Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we had Manitoba, Canada based Lourdes Still talking about the Masagana Flower Farm & Studio.
According to Here’s How It’s Done: First-hand Stories From Enterprising Women In Manitoba, “Lourdes Still is the first to admit it’s a winding road that landed her in business. She’s gone from big-city living in the Philippines to rural life in south-eastern Manitoba. From growing flowers on the balcony of her city apartment to launching Masagana Flower Farm & Studio. There’s no doubt that it takes ambition and a lot of hard work to run a small scale flower farm in Manitoba’s short growing season, but Lourdes faces her challenges with a mindset of abundance, and a heart set on joy.”
Watch the recording here:
Learn a little more about Lourdes below!
About Lourdes and the Masagna Flower Farm (from the About page on Lourde’s site):
masagana:
adjective/(ma-sa-ga-na) abundant, plentiful, rich, prosperous, bountiful
Masagana is a Tagalog word, and Tagalog (or Filipino) is my mother tongue. My love for this word as my business name is two-fold. First, it represents my Filipino heritage and; second, it recognizes what I have been given. It is also a mindset. There is abundance around me, in the garden, and my own gift and calling. Choosing to live from this abundance versus to live for what I don’t have.
The idea to grow flowers on our lawn came from my deep desire to be a better steward of the land on which we live.
In 2017, I began turning lawn into garden. In 2018, I was blown away with how much flowers my small garden had produced.
My house was filled with fresh flowers that I didn’t sell and so did my compost bins. It didn’t sit well for me that the flowers I grew only had one use, as a fresh flower display.
Masagana Flower Farm gradually expanded to a year-round floral experience to better utilize the flowers my garden was producing.
Local fibre farms inspired me to offer naturally dyed textiles, and the Tinta Experience grew out of my love for helping people make plant magic a part of their lives.
It is and will continue to be a tiny flower farm operation that inspires eco-conscious consumers and florists alike to embrace local, seasonal and sustainable blooms as their flowers of choice and re-imagine their own greenspaces.
FEEDBACK FRIDAY
If you are not familiar with FEEDBACK FRIDAY, every week, we speak with dyers, artists, scientists and scholars about our favorite topic, natural dyeing and color. Curated by Amy DuFault, Botanical Colors’ Sustainability Director and presented by Botanical Colors’ Founder Kathy Hattori.
We even have our own theme song thanks to musician Jimmie Snider (click here to hear more of his music including a new song called Looking Out The Window)!