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“Being a grower is incredibly hard work. You’re the first one in, the last one out, and when things go wrong, whether it’s weather, pests or timelines, it all lands on you,” says Laura Martin, head grower at Shackan Indian Band, whose thirty years in the greenhouse industry have spanned everything from family-run cedar hedging operations to pioneering native species restoration in British Columbia’s wildfire-ravaged landscapes.
In this episode of Greenhouse Success Stories, Laura Martin opens up about her lifelong passion for propagation, the relentless challenges of labor shortages in remote locations, and her vision to transform her nursery into a hands-on learning center for the next generation of growers. Discover why Laura Martin sees mentoring and community collaboration as the keystones to long-term greenhouse success—and what it takes to build something meaningful from the ashes.
5 Key Takeaways
- Build your succession plan—mentor and train a right-hand person so your greenhouse is never left stranded and you can finally take that well-earned break.
- Don’t wait for perfect resumes—hire for passion, work ethic, and willingness to learn, then invest in hands-on teaching and mentorship to fill the skill gap.
- Collaborate with local communities and institutions—reach out to First Nations, universities, and trade schools to create a robust pipeline of future growers.
- Diversify your approach to labor shortages—leverage grant funding, automation, and creative partnerships to keep operations running strong even in remote areas.
- Advocate for hands-on learning—push universities and training programs to focus on real-world greenhouse experience and not just theory.
Memorable Quotes
"Being a grower is incredibly hard work. You're the first one in, the last one out, and when things go wrong—whether it's weather, pests, or timelines—it all lands on you."
"I would like to make this nursery into a learning center. I hope to intrigue people to come out, learn here, and become growers so they can go out into the industry with the skills they need."
"My advice is to always mentor somebody to be your person. Have someone you're training to be the next in line, so you can start taking a holiday and eventually leave things running well."
Resources Mentioned
Shackan Indian Band - https://www.shackan.ca/
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Transcripts
Being a grower is incredibly hard work. You're the first
Speaker:one in, the last one out, and when things go wrong, whether
Speaker:it's weather, pests or timelines, it all
Speaker:lands on you. Welcome to Greenhouse Success
Speaker:Stories. Tune in every week as we share conversations with growers,
Speaker:operators and innovators from around the world, providing insight into what's
Speaker:working in their greenhouses. We discuss firsthand experiences
Speaker:and provide insights into how these farms are succeeding and thriving.
Speaker:Special thanks to our title sponsor, Arnoix Greenhouse, with your host,
Speaker:founder of Little Greenhouse that Could, Trina Semenchuk.
Speaker:Okay, welcome everyone to Greenhouse Success Stories.
Speaker:I'm so excited for this episode and for our guest
Speaker:on this show. Today we're going to be interviewing Laura
Speaker:Martin. She is the head grower at Shakin Indian
Speaker:Band. Laura is growing native species in their
Speaker:nursery and she has 30 years of experience
Speaker:as a grower in the greenhouse sector. So we've got lots to learn from
Speaker:Laura today. I'm really excited to, to learn more about her experience.
Speaker:And so, yeah, so with that we're going to get started. So thank you for
Speaker:coming on the show, Laura. No problem. So
Speaker:one of the first questions that we just kind of wanted to ask you is,
Speaker:you know, how did you get into the greenhouse space?
Speaker:How did you become a greenhouse grower? Where, where did you
Speaker:start? So honestly, my family was a small farm
Speaker:farming family and my mom after, as kids started
Speaker:to grow, started some small greenhouses to grow
Speaker:nursery stock and kind of from there,
Speaker:other high school, went to university to take
Speaker:the horticulture diploma and agriculture as
Speaker:well. And then it just delved right into the horticulture. I
Speaker:got my first job as a grower and just from there I've
Speaker:just stayed in this industry. I tried to leave like one or two times, but
Speaker:I really love this industry. So it just always has drawn me
Speaker:back and I didn't even know what to do with myself when I wasn't in
Speaker:the greenhouse. So it just became a natural thing for me.
Speaker:It's not. Not somebody that pointed it out. It was a little bit of experience
Speaker:from my family and it seemed like the right fit for me, but it's
Speaker:actually a natural instinct for me to be a grower.
Speaker:Yeah. Okay, that's, that's interesting to hear that it was like in your
Speaker:family's roots, greenhouse growing. Where
Speaker:about did you grow up? I grew up in
Speaker:Abbotsford in the lower mainland. Yeah. Of D.C.
Speaker:and yeah, I was there most of my life and then
Speaker:headed out to Alberta for a few years just a couple Years ago to work
Speaker:in some greenhouses out there and now made my way back to B.C.
Speaker:And when you were, when you were growing with like your family farm, like what
Speaker:crops were you guys growing? Cedar hedging trees.
Speaker:Oh, right, yeah. And my dad, he specialized in grafting
Speaker:maples and some fruit and trees. And it was all
Speaker:outgrown. Field grown nurseries start.
Speaker:Okay, interesting. And then when you took that
Speaker:break, how long did those breaks last? Like from not being in the
Speaker:greenhouse industry? I took like only, I'd say
Speaker:two years off and I was doing some farming where
Speaker:I was homesteading, basically growing my own food, like growing my own
Speaker:plants, farmers markets and selling everything that way. But
Speaker:that was really hard. It was really hard. And I just,
Speaker:I like the buzz of a greenhouse. I like being around
Speaker:people in the nursery industry. And so I just really missed it
Speaker:and hopped right back into it. And when you're doing homestead, like,
Speaker:what would you say was the hardest part about it? Well, making a
Speaker:living honestly and the hardest
Speaker:customers. It wasn't, none of that was a problem for me.
Speaker:It's just, it's an endless, endless amount of work.
Speaker:And it was so hard to just keep it all going and
Speaker:to produce enough stuff to have some to sell. But
Speaker:I mean my lifestyle was amazing because I was producing all
Speaker:my own food. The only the exception was milk,
Speaker:milk and cheese. I didn't get ever any time to like learn how to make
Speaker:that. But it just gives you appreciation for where your food
Speaker:comes from. And that's been a very important thing for me for the
Speaker:last like 15 years is I really push on
Speaker:like local and food sovereignty.
Speaker:And it's just been a big passion of mine and I've
Speaker:lived it and I, I love it. Yeah,
Speaker:that's. I don't hear too often from people who like did the homestead
Speaker:route. Like, did you ever think about going off grid and like being
Speaker:totally like independent on your own?
Speaker:I pretty much was. I wasn't living
Speaker:remote and of course did have power, but everything else I
Speaker:did all manual, all like on my own. And
Speaker:it had its challenges, but it's like a peaceful
Speaker:place. And if I had, I'm in a different place now,
Speaker:but if I had a chance, I would do it again and I would
Speaker:recommend it for many people that it's a great way to live your life.
Speaker:But it's hard. It's hard. You have to be the right person. It's hard,
Speaker:hard work and it has huge challenges. Whether it was
Speaker:wildlife eating my livestock or oh my God.
Speaker:And what was It. What was the story about that? Well, actually
Speaker:the biggest one I'd say was a cougar. Yeah. But I had
Speaker:Maremmas and so it was with
Speaker:pigs being, piglets being born and the cougar just came right
Speaker:in and it did attack the mom and the babies, but
Speaker:the dogs were able to get it out of the
Speaker:perimeter. It did not come back, but it was. That was my
Speaker:biggest, scariest one. And also I was on my own, so
Speaker:it was a little terrifying. Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker:I would be so scared in that situation from being from Winnipeg.
Speaker:Manitoba. Cougars, like are still a bit of a foreign
Speaker:concept because we're so far away from them. I guess. Like
Speaker:the, you know, the closest predator we have is like a. Well, not predator, but
Speaker:big animal would be bears, but they stay far away.
Speaker:Yeah. So that's really interesting to hear that bit of
Speaker:background. So you're in the nursery
Speaker:industry right now or the native species industry right now.
Speaker:Were you ever growing in the fruit and vegetable and produce
Speaker:sector? No, not commercially, except for
Speaker:producing. I've produced hundreds and thousands,
Speaker:maybe millions of vegetable liners for retail
Speaker:sales. So six packs and four inch.
Speaker:And so I've done the all the vegetables for like pre
Speaker:sales to consumers for their own gardens and for
Speaker:wholesale. See, I've done seeding
Speaker:like any kind of, like I say, any kind of vegetables I have grown for
Speaker:producing. But I haven't been on the end of doing tomato production or
Speaker:computer or cucumbers like for a resale of the fruit,
Speaker:but always at the beginning stages of it. Okay,
Speaker:okay, very interesting. So I just want to hear a bit more about your story
Speaker:too. So from graduating with a degree in horticulture, then starting
Speaker:your first job and then you took like those two breaks and now you're at
Speaker:Shack in Indian Band. Maybe could you give like a
Speaker:little bit of a breakdown of where you went from graduating
Speaker:and how you got to Shack in Indian Band? I spent about 20 years,
Speaker:maybe it's a bit less propagating proven winners for
Speaker:Nordic Nurseries. And that was my
Speaker:dream job. Propagation is what I actually love doing.
Speaker:And so I spent a long, long time doing that. And then
Speaker:just circumstances changed and I
Speaker:decided on a change. And I haven't worked at a lot of
Speaker:greenhouses because I stayed for a very long time.
Speaker:And so then I did have that little break in between there and
Speaker:I ended up out in Alberta, worked for another
Speaker:greenhouse that had been in production for many years. It's a
Speaker:grower retailer. It had been sold from the original owner. So I Went
Speaker:out and helped them get the greenhouse business on the wholesale
Speaker:side of it happening again. Worked with brokers and,
Speaker:you know, made programs and started the wholesale
Speaker:side of bedding plants and
Speaker:annuals, vegetables and perennials for
Speaker:wholesale sales. Okay, so then in that role, like you were
Speaker:wearing two, two different hats, it sounds like like you were a grower, but then
Speaker:you're also building out the business plan and building out the business
Speaker:model. So actually this is a challenge that has been in
Speaker:my career a lot is not I've not been in a lot of places. But
Speaker:what happens is I become a huge part of
Speaker:making things efficient and making money and be
Speaker:on top of margins. And so my job, I don't know if it's
Speaker:maybe because of my energy, but I always become
Speaker:wearing many hats in the business. Whether it's hiring staff,
Speaker:it's, you know, mentoring, teaching
Speaker:all aspects of planning,
Speaker:pricing. I played a huge role of
Speaker:like doing all the pricing and whatnot on the place I was in, in Alberta.
Speaker:And that was a real challenge just because with over after
Speaker:Covid and, and everything needing the
Speaker:prices and the tight margins with like freight
Speaker:and supply and demand and all those things,
Speaker:I became like a real part of that role. And
Speaker:it was really hard. It's something that I learn every
Speaker:day. But like I say, I think my energy always puts me in a slot
Speaker:where I'm leading all of these different areas of
Speaker:growing. Yeah, it's not as a head grower. It's not like
Speaker:you're just in charge of the plants. You're also in charge of like the
Speaker:operations of the greenhouse, which sounds like it extends from
Speaker:inside the greenhouse to all these external factors that influence
Speaker:how successful the greenhouse is overall? It is.
Speaker:That is. Yeah, that is definitely. That's definitely a lot. Did you
Speaker:find that when you were in these roles as you were taking on more
Speaker:hats and as you're taking on more responsibility, that
Speaker:you're also getting like promotions to meet your extra workload?
Speaker:No, actually, I would say not. I kind of go in right at
Speaker:the top. So I've always worked right with the owner.
Speaker:I jumped from university to being
Speaker:a head grower like right away. And then all my skill
Speaker:just came from learning hands on. Everything I've done
Speaker:my whole 30 years has been all
Speaker:hands on experience and learning from other
Speaker:owners of greenhouses and watching
Speaker:them and listening to them and
Speaker:experiencing it. And I think
Speaker:the only thing that's really gotten me to here is just hard work. So I'm
Speaker:the first person at work and the last person to leave.
Speaker:And I take full responsibility of every single
Speaker:second that I'm in a greenhouse. And that's what's gotten me to
Speaker:the places that I've wanted to work and to grow with.
Speaker:That's a really good, admirable attitude to have. It
Speaker:makes me think I want to come spend a week working with you in
Speaker:your greenhouse. Yeah, you're welcome anytime. I
Speaker:personally can learn more. So I
Speaker:guess, you know, wearing. Wearing all these hats kind of
Speaker:leads me to, you know, my next big question is,
Speaker:what do you think has been the biggest challenge
Speaker:in your roles? Like, is it related to growing,
Speaker:or do you think it's related to the external operations?
Speaker:You know, as a head grower, where. Where do you think you've had
Speaker:an instance and. Yeah, tell us a bit of a story about it. Where
Speaker:it was a really challenging situation. Okay. I. I
Speaker:put some thought into this when we had our pre interview, and I did write
Speaker:something because I think it says. It kind of says it all.
Speaker:So. One of the biggest challenges in this industry is labor.
Speaker:Plain and simple. Being a grower is incredibly hard work.
Speaker:You're the first one in, the last one out. And when things go
Speaker:wrong, whether it's weather, pests, or timelines,
Speaker:it all lands on you. Every season, every crop,
Speaker:every setback, you're the one holding it together.
Speaker:It takes physical endurance, sharp decision making, and deep
Speaker:understanding of your plants. And most people don't see that.
Speaker:You're not just throwing props. You're juggling logistics, people,
Speaker:timing, and risk. It's a profession that demands everything
Speaker:you've got. So that is like, the biggest
Speaker:challenge is, how do I pass that on?
Speaker:And so I. Right now,
Speaker:I'm in a very unique place
Speaker:that I am excited to help grow this business,
Speaker:but I'm in a place where can't just
Speaker:hire people with any kinds of qualifications or education
Speaker:because it's not enticing for them to come work in a remote area.
Speaker:And the greenhouse is in its early stages. So
Speaker:my challenge right now is I'm mentoring and teaching
Speaker:only people with a little bit of interest in the
Speaker:native species and the greenhouse and the nursery. So
Speaker:trying to make something work and become
Speaker:efficient and productive, it's.
Speaker:It's very hard. It's very challenging. And
Speaker:trying to find qualified people that would be even
Speaker:interested in coming to experience what we're growing and
Speaker:building here, it's like, next to impossible. I've
Speaker:had for a year and a half job descriptions out, and I
Speaker:have not had one qualified person apply for a job here. Wow.
Speaker:Where have you been posting your jobs?
Speaker:Like on Indeed. Or how do you even go about looking for
Speaker:qualified workers? Yeah, so I've obviously
Speaker:always. Indeed. I work really closely with work BC
Speaker:I have a very good relationship with them. Working with first
Speaker:nations has a lot of advantages because a lot of
Speaker:the nations work together and so they have places
Speaker:such. Where they get the word out about jobs and, you know, they're
Speaker:trying to create work for their communities. I work
Speaker:with a lot of community people and I am hiring a lot of community
Speaker:people and mentoring them because this is for them.
Speaker:The nursery I'm in now is for these communities. It's for
Speaker:food sovereignty. It's for the devastation that happened in this
Speaker:community back in 2021. But they have
Speaker:avenues for reaching out for these job positions.
Speaker:But I think I have to go bigger. So I'm working with
Speaker:a human resource person right now and a consultant, and
Speaker:we have made really wicked good job
Speaker:descriptions and we're going to be firing them out because I
Speaker:think there's such opportunity in the things that I'm doing
Speaker:right now. And I think this career has been so
Speaker:good to me that I would like to share it with others. Like, I would
Speaker:love to, like, bring some more good growers into
Speaker:the industry. Yeah. Wow. How.
Speaker:Just out of curiosity, how many hours would you need
Speaker:someone to work in the greenhouse with you? Not. Not
Speaker:asking for myself.
Speaker:So right now I have
Speaker:troubles getting people to do 40 hours a week. But then I
Speaker:have the opposite side of it. I have some wonderful, like, contracted
Speaker:contractor ladies that have been coming up for the lower mainland, and
Speaker:I'm housing them here, that they're doing like
Speaker:50 to 60 hours a week. So it's
Speaker:dependent on. I need. I need more than 40
Speaker:hours a week in the busy season. So.
Speaker:That you need 52 minimum for. A grower
Speaker:is 52 weeks. 52 hours. Sorry.
Speaker:Yeah, minimum. And then in the. In the year
Speaker:and a half that you had those postings out, how many people applied? Like,
Speaker:how many people heard per job description?
Speaker:Yeah. So for the grower position, I had one,
Speaker:actually. It turned out to be somebody that's from the lower mainland with quite a
Speaker:large nursery operation. But she's
Speaker:just not quite ready to make the step to be coming out to
Speaker:this location where we are. But definitely we're gonna have more
Speaker:conversations. She's got the right spirit and energy that
Speaker:would be required to be out here. Oh, yeah,
Speaker:yeah. So, yeah, I hope that I can get her. You know, I hope she
Speaker:comes back and we can re. Re. Talk about that position
Speaker:again, she just wasn't at that place to be here yet.
Speaker:Yeah, no, for sure. And like you've got that additional challenge too where
Speaker:you're remote and you know it's hard for people to be away from their
Speaker:families or you know, if people need to, you know, move to a remote
Speaker:location. Like there's a ton of logistical challenges with
Speaker:that. It's great to hear that you're working with the communities as well.
Speaker:I've got some additional questions, you know, about that, but
Speaker:I just wanted to know more. Like when you need to hire someone in
Speaker:your position, like so someone to be. It kind of sounds like your
Speaker:right hand person. Is that who you're kind of looking for? Yes.
Speaker:So then what skill set are you looking for when you
Speaker:go to hire people? Are you looking for them to be you
Speaker:know, primarily growing and managing the growing operations in the
Speaker:greenhouse or do you need them to help you with
Speaker:coordinating ship like selling plants
Speaker:or and that side of things? Like what is it that is needed the
Speaker:most right now? Yeah, so actually there's a, there's many
Speaker:different ways to look at that. And so what I think the,
Speaker:my ultimate person right now is some horticulture
Speaker:background but with the right work ethic
Speaker:energy to help with the growing. Assist with
Speaker:the growing right now. Because something that I enjoy doing
Speaker:is planning and crop rotations and
Speaker:filling space and you know, all the planning of the. I actually
Speaker:I've gotten really good at that over the last few years. You know, having to
Speaker:not have extra inventory and so somebody that can help
Speaker:me with the crops to get good quality crops. Like that's where
Speaker:I'm lacking right now. So having fertilizing knowledge,
Speaker:biological practices for
Speaker:insects and for fungus and all those kind of things,
Speaker:but having some experience, you know, minimal
Speaker:like just understanding how to lay rows out, how to fill a greenhouse,
Speaker:how to keep clean, you know, good watering practices
Speaker:is very, very important and
Speaker:it's, it probably takes me 50
Speaker:people to find one good person that will actually be
Speaker:able to like water how I like to water. Um,
Speaker:I really leaning towards automation here because
Speaker:it is difficult to find the people for these skills
Speaker:and I do not like having crops failing
Speaker:plant loss. So. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:And we have now implemented, implemented a new
Speaker:irrigation controller that's it's with new leaf
Speaker:farms and it's still just got some little kinks that we're getting out of it.
Speaker:But that is really important for me right now
Speaker:till I can find the person that has the skills that I need for here
Speaker:because I also strongly believe in a lot of hand
Speaker:watering because I think I have a lot of control and when I'm doing like
Speaker:100 different species, I want to have control of them
Speaker:individually. So automated watering is not
Speaker:to give me the best crops of how I like them to grow. So it
Speaker:has to have both, both ways, you know, both somebody with a
Speaker:good instinct and the automation to relieve the
Speaker:pressure we have. Because it gets hot here. We live in the desert.
Speaker:So I think Spencer's Bridge, I'm between
Speaker:Spencer's Bridge and Merit the nursery and I think we only get 100 mils of
Speaker:rain a year. Oh, wow. Very dry, very hot here.
Speaker:Wow. Yeah. And even on that automation piece too, like if
Speaker:you're growing 100 different species and
Speaker:they're all going to need a different amount of watering and yeah,
Speaker:in your automation you can work that in to have 100 different watering
Speaker:cycles. But now that increases the complexity of your whole
Speaker:automation system. That increases your cost and if
Speaker:things are more likely to be fixed
Speaker:probably with that level of complexity. So that I think that
Speaker:is a great insight for
Speaker:still needing hands on experience even in
Speaker:this world where people are trying to automate more processes. So I
Speaker:wanted to dive in a bit more on
Speaker:the solutions for finding labor. So
Speaker:I know you've got this big challenge. How do you find
Speaker:somebody who's going to have all this skill sets, be able to wear all these
Speaker:hats and help you grow this, this greenhouse. So
Speaker:I know you mentioned, you know, working with a consultant and yeah,
Speaker:having automation to help you with things. But what do you find
Speaker:is actually helping and working in terms
Speaker:of finding good people to help you
Speaker:run this greenhouse? Like what do you think are some solutions? I think
Speaker:what one of my big solutions that I'm working on right now because
Speaker:also working with First Nations, I get the opportunity for funding and
Speaker:granting grants to, you know, fill
Speaker:these positions. But I would like to make this nursery
Speaker:into like a learning center. So I hope to intrigue people
Speaker:to come out and learn here and become a
Speaker:grower so that they can go out somewhere else in the industry
Speaker:and have these skills that they're going to need and be able to take with
Speaker:them. So it's in the very beginning stages, but
Speaker:that's how I want to reach out to people, is to actually
Speaker:hands on, teach them. You know, I know there's like, I guess
Speaker:apprenticeship programs and red seal, you know, education and
Speaker:reaching out to the universities and getting those people to come here
Speaker:and get the experience is, you know,
Speaker:it's getting to Those universities. And I'm getting,
Speaker:I'm getting more and more connections now with TRU
Speaker:for example, and I have two of their students here. The big
Speaker:programs that are really going through the universities right now are for restoration
Speaker:and reclamation and reforestation,
Speaker:but not so much on the horticulture. So you know, on the growing
Speaker:side of things. So they are all coming out and they want to learn and
Speaker:they're amazing students honestly. But this, they don't want to be in the
Speaker:greenhouse, they want to be in the forest, they want to be out planting,
Speaker:they want to be surveying. Connecting with the universities to be
Speaker:like educating for the greenhouse is still really important.
Speaker:And I don't believe that there's still that real focus for
Speaker:hands on in the greenhouse kind of
Speaker:mentorship and training. I still think there's like a hole in the
Speaker:system for that. Yeah, okay, that's a really good point.
Speaker:Just when I was, you know, through my experience of going through university, I found
Speaker:I didn't go for horticulture, I went for biosystems engineering. Um, and
Speaker:I found that it was way more
Speaker:theoretical than I would have wanted it to be. Like, I also
Speaker:am a hands on learner. After I graduated I built my own
Speaker:vertical farm at the University of Manitoba and then I helped run
Speaker:that. So I got the hands on there. But I had always wished that there
Speaker:was just more hands on opportunities even
Speaker:for like engineering students. So it's interesting to hear
Speaker:that to similar problem in the horticulture sector and
Speaker:finding greenhouse stuff. So if it, when it comes to like the
Speaker:solution of having people, you know, come to your
Speaker:greenhouse to learn how to actually grow in a greenhouse, do you
Speaker:foresee that being like, how much time do you think that these
Speaker:students would need to spend in your greenhouse to truly learn
Speaker:good skills? Well, honestly, more than
Speaker:four years, like, but I
Speaker:think, I think a good introduction
Speaker:course can be six months, like six months
Speaker:in the greenhouse. Because you see all aspects of
Speaker:maybe starting from seed, planting the seeds,
Speaker:you know, starting with the propagation stage, planting the seeds,
Speaker:watching them germinate, transplanting them. Because now you have
Speaker:all these different watering stages and moving the plants,
Speaker:you know, putting them where they're going to be, spacing the plants,
Speaker:trimming the plants, spraying or
Speaker:biological control, all the bug control. And then
Speaker:basically like in the native species, putting them to bed for the winter
Speaker:or lifting them and putting them in cold storage for
Speaker:future orders, you know. So if you're there six months, you're going to see
Speaker:all of these cycles and then I think from those
Speaker:cycles you can decide, like maybe you want to be in propagation, maybe you want
Speaker:to be in finished production, you know, maybe you want
Speaker:to specialize in bugs, you know, like in biologicals or,
Speaker:you know, there's a lot of ways. Maybe you want to work in field production,
Speaker:you know, because I have field production stuff going on as well. Like so a
Speaker:six month is a good introduction and I think in
Speaker:six months you can understand whether you would even want to be a grower
Speaker:seeing like how fast six months goes. Like every year
Speaker:for me goes faster and faster now because it's just like,
Speaker:you know what's coming, you're getting ready, you know, you
Speaker:get into the production and then it's over and then you're starting over. Like it
Speaker:just is a full circle for me every year now and, and any greenhouse
Speaker:I've been in and it's like your internal clock works on
Speaker:that. You know, in like September, October, I get a break
Speaker:because I've been going hard since January. Oh
Speaker:yeah. I was just about to ask, do you ever get a vacation? I'm starting
Speaker:to now. I didn't take vacation for seven years. Wow.
Speaker:Not go on a single holiday for like seven years. But now I'm starting
Speaker:to go away. The way it works with the native species, I start some
Speaker:stratification now and then in November and then
Speaker:in January. So I've been taking like between November and mid
Speaker:December off. Oh, okay. That's good. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker:you deserve it. Yeah. Working so hard.
Speaker:Work with. Working so hard. Okay, so for the six month
Speaker:program idea that you have kind of ballparks, like have you been
Speaker:talking to the universities about or the trade schools
Speaker:or the communities, like the First Nation communities about like
Speaker:setting up an internship program where people can come and do
Speaker:these cycles and get these experiences. Because I just
Speaker:know from engineering we had like these co op programs that we could sign up
Speaker:for and it's like a four month internship that we could
Speaker:do while we were going through university. So I was wondering if there's something similar
Speaker:that these groups can partner with you on. So
Speaker:I'm in the process of all these conversations and the problem
Speaker:has been time. Like I've only been here a year and a half and We've
Speaker:built a 10,000 square foot greenhouse and it's in full production. So
Speaker:all this other stuff, you know, I need my assistant. I really need
Speaker:an assistant grower right now because there's so much
Speaker:opportunity for me to be working with like Tru.
Speaker:Highland Valley Copper is a big mine that we
Speaker:supply a lot of Native species, too. And
Speaker:this nursery has a history. It was here for 20 years,
Speaker:but then they had the flooding and the fire and the greenhouses.
Speaker:They. They were gone. Like, nobody looked after them. They got, you know, they
Speaker:fell down. And so what happened is after,
Speaker:you know, people went through a lot of trauma and, like, re getting their
Speaker:lives back. And then it was brought back to the attention. And because of the
Speaker:mine, to be growing the native species here again,
Speaker:because the contracts are being grown through a partner. And so
Speaker:the pressure to get this going again was huge. And that's what I've done.
Speaker:I think I've forgotten where my story was going. But anyhow, Highland
Speaker:Valley Copper does so much research. They
Speaker:educate so many people. So they're an
Speaker:avenue for me to, like, work with, to get, like,
Speaker:programs such as a mentorship or a co op
Speaker:going here. So I am working towards all those things, and
Speaker:I really want to fast track it once I have some people here to help
Speaker:me. Yeah, that makes sense. Because that, like, running a
Speaker:program like that, running a mentorship and a co op program, that
Speaker:would be a whole other hat that you would have to wear.
Speaker:Right? Like, that's what it seems. That's what it seems like to me, which it
Speaker:sounds like you're good at doing. And also.
Speaker:And also congratulations on getting this greenhouse up
Speaker:and running only after a year and a half. That's really impressive. Thank you. We're
Speaker:sharing her video right now, and it really. It looks very, very lush,
Speaker:very green, and it looks consistent from your video right
Speaker:now. So. So. Yeah, so. So congratulations. Thank you.
Speaker:Okay, so with working with the co ops, doing this
Speaker:mentorship program, I guess, do you have, like, a
Speaker:goal or do you. Do you ever, like, set time? Because. Because you've
Speaker:been so productive. This just. This is why I'm asking this question,
Speaker:but do you ever send, like, set timelines or goals for when
Speaker:you want to achieve certain things, or does it. Is it just kind
Speaker:of naturally happen? Well, it does naturally happen for me,
Speaker:but I love greenhouse setup. That's what I've learned in the
Speaker:last couple years. The last place I was at, I was from
Speaker:start to, like, growing of seven, like, perennial
Speaker:hoop houses that we did. And I like that whole project
Speaker:management of building greenhouses.
Speaker:Sorry, I forgot what the question was. I just went too fast there.
Speaker:So I was just. I was just wondering, like, do you have a certain
Speaker:timeline in mind for when you want to start up this mentorship program?
Speaker:I do. Like, so I would like to see it in place.
Speaker:Something started for 2027.
Speaker:I know that sounds far away, but that's a whole nother growing
Speaker:cycle. Like, right now, crops I'm growing are for 20,
Speaker:26, and 27 native species are very slow growing.
Speaker:And this whole, like, learning curve was huge for me because I've not grown
Speaker:native species. I have not stratified seed. So in
Speaker:the last six months, that's what I learned. And then I got all
Speaker:this stuff into production. So now I would like to say I
Speaker:have some more infrastructure I'm working on. I have
Speaker:a building coming that is for seed processing that we're getting
Speaker:in place. And so I want to have this whole
Speaker:infrastructure and everything up and running and then have it focused.
Speaker:So I would say by 2027, spring is when I would
Speaker:want to have students starting to learn here.
Speaker:Wow. Okay. And would you take, like, kind of a diverse approach with it
Speaker:with, like, partnering with the universities, with the First Nation communities,
Speaker:with trade schools? Like, what. How. Who I
Speaker:guess would be the original target? Well, so I. There's
Speaker:some larger native species nurseries that are doing
Speaker:this kind of schooling with first nations, but I would get
Speaker:beyond that to trade schools, universities,
Speaker:First Nations. But I think it needs to be bigger, you know, than
Speaker:just first nations because there's so much
Speaker:opportunity, and we're missing a lot of people that should be
Speaker:coming into this industry. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I
Speaker:actually kind of want to divert the conversation a bit, because this
Speaker:is just a topic that's top of my mind from living in
Speaker:Manitoba this year. But our. Our
Speaker:wildfires are. Have been, like, out of control, and it's, you know, it's
Speaker:really sad looking at the fire map every day and seeing,
Speaker:like, the increase of fires and how much forest
Speaker:we're losing. So I know you're growing native
Speaker:species right now, but in terms of
Speaker:where do you think I want to know? Like,
Speaker:where do you think the greenhouse sector
Speaker:can play a role in reforestation? Because I know you've
Speaker:spent a lot of time, you know, in propagation,
Speaker:so I think that you'd have, like, a good opinion on this. But
Speaker:how do you think greenhouses can help accelerate reforestation?
Speaker:You know, is that part of the shack in Indian
Speaker:bands? Expansion plans is targeting reforestation as
Speaker:well and, you know, growing tree seedlings. What do you think about
Speaker:that? I don't have a good handle on
Speaker:forestry, like, reforestation, but I do on the part from
Speaker:wild, like, reforesting after fires. And what I
Speaker:see is that first nations have a very strong
Speaker:hold on the ecosystems
Speaker:and the loss of, like, the plants and they have a
Speaker:such strong cultural information. And having these
Speaker:greenhouses on first nations makes it very
Speaker:strong. And so I think the problem with
Speaker:other greenhouses, other big
Speaker:nurseries jumping in is not that easy because they're very
Speaker:hard to grow. The margins are very good
Speaker:on them once you figure it out. But it's a lot of labor.
Speaker:It's very labor intensive. And so I think
Speaker:that it's complicated for somebody just to jump in on
Speaker:growing native species. And honestly, I've realized it
Speaker:becomes a very sacred thing where you don't want to share all your
Speaker:secrets of how you're stratifying these seeds. Where
Speaker:you're collecting them from the collection
Speaker:alone is like, even
Speaker:myself, I find myself protecting areas now because
Speaker:I know that we need this seed for contracts. And I don't want just
Speaker:anybody coming in. There's a lot of companies out there trying to collect, and
Speaker:they're out there fast and furious, but they're not being
Speaker:culturally ethical. They're like stripping plants, they're stripping
Speaker:willows, and they're just leaving a mess. They're not doing it in a cultural
Speaker:way that is like, good for the forests. And
Speaker:so, honestly, because this is so new to me and I.
Speaker:I take a lot of pride in it, I don't think it's something that everybody
Speaker:can just jump into. I think it's something that they need to work together with.
Speaker:And it's more about how do you get the plants replanted, how
Speaker:do we get the contracts to do that, and how do you make sure that
Speaker:things are getting planted back where they should be planted. And we're not
Speaker:putting the wrong species in the wrong places and the wrong
Speaker:climate zones. Like, they have to be collected where they should be collected from,
Speaker:and also ensuring the success of them when they're getting planted out.
Speaker:So not only is it a nursery, I feel like we have a responsibility of
Speaker:what's happening with the plants once they. They leave the
Speaker:nursery. So for somebody to get into it, what is the
Speaker:best way? I actually don't have that answer. And I am working with, like, the
Speaker:Ministry of Forestry. Like, we're working on talking about seed
Speaker:collecting and, and who should be doing it and when should
Speaker:they be doing it? Because I think I don't have enough experience to
Speaker:say a specific way to get it in, like how
Speaker:we should be increasing this and doing this. I just know it's.
Speaker:It's very sensitive and I'm really happy to be a part of it
Speaker:and to learn what is going to be the way the Best way to produce
Speaker:all these native species. Yeah, that's.
Speaker:That. That is special. Getting to have that opportunity to work
Speaker:with the communities and like, learn from them what plants go
Speaker:where. Because that, that is. That to have that knowledge is so
Speaker:powerful. And it's something that we need.
Speaker:We need so much of that right now. Like post
Speaker:this summer, Manitoba has a lot of reforestation work
Speaker:that we're going to need to do. And so, yeah,
Speaker:you've made me motivated to go to all the First Nation communities and
Speaker:say, hey, what did we do?
Speaker:It's good to work with them because, like I say, they. They naturally
Speaker:know. Like. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. And also
Speaker:like working with communities, the elders are so
Speaker:knowledgeable. And so then when you start talking,
Speaker:a consulting company comes in and they're going to
Speaker:reforest this fire that burns so hot.
Speaker:And they're trying to say, you know, you should put Saskatoons here and
Speaker:pines here and spruce here. But when you
Speaker:speak with the elders, they're like, those never grew there before they grew at
Speaker:this elevation. And they're, you know, telling you what. How it really was.
Speaker:Because if you haven't been there and didn't see it before, you're only
Speaker:guessing by. I know forestry has like their. Their
Speaker:maps and their histories and their locations and all of that, but
Speaker:the native species is more in depth than that, even from
Speaker:when they hunted and gathered and traveled through
Speaker:these areas. So it's quite interesting
Speaker:and important. Yeah, I think
Speaker:I'm going to try to see if we can get some First Nation growers
Speaker:on the show to talk to talk more about this and their
Speaker:experience. So when it comes to like taking the plants
Speaker:and taking the seedlings that you guys have been growing in your greenhouse
Speaker:and then planting them, who has been doing that work? Has it
Speaker:been community members or. No, we so be.
Speaker:Basically, when I started here, I started working with a consulting
Speaker:company that has been helping this community
Speaker:rebuild their homes and everything after the fire. And so it's built
Speaker:into me getting contracts through them other than the big Highland
Speaker:Valley copper, the mining contracts I have. I
Speaker:also now have contracts with highway department. So I've been working
Speaker:with the consultants and then I'm actually have my
Speaker:own crew that I've developed and have finished and
Speaker:have a portfolio for planting riparian areas. And
Speaker:I have a contract that's for some reforestation. I'm
Speaker:growing 400,000. We're doing trees and shrubs
Speaker:and we're hiring an experienced tree planter to
Speaker:do the tree planting. We're doing a little bit of all of
Speaker:it. But I will never be able to find enough people to
Speaker:do, you know, build a crew. I would like to build a crew
Speaker:because it's very amazing to be out there after something you've grown
Speaker:and seeing where it's going. And there's such, such a science
Speaker:behind all of it. And so I'm learning from experienced
Speaker:surveyors and consulting companies that are out
Speaker:there doing all the work. Okay. So you know,
Speaker:I know you mentioned the expanding to have the training program
Speaker:for your guys greenhouse. Are there expansion plans ever to like
Speaker:do produce or will or do you think it'll be
Speaker:native species? No. So I like to do it all
Speaker:apparently. But there's a lot of,
Speaker:there's a need for food sovereignty in the communities especially.
Speaker:And so we actually just built a two acre market garden.
Speaker:But there is expansion for hothouse vegetables so that we
Speaker:bring it to a year round producing food and also
Speaker:using hydroponic systems, a farm that we bought from New Leaf
Speaker:Farms so that is coming here in the next few months
Speaker:and so that we can have like a full circle of like
Speaker:produce like all year round, be selling mostly first for the
Speaker:community and then producing and branding it and
Speaker:bringing it to the local like closer communities. Because I strongly
Speaker:believe in growing for the area that
Speaker:you're in and buying from local as much as you can. So
Speaker:I believe in like by having some hot house and all of
Speaker:the options that you know, within like say 100
Speaker:km a year, people could come and buy everything in one
Speaker:place. Yeah, I love that. I love the hyperlocal
Speaker:solution too. So if there was,
Speaker:you know, you've obviously you've had so much experience, you've done so many
Speaker:different parts working a greenhouse as a head grower.
Speaker:What piece of advice would you want to give
Speaker:to other growers out there? So
Speaker:my advice is to mentor somebody to
Speaker:be your person always. And
Speaker:I've, I've mentored some very good people over the years.
Speaker:But everybody moves on at a certain point in their life. But
Speaker:to have always somebody that you're training to be the next person.
Speaker:Because me, I, I need to have a, an out.
Speaker:Like I, I want to be able to eventually lead this. Was it running
Speaker:really well and leaving the next person in place? And that's
Speaker:always important for every grower to have somebody so that they can start taking a
Speaker:holiday. And you know, I'm kind of
Speaker:an, I'm an exception of most rules. I never stop. And so that's
Speaker:not for everybody. So I think it's getting experience
Speaker:and being the best that you can be, growing the best crops
Speaker:that you can, but having your next person in line always.
Speaker:Yeah, I think that's a really good piece of advice, just to have someone that
Speaker:you can rely on. That's really empowering. Yeah. So the
Speaker:last question that I wanted to ask you, and, you know, we're kind of
Speaker:wrapping up all the shows with asking this question of all of our guests,
Speaker:is, what is your proudest moment as a grower?
Speaker:Well, actually, this one is because it was nothing. I got here
Speaker:and I. I actually thought I was going to be getting an easy job.
Speaker:It was a draw. It was a. A job description for a head grower.
Speaker:And so it was. I just was coming to be a grower. That
Speaker:was it. I want to come to work and grow the
Speaker:crops. I was excited that it's for restoration and because
Speaker:I love this lower Nikola. And I was, like, devastated when I saw what happened
Speaker:to it. When I had first come back to Alberta, I was like, I just
Speaker:couldn't believe it. Yeah. My. My biggest. Out of
Speaker:all the places I've been, this is going to be the biggest success story
Speaker:for me because it's happened so fast. Everything's fallen in line,
Speaker:and it's producing, and it's an amazing
Speaker:opportunity for it to even become bigger. So this is going to be
Speaker:my best success story. And I think it's because I've had
Speaker:the time in my life to grow as a person,
Speaker:and so now I can, like, leave something.
Speaker:Yeah, you're leaving a legacy. Yeah. Behind. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. So what do you. What do you think, like, were the
Speaker:pieces that needed to fall in place that have been falling in place
Speaker:that. To grow shack and Indian bands greenhouse so quickly?
Speaker:I think it's like the support from the community, because
Speaker:these projects don't happen if the community doesn't want it.
Speaker:And this community had such
Speaker:devastation. You know, they. They. They're, like,
Speaker:scared of, like, any kind of weather event or, like,
Speaker:you know, anything that seems out of the ordinary for them.
Speaker:And now seeing them come up here and members working
Speaker:here and they're having events here, it's.
Speaker:That is my biggest, like, ray of sunshine right there. Like,
Speaker:that this actually happened with only a year, in a year and a half. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. That is. That is so nice to hear and
Speaker:really, really inspiring. Really heartwarming to. To hear those stories.
Speaker:So thank you. Thank you, Laura, for sharing, you know, all
Speaker:of your experience to today. It's been very insightful.
Speaker:Thank you for coming on the show. No problem. Thank you for having me.
Speaker:I hope you enjoyed this episode of Greenhouse Success Stories, hosted by Trina
Speaker:Senanchek. Special thanks to our guests who make this all possible.
Speaker:To read the full show notes for each episode, which includes an episode summary,
Speaker:key takeaways and guest resources mentioned, please visit
Speaker:greenhousesuccess.com and don't forget to subscribe on your
Speaker:favorite podcast platform so you don't miss an episode.
