Growing Forward
Passing on the Nursery
I’m starting my search for someone to take over the native plant nursery.
My spouse plans to retire in the spring of 2028 and I plan to step away from my current work at the same time.
I would like to pass the nursery into Indigenous hands, so my search is currently only open to members of Indigenous communities with long-term relationship with the ecosystems on this part of Turtle Island.
I think that the most practical, least stressful approach would be a two year transition process: My plan is to spend the first season sharing all the different aspects of the work and running the business and the second year supporting you as you take the lead. Both years would be paid work for both of us.
You don’t need to have prior experience growing plants or operating a business, although either or both would be welcome.
The work fluctuates with the seasons, with full time work tending to run from early to mid April through early to mid November each year and seed sowing and online updates taking up some time over the other four months, but only a few hours per week on average.
The work is mostly outdoors through the growing season and is fairly physical but also requires a certain degree of organization and communication skills. A lot of the plant information is already embedded into the online store, which would also be passed on as part of the transition.
Since the sales are all through the website the physical location is somewhat flexible. The nursery location is currently at the Just Food Farm at 2391 Pépin Court in Blackburn Hamlet. I’m exploring a possible move to a more central urban location and am also open to relocating to somewhere else if you happen to have access to land that is more convenient for you, as long as it isn’t too long a drive from Vanier.
The nursery had around $45,000 of sales this year, with around $2,500 of input costs. The rest of the revenue went to cover wages for the work of caring for the plants. My expectation is for next year’s sales to fall somewhere between $55 and $60k.
My intention is to transition the business to either a not-for-profit or employee owned social enterprise as part of this whole process. I’m not selling the business, I’m passing it on, along with the responsibility of doing the livelihood work of caring for the plants and finding them homes.
If you are Indigenous, live in the Ottawa area and would like to work with plants to help heal injured ecosystems, please let me know by emailing me at sundaura@acultivatedart.com.