DISPATCHES

A behind-the-scenes look at how things have shifted at Farmer’s Son Co. over the past few months. Dan reflects on the reality of running a Canadian artisan fragrance studio during a time of sourcing challenges, supplier changes and rising costs. From fragrance reformulations to format changes, this is a mid-year update on what’s staying, what’s evolving and how FSCo. continues to push forward.

I don't know about you, but a good Caesar just hits differently when the chores are done and the sun’s still out.

It might be the ritual of it. The squeeze of lemon. The hit of salt. The quiet satisfaction of the first sip after you’ve been in the garden all morning or finally sat down at the cabin with your feet up and the day still has a little stretch to it.

I’ve always loved a Caesar. Years ago, two close friends and I took a weekend road trip across Manitoba on a mission to find the best one. We stopped at small-town watering holes, hotel lounges and gravel road bars. We ordered Caesars with breakfast, lunch and anything in between.

At the time, the Alexandria Hotel in Virden had our vote. Briny. Spicy. Ice cold. No frills. Exactly what we were looking for.

This version is what I’ve landed on since then.

It’s not trying to be fancy. Just fresh. Clean. Properly balanced.
The kind of Caesar that feels right when you’ve earned it.

The difference for me? I start with tomato juice. Not a mix or a ready-to-pour tomato & clam.

Tomato juice gives you a clean base, letting you build the flavour yourself. Add what you want. Leave out what you don’t. You end up with something that tastes like it was made on purpose. Not poured from a bottle and masked with garnish.

Then comes the gin (vodka works fine too if that's more your vibe). Then lemon juice. Pickle brine. A little soy sauce. Worcestershire (in my case, lots of Worcestershire). A few dashes of hot sauce. Sometimes I go with celery salt. Other times I use a few drops of celery bitters.

No shaking. Just a good stir to bring it together.

Did I mention that you'll find a selection of bar spoons in the Farmer's Son Co. shoppe?

I love to rim my glasses with Provisions Caesar Salt (you'll find it in our shoppe too!). Flavourful. Balanced. Sharp without being overpowering. Did I mention that it's Canadian?

I keep it simple with a Triana spicy cocktail stick. They're fantastic! A little heat. A little texture. A bit of bite that compliments my Caesar instead of overwhelming it.

No olives. No skewers stacked with half a grocery store.
Just the right kind of savoury.

But like, you do you. There's no wrong way to garnish a Caesar. 

The Recipe: The Sunday Caesar

1½ oz gin or vodka
4 oz high-quality tomato juice
½ oz fresh lemon juice
½ oz pickle brine
½ tsp soy sauce
2 dashes Worcestershire
2 to 3 dashes hot sauce
If you like, a pinch of celery salt or a few dashes of celery bitters

Rim: Provisions Caesar Salt
Garnish: Triana spicy cocktail stick

Run a lemon wedge around the rim of a tall glass and dip it into Caesar salt.
Fill the glass with fresh ice.
In a shaker or mixing tin, combine everything and stir.
Pour into your prepared glass. Find a vintage one if you can. It makes your Caesar taste that much better. I promise. Then, garnish with a Triana stick.

This is the Caesar I make when I’ve been out in the garden for a few hours and want something cold and savoury. When we’re at the cabin and the sun hasn’t gone down yet. When there’s no rush to be anywhere else.

Or on the dock, when that game of ladder ball is getting a little too competitive and someone’s insisting the last round didn’t count.

It’s crisp. Balanced. Just the right amount of bold.

Unmistakably Canadian. With a little twist.
And exactly what I want in my hand when the day’s still wide open.

Cheers,
Dan

If you’ve spent any time in Manitoba, you already know.
Honey dill isn’t just a sauce. It’s a thing.

You’ll find it on chicken finger plates in small-town cafés, rink concessions and places where the booths are cracked and the ketchup bottles are sticky. It’s sweet. It’s tangy. And if it’s done properly, there’s a lot of dill. It’s got a bite to it. A little zip. And for reasons no one can fully explain, it stuck around.

So when someone suggested turning it into a cocktail, I didn’t laugh. I said yes.

Because around these parts, we believe in the kinds of ideas that feel like home. Even when they sound a little strange at first. Especially when they do.

Let’s get one thing clear.

We didn’t pour honey dill sauce into a shaker.

We’re not monsters.

This started with a simple idea. What would it taste like if you took the feeling of honey dill and turned it into a drink?

We began with a good gin. Nothing fancy. Just something that plays well with herbs and citrus. From there, we made a honey syrup using Youngest Son Beekeeping’s Spun Honey. It’s a beautiful product harvested in the Austin and McGregor region of Manitoba and can be found in our West End Winnipeg shoppe.

We added fresh lemon juice to bring the tang. Thin slices of cucumber to keep it cool. And dill. SO MUCH DILL.

No muddling. No overthinking. Just everything into a shaker with ice, a hard shake and a quick double strain to catch the bits. What you end up with is something light, fresh and just a little unexpected. But in a good way.

The Recipe: Honey Dill Cocktail

2 oz gin (we're partial to Manitoba's own Patent 5)
¾ oz fresh lemon juice
¾ oz honey syrup (made with 1 part Youngest Son Beekeeping's spun honey to 1 part water, gently heated and cooled)
2 to 3 slices fresh cucumber
A few small sprigs fresh dill

Add everything to a shaker with ice. Shake hard.
Double strain into a coupe glass.
Garnish with a fresh dill sprig.

It’s bright. It’s herbaceous. It’s lightly sweet with a clean finish. It doesn’t taste like the sauce. But somehow, it still feels like it.

For the Manitoba-Hearted and the Sauce-Curious
This drink isn’t a gimmick. It’s a nod.

To the chicken fingers we grew up with.
To the sauce that showed up at every rink, every diner and every late-night takeout run.
To the moment you realized most people outside this province have never even heard of honey dill.
And to the pride that comes from being from somewhere that would come up with something this weird and this good.

So would you drink a honey dill cocktail?
I did. And I will again.

Alongside summer pantry favourites, cocktail tools and other small joys, you’ll find everything you need to make this drink your own.

Visit us in Winnipeg’s West End or browse the full collection online at farmerssonco.com

If you give the recipe a try, tag us, share it or send it to a friend who still asks for extra sauce with their chicken fingers.

Here’s to good ideas.
Here’s to making something weird and making it wonderful.
Here’s to Manitoba flavour.

Cheers,
Dan

With all the noise and uncertainty out there, I wanted to share a quiet and honest check-in. Not to add to the overwhelm, but rather to let you know what is happening behind the scenes and where we are headed next.

Things feel tender right now. Not just in business, but in life. There is a constant hum of whiplash that I know many of us are feeling. It is financial, it is emotional and it's all layered on top of the day-to-day work of simply trying to do our best. For small, independent businesses, especially ones built slowly and with intention, it's a lot to hold.

Over the past several months, we have been adjusting to new tariffs, shifting timelines, and increased costs on almost every material we rely on so that we can continue to create.

Wax. Fragrance. Packaging. Glassware.

We can still access most of the materials we rely on, but many now come with added costs - whether through tariffs or increases from domestic distributors. In other cases, we’re having to seek out new partners, often much further away. What used to be a straightforward reorder for a needed label design or a case of bottle lids is now a longer, more delicate process - waiting, adjusting, hoping things arrive as expected. The supply chain isn’t broken, but it’s strained. And like many small businesses, we’re feeling that strain more than ever.

The reality is this: nearly everything we use to craft our handcrafted candles, reed diffusers, room & linen sprays and incense cones is imported. There is no manufacturer or producer of soy wax in Canada. The same applies to the majority of our glassware and fragrance. Canadian distributors may carry these items, but they are reselling the same materials we we're already importing ourselves. And now, those prices are shifting across the board.

Our lowball tumblers have become increasingly difficult to source in a way that makes financial sense. We used to import pallets of glass with a turnaround of seven to ten days. But today, Canadian importers are charging a premium, something we just can’t absorb. There are no Canadian manufacturers for this product, so we’re now looking further abroad. And that takes time. Finding a new supplier we trust, one whose business ethics align with our values isn’t a quick process. Once we do, there’s still the time it takes to have tumblers produced and shipped from the other side of the world. Three months, if not more. What was once a just-in-time system has become an exercise in patience, investment and constant recalibration.

This is not about cutting corners. It is about survival.

I care deeply about the handmade pieces that we create. The way a fragrance unfolds in your space. How each candle burns, slowly and cleanly. The weight of the glass in your hand. The texture of the art paper chosen for our labels. The way it sits on your shelf. The quiet comfort of lighting it at the end of the day. Every detail matters and nothing is overlooked.

We’re going to do everything we can to continue offering your favourite fragrances, though how we present them may need to change. Some scents might be poured into jars with lids instead of our usual tumblers and boxes. Certain collections may pause temporarily while we navigate rising costs and delays in sourcing the required materials. Through all of this, we’re doing our best to ensure the spirit, craft and quality of what we do stays intact. And as we learn more about how these changes will affect us, we’ll continue to share. We’re committed to being as transparent as we can, because we know you care about the process just as much as our finished pieces.

We cannot replace a supply chain in a few weeks. It takes time. It takes testing, trial runs, lead times and capital. Every new decision needs to make sense - not just creatively, but logistically.

If you’ve been with Farmer’s Son Co. for a while, you’ll know this shift into new product categories hasn’t happened overnight. It’s been a gradual evolution, something that began quietly and truthfully, out of necessity.

It was never about chasing newness. It’s been about adapting to a changing market. About the reality of handcrafting at scale. About the financial risks that came with putting so much emphasis on wholesale, especially when the burden of managing someone else’s inventory and expectations so often fell back on us. These shifts didn’t come from a place of trend. They came from a need to build something sustainable. Something that could grow and change without burning out the people behind it.

And that evolution has brought beautiful things with it.

Our linen kitchen towels have been a quiet success. Soft, durable and timeless, they're designed for everyday use and have been so warmly received by those who take them home. That response has sparked something in us. We’ve started dreaming about what a deeper dive into linen could look like; perhaps bedding, or more pieces for the kitchen and table. If the support is there, we may explore offering a small run as a pre-order later this spring.

Our incense cones are getting a refresh this spring. Still hand-dipped in our Winnipeg lab, they’re crafted with the same care that defines everything we do. New, more refined packaging is on the way, along with the launch of our first hand-dipped incense sticks later this season. Another quiet way to bring scent into your space.

Our shoppe continues to evolve into something bigger. Something more complete.

We’ve been curating a growing collection of European and Canadian groceries and confectionery. Think chocolates and pantry goods that feel considered, generous and full of flavour. Beautiful, everyday items that are easy to enjoy and meaningful to give. Over the past year, we've also introduced our first skincare range, Benamôr, an iconic Portuguese brand we’re proud to offer as the only shoppe in Western Canada carrying their collection. It’s a line we’ve used, loved and stand behind - chosen with the same care we bring to everything we do.

And then there’s the garden. Our growing collection of hand tools reflects my love for passion for outdoor living and the satisfaction that comes with time spent in the soil. These are pieces I've designed and sourced with care; ones that feel good in your hand and last season after season. More tools are on the way, and if we’re able to make it happen, we’d love to expand into a few other pieces before the end of the year.

Through all of this, the thread that connects everything remains fragrance.

Farmer’s Son Co. has always been fragrance-first. It is the reason we started. It is still the heart of everything we do.

Scent is powerful. It can bring calm, memory, grounding, escape. I believe in that, deeply. I believe in the way fragrance can shape a moment, and how it can create a sense of place.

That has not changed.

But the retail landscape has.

Winnipeg is home. It’s where this business was built, and where we continue to grow. Like any place, it comes with its own rhythm, and we’re still learning how we fit within it. But I remain hopeful. Grateful for the clients who’ve shown up, shared kind words and helped us get to where we are. Your support reminds me why I started this in the first place and why I’m still here, still building, still believing in what’s possible.

There have been moments when it has all felt like too much.

But I did not walk away from a corporate job just to give up when things got hard.

I walked away because I believed in something more. Because I wanted to build a life and a business that honoured creativity, purpose, and care.

I started Farmer’s Son Co. with two hundred dollars and no outside investment. Just a belief in quality, story, and the idea that even the smallest goods can make a life feel more meaningful.

Almost a decade later, I still believe in what we are doing here. And I still believe there is more to come.

Our perspective has always been global. We have built this business with a Canadian heart and a worldly lens. Many of the goods we offer are sourced from across Canada, Europe, Latin & South America and beyond. Always thoughtfully, always with care. We believe in surrounding ourselves with pieces that are functional, beautiful and considered. We believe that everything in your home should earn its place.

We also believe that shopping small matters.

That supporting independent Canadian businesses matters.

We are proud of the work we do. And we want to keep doing it - on our terms, in our way, with the same care and clarity that has shaped this business from the beginning.

If you have placed an order, shared our name, told a friend, or walked through our doors, thank you. Truly. It means everything.

And if you have been meaning to stop by the shoppe, this is your sign.
We would love to see you.

We are still here.
Still building.
Still doing the work.
And we are not done yet.

With much gratitude.

Cheers,
Dan

For nearly a decade, I’ve poured my time, energy, and creativity into building Farmer’s Son Co. - but does that make me an artist? In this blog post, I explore the tension between art and commerce, the struggle for recognition, and the hard lessons I’ve learned about self-worth along the way. From corporate projects that valued my work only when it suited them to retailers who claimed to support artists while refusing to pay them, this is my story of navigating creativity in a world driven by the bottom line.