Grocery + Gift Shop
Preserving
Local
Artisans.
Support Local
Devote your dollars close to your heart & home, preserve your local economy, and cultivate a thriving community by supporting Manitoba made goods.
The benefits of buying small and local are tremendous; Reducing environmental footprint, investing in a strong economy and tax base, greater employment rates and labour rights, and higher quality goods made by folks passionate about their product.
Locally owned companies both contribute to community charities more than national chains and are more likely to source materials within their own area, cycling even more strength into our neighbourhoods. It’s estimated that for every $100 spent locally, $68 circulates back into our own economy.
Take food sovereignty back into your own mouth!
Only a handful of grocery retailers control over 86% of the food we eat and only 10 mega-corporations own nearly every food brand on conventional grocery shelves- eating local moves control over from distant corporate boardrooms and back into your community. Shortening the food supply chain means greater food security, quality, and consideration for your needs and health.
Find flora & farmer’s full line as well as 100’s of Manitoba made foods, gifts, and housewares at our exclusively local storefront, Preserve.
We’re Different
We create delightfully daring preserves your Grandma never made!
Our flavours may be more adventurous than hers, but we make them the same way as she (or her grandma) did, and that’s what defines us.
Working in smaller batches, and combining produce with bold but complimentary herbs, spices, and liquors, we strive to enhance the natural flavours while honouring the integrity of the harvest.
All our artisanal preserves are handmade, handpoured and packaged in our own Winnipeg production facility, visible from our storefront, Preserve.
Our Story
Kim Bialkoski, chef and owner of both flora & farmer and Preserve, was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba and has been passionate about food with an appetite for knowledge and a DIY attitude since she was a child.
This, combined with her love of the outdoors naturally led to a keen interest in gardening, and after a bumper crop of cucumbers one summer decided it was time to teach herself how to preserve food.
Her first attempt of crock pickles was a revelation, and an obsession was born. Not stopping with pickles, Kim learned how to make fruit-forward spreads, relishes and sauerkrauts, thrilled at the ability to use her creativity to create bold new flavor combinations.
After years working in the food industry, a serious bike accident changed her life and was the catalyst for her career in canning.
Working around her injuries, often late into the night after her son went to bed, she found solace in the kitchen and developed the recipes you can still find from flora & farmer.
She attended her first farmers market in 2012 and earned rave reviews from customers. This support motivated her to officially begin flora & farmer, and after quickly outgrowing her home kitchen and years of renting commercial kitchens, the opportunity to build her own facility with a storefront was seized and Preserve by flora & farmer opened in December 2018.
Her own experiences and challenges as a small food producer, and love of the community emboldened her to gladly bring in other Manitoba made products from vendors she met over the years and is thrilled to now be carrying over 60 local companies products in the vibrant little shop.
Mindful that the store would be so much more than her own products, calling it flora & farmer just didn’t fit the bill, and the name Preserve was born. A play on the word, the shop offers far more than spreads and pickles but seeks to “Preserve the local economy” while cultivating relationships with customers and community.
About Us
Flora & farmer believes it’s the little things in life that bring the most joy.
A fresh bouquet of flowers, the warmth of the sun on your skin in the spring, the perfect cup of coffee, or a luscious spread, bursting with flavour on your morning toast.
We believe in whole, real food and preserving heritage cooking traditions with a fun, inspired edge. We focus on balanced flavours and quality ingredients with sustainability and your health in mind. We source locally and organic or naturally grown when possible, and never use artificial flavours, extracts or preservatives.
We’re proud to be one of few companies in Canada to generally avoid using pectin or thickeners and shocking amounts of sugar in our spreads. Instead, we boil the fruit with companion herbs, spices and a modest amount of sweetener at a high temperature for hours, reducing it to a luxurious, fruit-forward spread. Each jar has a minimum of a half-pound of fruit, for a concentrated, low sugar preserve.
We see the value in handmade and work in smaller batches, hand pouring, capping and labelling each jar in our own certified facility. Each is inspected throughout these processes with detail to quality and safety.
“The people who give you their food give you their heart.”
– Cesar Chavez