From seed to stem: The winter work of a Saskatchewan flower farmer

CLAVET, SASK. — There are few things Kristen Raney enjoys more than a tranquil summer day in her flower garden.

“You wake up in the morning, it’s time to harvest, and you’re just outside in your garden by yourself,” she said wistfully. “It’s so peaceful.”

Raney owns and operates Shifting Blooms, a farm that produces flowers instead of the traditional crops like wheat or canola that dominate the Saskatchewan landscape. During the warmer months, her garden bursts with vibrant colours and the sweet fragrance of the blooms that stretch as far as the eye can see.

Listen to Raney on Behind the Headlines:

But as she looks out her window on a frosty winter morning, those warm summer days feel like a distant dream.

In a few months time Raney’s garden will be overflowing with bright, colourful flowers, a stark contrast from the snowy landscape she currently sees from her window. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

The once-bustling, colourful garden is currently a sea of white.

“The snow has almost reached the top of the three-foot raised beds,” Raney said with a chuckle. “It’s great, right?”

The world outside is still, and Raney knows the peaceful days of harvest are far away, but she’s already hard at work preparing for the season to come.

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Raney said she begins the process of preparing for spring on the flower farm as soon as her final crop of the year is harvested. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

Raney’s careful planning starts right after the last crop has been harvested.

“The process really starts in like September, October,” she explained. “You sort of make your decisions what you’re going to buy based off what sold well and what didn’t.”

Her flowers aren’t just for bouquets — she also grows and arranges flowers for weddings, and trends play an important role in her decisions.

“If I notice any trending colours and I want to invest more in those, or like, if brides are asking for a certain flower or certain look,” she said. “This year, I have a lot more cosmos than usual, because I feel like that kind of cottage vibe was really in.”

Once she has worked out her vision for the next season, Raney begins the meticulous process of planning her planting dates and preparing for the upcoming crop.

“You have to look on the back of every seed packet if you don’t know it off the top of your head, and be like, ‘Hey, this is week whatever.’ Then I’ll also go in my calendar. I go to May 21 and say, like, ‘This is the planting out day.’ And then I count the weeks backwards from there,” she explained.

Raney takes planning her garden very seriously. She has created a book specifically for the task, called “The Flower Farmer Garden Planner.” (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

Like many gardeners in Saskatchewan, Raney starts her seeds indoors, but not many begin the process quite as early as she does.

“We start these at Christmas, or like the day after Christmas,” Raney said, referring to eucalyptus and lisianthus — two varieties that require an extra-long growing season to thrive.

Raney’s seed-starting setup is surprisingly simple: a metal shelf rigged with lights in her basement.

“These are just like cheap shop lights,” Raney explained. “I did some experiments with the nice, professional ones, and obviously if you can afford them, they’re better. But, you know, these shop lights are just fine.”

The affordable lights are more than enough to nurture the seedlings in their early stages, as long as Raney stays vigilant.

Raney’s seed-starting setup is surprisingly simple: a metal shelf rigged with lights in her basement. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

“You definitely have to check them every day,” she said. “When they’re in this state, they are pretty precarious, because if you under-water them, they die, and if you over-water them, they also die.”

Each day, Raney climbs up and down the basement stairs numerous times to check on her seedlings. She watches over the tiny plants, adjusting their environment to give them the best chance to grow.

It’s a big commitment, but it’s one she’s deeply invested in.

“It’s how I want to live my life,” Raney reflected. “And the fact that I get to make money at it is such a bonus.”

Raney said eucalyptus and lisianthus can be challenging to start because they are extremely slow growing. She starts the seedlings as early as Christmas Day to ensure they will be ready for summer. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

As she stands in her basement, surrounded by shelves of growing seedlings, the last few months of winter still stretching out before her, Raney looks forward with anticipation to what’s ahead — the promise of warm sunlight, vibrant blooms, and peaceful mornings spent harvesting in her garden.

Each seedling she nurtures is one small step closer to the summer days she’s been dreaming of.

Raney said starting her seedlings so early allows her to have blooms in her garden as early as June. (Shifting Roots/Facebook)