Interview with our 2022 Bailiwick Conservation Award Winners
Dee & Jacques Sangan from Jamblin Flower Farm won Best Conservation Project in our Bailiwick Conservation Awards in 2022. They pride themselves on growing beautiful and sustainable blooms without the use of any pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilisers. On winning our Awards last year, they hoped their success would raise awareness that nature can take care of itself. We caught up with them both to get an update on their project and hear how they would encourage anyone to enter their project in this year's Awards.
How have you both been since winning the Bailiwick Conservation Awards last year?
We're doing well, the Conservation Awards really kick started an exciting season for us, our first season flowering for weddings. We set out to provide flowers for one family wedding and ended up taking on seven! Despite the endless watering required to combat the never ending summer of 2022, we had a great year.
How did the prize money from our Awards help with your project?
The prize fund allowed us to invest in shrubs for both foliage and flowers! We have now introduced a new layered foliage bed and extended our existing foliage line. The layered bed will provide us with foliage and some flowers once established, but it will also provide a valuable habitat for birds and insects, as well as acting as a much needed windbreak. As a part-time endeavour, it would have taken us years to build up this collection of shrubs and trees without the funding we received through the Conservation Awards. We are so very grateful!
What is your ambition for Jamblin Flower Farm in 2023?
We're hoping to really streamline and focus what we do at the Farm this year, it will be our fourth season of growing. We have learnt a lot, and we are doing our best to iron out the issues that have sapped our time in previous seasons. The previous three seasons have been admittedly a little chaotic as we worked to find our feet juggling flowers and becoming parents!
What advice do you have for someone considering entering our Conservation Awards this year?
It can be really scary putting your project out there, I know I found it incredibly nerve-wracking! Just remember, this is your passion, your niche, and a cause worth fighting for!
You've got nothing to lose by entering the awards, it's a great opportunity!
Our Awards have been running for over three decades within the Bailiwick and Jersey, where we continue to recognise islanders who undertake projects that display their concern for the environment. Our competition is currently open to entries and we encourage conservation projects, no matter how large or small, and whatever stage in the process to enter. Michelle Steele, HR & PR Executive for Insurance Corporation said...
Whether you are involved in organising beach cleans, marine conservation, running a school Eco club, building bug hotels at school or in your garden or planting pollinator pathways; whether you’re a conservation group managing biodiversity, growing trees, hedges, using different methods to farm or a previous winner – we just want to hear what you have been up to protect the flora and fauna of the islands and enter our awards. You never know you could walk away with some prize money to help towards your project!
So don't delay - enter your project by 10th May 2023. See our Community tab for more details on how to enter online.