning course at the University of Alberta. Nayeon Kim interviewed Fern of Fern’s Flower Garden, and wrote this heartfelt blog post. We’re delighted to share these farmer stories with you!
Fern says she wasn’t born with a green thumb, but her beautiful flower garden says otherwise. Once you start talking to Fern you’ll quickly realize how passionate she is about growing flowers and building community!
Fern is a first-time farmer who founded Fern’s Flowers Garden in 2022 with her husband, Kevin. Together, they run a flourishing garden that brings together flower lovers and offers people an escape from their busy lives to unwind in a beautiful flower sanctuary.
What is Fern’s Flower Garden?
Fern’s Flowers Garden offers a U-Pick flower experience located in Northeast Edmonton in the Horse Hill area right along the North Saskatchewan River. Fern’s Flowers Garden U-Pick primarily grows cut flowers. The garden sits on a hidden piece of land that dips down along the riverbank—a quick get-away from city life and an opportunity to become enveloped in nature.
Origin Story
Fern’s Flowers Garden started out as a way to support Lady Flower Gardens (LFG), a not-for-profit community garden that provides experiential learning opportunities for vulnerable populations. This organization was founded by Fern’s father-in-law, and is located on a large piece of property within the Edmonton city limits and this land can be quite expensive to maintain. Fern and her husband, Kevin, wanted to see if they could try and generate an income with the land to support LFG and also share the land with more people. What started out as a project to support an essential community garden has blossomed into its own entity that continues to grow with every passing year!
Sustainable Agricultural Practices
Fern’s Flowers Garden does a number of things to promote healthy soil and ecosystems on their farm:
- Composting. Growing alfalfa outside of their 2-acre garden plot then harvesting and spreading it over their garden for nutrients.
- Soil health. Purchasing and spreading compost as needed. Fern’s Flowers Garden has a standard soil health test conducted every fall. A standard test might include soil pH, salt content, available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, sulfur, copper, iron, manganese, boron, zinc and heavy metals.
- Crop rotation. Rotating crops and flowers so that the same crop is not being grown two years in a row in the same spot.
- Pollinators. There are bee hives on Fern’s Flowers Garden since bees are essential pollinators that fertilize plants so that they can grow and reproduce.
Fern’s Flowers Garden is focusing their attention on growing more native flower species to support the local ecosystem. Native plants are uniquely suited to growing in certain environments and local wildlife, birds, and butterflies have a strong relationship with these native plants. The local ecosystem relies on native plants for providing its wildlife with food, shelter, and nesting sites. This past season, Fern’s Flowers Garden had native plants like Milkweed, Wild Bergamot and Gaillardia. Next season, they are planning on adding native plants like Western Blue Flax, Fireweed, Canada Goldenrod, Low Goldenrod, Meadow Blazing-Star, and Slender Blue Beardtongue to the garden as well!
Future Aspirations
Fern and Kevin are excited about people’s interest in Fern’s Flowers Garden and are planning on expanding into different avenues of business and agriculture. Fern has brought up some potential ideas for expansion such as experimenting with dry flowers and wholesale flowers. There are also ideas about hosting weddings and flower arrangement workshops in the future. Perhaps even adding a small coffee shop for people to enjoy. The possibilities are endless!
Parting Message for Aspiring Farmers
“The most rewarding thing about farming is the connection to the land. Ultimately, we all live off the land and so that connection is important… With recent advances in technology and all of the distractions that come with that, this connection with the land is increasingly important and rewarding. Fern is 1000% better than me in this regard. It comes so naturally to her. She so effortlessly loves farming, plants, flowers, nature, and sharing that [experience] with … [others]. If you can find a way to share that with your customers, it makes a huge difference and it’s a really nice way to make a living.” — Kevin
Fern and Kevin’s U-Pick garden is a beautiful space for all people to enjoy a diverse range of flowers, interact with nature, and escape the city. Stop by Fern’s Flowers Garden to enjoy the calming scenery and pick your own arrangement of flowers.
To learn more about Fern’s Flowers Garden check out their website https://www.fernsflowers.ca/ or their Facebook!
Check out the first story in this series, Meet Tishawni Ellery of Sundog Organic Farm.