Young Agrarians is celebrating the tenth year of the Business Mentorship Network (BMN) program in BC and the second year of the program in the Prairies! If you are a new farmer or the next generation to take on your family farm and need support to figure out the business aspects of your farm consider applying for the 2024/2025 cohort. The BMN offers business mentorships to a diverse array of new and young farmers/ranchers/producers. Through one-on-one mentorship, peer networks and online workshops new farmers develop the skills necessary to operate ecologically sustainable and financially viable farm businesses.
Apply for the 2024/2025 program here – applications processed in October .
Check out the Business Mentorship Network page for more information!
Over the next few weeks we will introduce you to each of the new farmers in the 2024 cohort to hear about the arc of their farming journey, what their hopes are for the season ahead and what inspired them to reach out for business mentorship. To access more of these stories head over to our blog here.
Meet a Mentee: Lolo at Buttercup Sandwich Florals
Hello fellow farmers and other young agrarians! My name is Lolo Hendin (she/her) and my flower farm & floristry business is called Buttercup Sandwich Florals.
For those wondering why the strange and confusing name (is it a flower farm or a sandwich shop??), please have a listen to the beautiful Bridget St. John song, “To b without a hitch,’ and I hope you enjoy! In her song she says “But as for me, I’ll sit and eat a buttercup sandwich and wait for the shower to be over.” It made no sense in the moment, but as soon as I heard that line I knew it would be my business name. Just the right amount of strangeness and magic.
After listening to the song again I realized that she’s singing about going slow and taking in the flowers as the rest of the world rushes by, and she’s referencing Beatrix Potter’s butterfly sandwich. The song is about imagination, playfulness and the beauty of the small and slow moments in life, and these are all the tenets of Buttercup Sandwich Florals.
So my business is indeed a flower farm, and I am privileged to grow on the unceded territory of the Hul’q’umi’num’ and SENĆOŦEN speaking people, also known as Salt Spring Island.
I fell into flower farming as a fluke during the first year of Covid and because of the simple need for a job. I started as a farm labourer at Earth Candy Farm and then stayed for 4 years and grew into the role of flower farm manager and florist. I was so lucky to have these years of experience learning about how each flower likes to grow, be harvested, stored and cared for from seed to compost. I witnessed the behind-the-scenes of a flower farm business and began to imagine what could work for my own business one day.
They say that the best job in farming is managing someone else’s farm, but I was crazy enough this year to no longer be able to resist the urge to strike out on my own. I’m curious to see what methods I will bring with me on this new endeavour and ways in which I will be inspired to try something new.
After having experience mostly in growing big, long rows of flowers for wholesale sales, I’ve chosen to focus Buttercup Sandwich on growing flowers for event floristry. So it will be a new skill to figure out timing, amounts and planning for a new sales channel. I couldn’t resist because the process of growing a flower from seed, harvesting it and arranging it into something unique and creative is too exciting and rewarding. I love the process of watching a flower grow and I love the act of combining it with other flowers to convey a feeling and an experience, so I just have to do it al! And to top it all off, if some of those flowers come back to me and I can turn them into compost and return them to the soil – my heart is full and the circle is complete.
My farm this year will begin small on approximately a quarter acre and I’ll focus mostly on planting foliage and perennials – plants and flowers that will give back and be useful for years to come. I’m starting with very little seed money and no loans, so the build will be gradual, which feels like the natural way for me and my business. But I’m lucky enough to have wedding clients whose investment in my business goes towards building up the farm and growing the flowers that will eventually be in their bridal bouquets and table centerpieces.
There’s so much knowledge available these days and you can find me in my prop house starting seeds or out in the fields weeding and endlessly listening to flower farming podcasts, soaking up all the tips I can. But nothing has been as valuable as just getting to ask my mentor and other flower farmers questions. I’m so grateful to be part of a connected network of talented flower farmers who have been generous with their knowledge. My mentor through the Young Agrarians mentorship program is Kailli Pigot, of Dancing Dandelion Farms, and I was trained in farming and arranging for many years under Claire Jutras, of Earth Candy Farm, and Molly & Zack Wilson, of Bullock Lake Farm.
It’s definitely a trial year for me and I expect that the lessons will be overflowing with each new trial that the spring, summer and fall will bring. My goals this year are to build the foundation of a sustainable and profitable farm & floristry business, to grow beautiful flowers that go to appreciative homes, to create as much compost as I can and to create closed-loop cycles on the land to care for the soil and plants, and to enjoy every stage of the experience without burning out and growing resentful of my beloved flowers. It may be a tall order, but it’s the spring when all is bright & hopeful and anything is possible.
You can follow my farming journey on Instagram @buttercup.sandwich
You can view my past floristry work, sign up for my newsletter or inquire about booking an event with me on website: www.buttercupsandwich.com
This program is made possible in BC with the generous funding support of Vancity and Endswell Foundation.