2022 Reflections

If I had to summarize 2022 growing year in a phrase I would say “learning through trial and error.”

It was our 3rd year of business as Wild Bee Florals and 2nd year at our current growing site. We are still learning about the soil conditions in different areas around the farm and what the edges of the growing season are within the Comox Valley. The prolonged rainy and cloudy spring resulted in a slower start to summer annuals, but ranunculus and tulips loved it. We were able to harvest spring florals for a nice chunk of time with Mother’s Day being a huge hit. Once the summer sun picked up, our plants felt a lot healthier and were more productive compared to last year. Overall the production side of things felt good and we felt like we were making good strides, while figuring out which crops worked best for us.

In terms of the business side of things, we brought on a full time summer support staff, tried to maintain a farm studio space, offered more workshops on site and designed for more event work. I really enjoyed collaborating and bringing people together with creatives like Jane for an indigo workshop and Juliana to explore ink and watercolour making. The desire for workshops did seem to wane throughout the year though.... which was a consistent theme amongst others offering workshops.

At the end of the year when I examined everything from a business perspective, the expansive thinking didn’t make financial sense - at least for the moment when we have to make loan payments on the hoophouse + cooler till early 2026. So much energy and resources were spent building the business up and supporting staff wages, but then we also faced the cost of supplies going up and a lack of time to fully invest energy into each concept. After-all, growing the flowers was half the battle and marketing + selling was the other half. It was really nice trialing different revenue streams (subscriptions, floral deliveries, wholesale, events, farmers markets and workshops) and by doing so, I got a better sense of what clicked. It was also valuable to compare all of our income from each stream on a spreadsheet, so we could better analyze how things were at the end of the year.

For 2023, to welcome more stability in my life, I got a part time job at North Island College. It seems counter-intuitive, but I think this is a really good call to not put a lot of pressure on myself to make a full-time income off flowers while a business is being built up. It felt mentally exhausting at the end of the year, which affects creativity. We are currently looking at operating the farm with 3-4 focused days of work a week and investing more into perennials. Overall, we are really setting ourselves up for a more balanced growing experience with a focus on event floral design. Stay tuned for all the fun projects we will be a part of this year!

With lot of love,
Thanu