Episode 641: “Women Leading Change,” a new video featuring Toronto-based The Local Flower Collective, with cofounder Jaimie Reeves, filmmaker Craig Conoley, and David Thomas of Open Food Network Canada
December 20th, 2023
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If you’re a regular listener, you’ve heard the announcement about our first ever international Slow Flowers Summit heading to Banff, Alberta, Canada in June 2024.
Not only are we super excited about bringing our seventh annual Slow Flowers Summit to Canada, we’re also proud to announce that all of our speakers are Canadian-based Slow Flowers members, designers and flower farmers, and Canadian sustainability experts.
One of our speakers is longtime Slow Flowers member Jaime Reeves, a Toronto-based floral designer who five years ago co-founded The Local Flower Collective. A wedding and event florist, Jaime owns Leaf & Bloom, a design studio that specializes in weddings and events. At the time of the founding of The Local Flower Collective, she partnered with her studio-mate Carrie Fisher of Roadside Florist.
Top row: Heather Henson, Lourdes Still, and Hitomi Gilliam
Middle row: Melanie Harrington, Janis Harris, Latifa Pelletier-Ahmed, and Cynthia Zamaria
Bottom row: Lorna Jackson, Jaimie Reeves, Cara Scott and Becky Feasby
Carrie is no longer involved with the project, but so many others are! Today, you’ll meet Jaimie and enjoy a preview of a panel presentation at the Slow Flowers Summit. The panel will cover collective and cooperative flower selling and features Jaimie along with Lorna Jackson and Carrie Scott of Island Flower Growers in Victoria, B.C.
A few weeks ago, I accelerated plans to bring on Jaimie as a Slow Flowers Podcast guest when Open Food Network Canada reached out to share news of their documentary series featuring a film about The Local Flower Collective. I wanted to learn more about OFN’s new series, “Women Leading Change,” and its first film in the series, about The Local Flower Collective.
Women Leading Change includes video profiles celebrating the role that women entrepreneurs and grassroots organizers are playing in building sustainable food and farming systems in communities across Canada. From rural farmers’ markets, to urban buying clubs and coops, the series explores how digital technologies are supporting the formation of regional distribution hubs that help farmers and consumers connect in new ways. Funding for this project was provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the AgriCommunication Program.
The first episode of Women Leading Change focuses on The Local Flower Collective, a specialty cut flower hub that supports ecological flower growers and high-end floral designers into a thriving short-chain distribution network. The film introduces The Collective and six of its flower farms. OFN will release four additional videos in this series and you can find out more details about that in our show notes as well.
Let’s jump right in and hear all about it. We’ll first meet David Thomas, executive director of Open Food Network Canada, a non-profit and social purpose organization dedicated to food and farming system change. We’ll also hear from filmmaker Craig Conoley of CELLebrate, who produced the video series before we watch the five-minute film (if you’re a podcast listener, you will hear the film audio).
The second half of this show is devoted to my conversation with Jaimie Reeves as we discuss The Local Flower Collective. I know you’ll love this episode as much as I do!
A bit more about Jaimie Reeves:
Leaf & Bloom is based in Toronto and specializes in natural floral design for weddings and events. Jaimie Reeves’ deep appreciation for nature and its seasons are prevalent in all her designs. Carefully choosing colours and hand-picking textures and foliage to compliment and reflect nature’s inherent beauty. With a focus on using locally grown blooms paired with untamed foraged elements, her compositions have a natural and effortless-looking style.
Jaimie grew up working in a family-owned garden centre where she began her career as a florist. With over 14 years of experience as a floral designer, she continues to learn and grow her craft. She strives to make every design unique while maintaining an uncomplicated aesthetic.
Follow Leaf & Bloom on Instagram and Pinterest
Follow The Local Flower Collective on Instagram and Pinterest
News of the Week:
Are you coming to Banff for the 2024 Slow Flowers Summit?! You’ll enjoy meeting Jaimie Reeves in person and hear her panel presentation with Lorna and Carrie, as they discuss their journeys, the decisions that led to their format, and the benefits that collective flower hubs bring to the floral communities they serve. There’s still time to reserve your discounted ticket and take advantage of Early Bird Registration rate! You’ll save $100 off your Slow Flowers Summit registration, now through December 31st. I can’t wait to see you in Banff, Alberta, Canada – June 23-25, 2024.
Thank you to our Sponsors
This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 750 florists, shops, and studios who design with local, seasonal and sustainable flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.
Thank you to our lead sponsor, Farmgirl Flowers. Farmgirl Flowers delivers iconic burlap-wrapped bouquets and lush, abundant arrangements to customers across the U.S., supporting U.S. flower farms by purchasing more than $10 million dollars of U.S.-grown fresh and seasonal flowers and foliage annually. Discover more at farmgirlflowers.com.
Thank you to the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, a farmer-owned cooperative committed to providing the very best the Pacific Northwest has to offer in cut flowers, foliage and plants. The Growers Market’s mission is to foster a vibrant marketplace that sustains local flower farms and provides top-quality products and service to the local floral industry. Visit them at Swgmc.coop.
Thank you to Longfield Gardens, which provides home gardeners with high quality flower bulbs and perennials. Their online store offers plants for every region and every season, from tulips and daffodils to dahlias, caladiums and amaryllis. Check out the full catalog at Longfield Gardens at longfield-gardens.com.
Thank you to Rooted Farmers. Rooted Farmers works exclusively with local growers to put the highest-quality specialty cut flowers in floral customers’ hands. When you partner with Rooted Farmers, you are investing in your community, and you can expect a commitment to excellence in return. Learn more at RootedFarmers.com
I love all this floral goodness and I am so happy you joined me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than one million times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much. As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of our domestic cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. If you’re new to our weekly Show and our long-running Podcast, check out all of our resources at SlowFlowersSociety.com
I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Show & Podcast. The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more Slow Flowers on the table, one stem, one vase at a time. Thanks so much for joining us today and I’ll see you next week!
Music credits:
Cabsha; Drone Pine; Turning on the Lights; Gaena
by Blue Dot Sessions
http://www.sessions.blue
Lovely
by Tryad
http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentals
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
In The Field
audionautix.com