The Franklin & Co. Flower Farm Team: Who We are and Our Why
Jan 13, 2025
Written in January 2025, before our first season.
Hello friends,
We’re Cory and Peter, the dreamers and doers behind Franklin & Co. Flower Farm, in Charlie Lake, Northern British Columbia. Our farm is located about 10 minutes from the city of Fort St. John on the 271 Road, better known as the Beaton Park road. You’ll drive right past our pink flower shack located on the corner of our property before you get to Beaton Park. As we sit down to write this, it feels surreal to say that our flower farm is officially becoming a reality. It’s been a dream years in the making.
A little about us: I, Cory, recently retired from my career as a Registered Nurse. For over 20 years, I balanced nursing with bookkeeping for small businesses, and along the way, I developed a passion for business management and marketing. Peter, on the other hand, has owned and operated Creative Signworks in Fort St. John since 1992. He recently sold the family business to our son Trae and will be full time flower farming with me by June 2027. Together, we bring decades of experience in business, creativity, and a shared love for nature.
The name Franklin & Co. Flower Farm came from the idea of "Franklin and company," a way to include everyone who means the most to us. Four of our children have different last names than us, and we wanted them to feel part of this adventure, even if they aren’t directly involved in the operations. It also honours my mom, who has a different last name but is such an important part of our farm. She is planning to join on the farming operations on her good days and we are so excited to have her be a part of this with us. Our farm name represents our whole family coming together to create something special. It’s a true family affair!
Despite our backgrounds, flower farming is a new adventure for us. While we’ve dabbled in small-scale vegetable gardening, starting a flower farm from scratch is a whole new level. But if there’s one thing we’ve always believed in, it’s this: go big or go home. And with Franklin & Co. Flower Farm, we’ve decided to go big!
This spring, we’ll be planting one acre of cut flowers, laid out to produce like three, along with 1,000 dahlia tubers and thousands of tulip bulbs that are already tucked into the frozen ground, waiting for warmer days. It’s hard to describe the excitement (and a little bit of nervousness) we feel as we prepare for our first season. There’s so much to do, from ordering seeds and planning planting dates to setting up our flower shack, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Speaking of the flower shack, we’re thrilled to share that it will be complete soon. Stay tuned for pictures and a video walkthrough! This little pink building with a black tin roof will be the heart of our farm, where we’ll host Bloom Bars all summer long.
What’s a Bloom Bar, you ask? It’s where you’ll be able to stop by, grab a freshly grown market bouquet, and bring a little bit of our farm’s beauty home with you.
In addition to growing flowers, we’ve been busy creating candles inspired by the scents of the farm. The candles are currently available to purchase on our website with local pick up in Fort St. John, and they will also be available for purchase at the Bloom Bars located in the pink Flower Shack during the warmer months this spring and summer. Each scent is carefully chosen to reflect the beauty and essence of what we hope Franklin & Co. will become, a place where people can slow down, reconnect with nature, and find a little joy in something simple and beautiful.
Another exciting part of our journey is that our daughter Emmy will be joining us. Emmy has shown a keen interest in learning everything about flower farming, and we’re so excited to have her by our side as we grow this dream into reality. It’s becoming a family affair.
You might wonder why I chose flower farming. Yes, part of it was seeing women close to my age out in beautiful flower fields wearing cute outfits and using charming tools, but the deeper reason came from a need for something different. For much of my life, I have been caring for people in their most vulnerable states of health. My most important patient has been my mother. She developed cancer a year and a half ago, and during this time, I have been helping her through the most important battle of her life. Thankfully, she is starting to feel a bit better, and on her good days, she’s looking forward to being part of the flower farm journey with us. In the midst of these challenges, I found myself searching for something happy, something that brings joy to people no matter where they are in life.
I didn’t want to focus on the struggles I saw in healthcare, working with limited resources, long hours away from family, missing out on important events, I wanted to focus on happiness. I wanted to be outside in the sun, working with my hands, and feeling the satisfaction of watching something grow from a tiny seed into a beautiful flower. Flower farming felt like exactly what I needed, and now that we’re on this journey, I couldn’t be more excited about what’s ahead.
We’re also investing in learning everything we can about flower farming. I’m currently taking a course with Erin Benzakein from Floret, a true genius in the flower farming world, and it’s been such an inspiring experience. With every lesson, we feel more confident in our ability to grow something special.
Our why is simple: we love flowers, we love this community, and we love the idea of creating something beautiful that brings people together. Pick up a bouquet, come to one of our future U-pick events or just stop by to say hi. We want Franklin & Co. Flower Farm to be a place where everyone feels welcome.
This is just the beginning of our journey, and we’re so excited to have you along for the ride. Thank you for being a part of our newsletter where you get firsthand information, early access to event launches, and exclusive subscriber-only deals. Follow us on social media to watch the farm grow, one bloom at a time. And if you love what we’re doing, please share our socials with friends. We appreciate your support! Stay tuned for more updates, behind-the-scenes moments, and all the floral goodness to come. If you have any questions or just want to say hello, feel free to reach out. We’d love to hear from you!
Until next time,
Cory and the Franklin & Co. Flower Farm Team
About Cory
Cory Franklin is a retired RN who had never grown a flower before she started Franklin & Co. Flower Farm, a zone 3 u-pick flower farm in Charlie Lake, BC. She is also the founder of Stemwise, a cut flower planning app. She shares what happens in her flower field, real dates and all, so you can grow with less guessing.
