YA BUSINESS MENTORSHIP NETWORK – DEEPLY ROOTED MARKET GARDEN

Meet a Mentee: Lauren and Sally Thomas of Deeply Rooted Market Garden

The leaves are turning yellow and amongst a prairie landscape of poplar and aspen there is a raw beauty in this scene. A deep breath out and another growing season complete — Never exactly what you expect or can fully anticipate, but a definite reward of sharing time outside. These days, the yellow leaves really do feel like a gift of gold from heaven — a natural treasure and a promise of slowing down.

We’re Deeply Rooted — two sisters, Lauren and Sally who decided to grow vegetables for their community during a global pandemic. We started growing on land that belonged to our Grandparents, traditionally situated on Treaty 6 territory and lands that belonged to the Blackfoot, Cree, and Nakota Peoples before us. Deeply Rooted Market Garden is located just outside of Seba Beach — a bustling Summer Village and cottage community 45 minutes West of Edmonton, Alberta.

This season, we realized the need to view our farm as a functional business and a sustainable one. We were prepared to embrace the tough realities that were asked when putting a dream into practice:  budgeting, realistically looking at time and input costs, and assessing our personal capacities and limitations. Our goals this season were to restructure our farm model to become profitable and manage our time on and off the farm, mainly to enjoy more quality time with each other and with loved ones. Anyone that’s a farmer knows that’s a big ask. Farming and the grow season asks for long hours and a dedication to the land you are tending.

First — we had a huge lesson in budgeting and record keeping. Honestly, getting financially literate in running a business was a big one and the video sessions from YA on farm taxes, budgets, expenses and financial literacy really put into perspective some of the areas we had overlooked. Us sisters had essentially worked three years, not making an income from the farm and while we had a business to be proud of, the business wasn’t necessarily supporting us…”yet”. “Yet”, was something we had used to justify so much of the joy, sweat, and tears of the last 3 years.

The reality of many initial businesses is the first few years are hard. There are investments and expenses that don’t necessarily see a return until years down the line. We wanted to evaluate some of our choices and make sure we had a profitable future — because while we love, love, love, growing food and building community— we also needed the assurance of being able to support ourselves. We had both intended to tend the garden while working other jobs this season. The reality of this involved downsizing the farming operation and stepping away from farmers markets and CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture veggie box deliveries) and only offer our goods at a roadside farm stand that had gained a beautiful amount of support from our community.

While us sisters have always been known to have big dreams and the gusto to go for it — Realistically this one was a little more than we could follow through on, and so we saw a spring with a huge amount of flurry— a rush to get seed starts into the ground and the reality that there wasn’t enough time in a day to get regular working hours in, all while keeping up with the logistics of a full operational market garden.

Primarily the YA business mentorship taught us the importance of viewing our farm as a business and looking at the harsh realities of our workload. As sisters — what started as a dream started to unravel — the harsh realities of a huge workload began to stress our relationship and we made the decision that sisterhood came before business.  We had started this as a dream to honour the land, our community— and share time together doing something we loved and it was still that — we just needed to remind ourselves of our values. Was the farm in alignment with our values? Or were we trying to grow something in an unsustainable way?

Mid-way into spring, it was time for a difficult conversation, one rooted in the honest admittance that the farm just wasn’t working for one of us anymore. It’s always hard to hear but it’s even harder to admit to ourselves — and so this year — Deeply Rooted, while half planted and tended to on weekends — looked different — the vegetables made it into more slow meals, was shared with neighbours in the form of scape bouquet’s, pesto and slow cooked cherry tomato sauces.

Last week while walking by an untended farmstead and semi-unkept garden — there was the very obvious reflection that the garden is not the same scale or vigour of years past. Walking past the wash station — that held so many memories — my heart was grateful. To have had the experience of growing food and managing a large scale garden as sisters is something that will always hold a special place in our hearts. The countless early morning, garden dances — to songs by Joni Mitchel, Cat Clyde, and Zach Bryan, tears, late night business meetings, but most of all, the time spent outside in a place that holds such a special place in our hearts. These memories will always be treasured — to have spent such a significant amount of time in a garden, adapting to all the curve balls that inevitably happen on a farm — to spewing irrigation, wind blown farm stands, tired feet, vegetable fridge Tetris, and forever having dirt under our fingernails — no matter how much we seemed to wash our hands.

The thing that we found most supportive this season was the check-ins from our community — people we’d seen regularly at weekly markets would check in on us — send us texts — ask us about the farm stand … and while part of us felt defeated in not operating the stand — there was another part that felt so much gratitude in having the time to share friendly meals, tend a smaller garden without the pressures of meeting sales deadlines, and the first year of successfully growing eggplants and peppers.

We did make it our to visit our mentor: Graham Sparrow of Sparrow’s Nest Organics Farm a few times this season. What we appreciate most about him is his steady dedication to the art of farming and the perseverance and dedication he embodies and advocates for in what it takes to be a farmer. Each time we visited, we left with more insight into his world of farming and how he has structured his life to make farming sustainable for him. We learnt that farming is a lifestyle, not an occupation – not something you do, but something you embody full heartedly — We learned that if you want to learn the joys and challenges of a farmer — offer to help one out. The things we learnt while working and mentoring for Graham were invaluable and gave us a continued sense of community while navigating the challenges of farming.

And while Deeply Rooted doesn’t look like a full blown farm these days — we’re still holding the dream and having conversations with community members of what the future of Deeply Rooted could look like. We’re realizing that big dreams take a big team — and this year was a perfect opportunity to reassess, adjust, and slow down. Sometimes you need to take a step back — rest— and move forward intentionally as opposed to rushing forward towards a destination you actually hadn’t fully intended.

We get to wake up happy with the life and challenges we get to grow through each day — knowing that challenges bring greater happiness because whilst moving through them — we gain a deeper appreciation for the gifts and beauty amongst them — like the golden leaves of Fall and the amazing people we get to share a garden with.

You can find more about Deeply Rooted Market Garden on our website:

https://www.deeplyrootedmarketgarden.ca/

Or can connect with us through our instagram:

@deeplyrooted_ab