Veggie bouquet company grows

By Colleen Turner

Tracy Korsgaard is combining her love of healthy food and her knack for all things crafty.

She and friend Shelley Herring have created a company called Spear-It, a venture that turns vegetables – good old broccoli, carrots, peas – into edible works of art.

“ Shelley has had lots of ideas, but when she suggested vegetable bouquets, we knew we had something. We just started cutting things up to see how they looked.”

The result is a sprouting business that offers an alternative to sending flowers.
Korsgaard, who works in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary, says she and Herring, a paralegal, now spend several nights a week creating vegetable and fruit bouquets at a professional kitchen in the southwest. Most bouquets begin with a head of lettuce and grow from there. A colourful array of ready-to-eat peppers, beans, cauliflower and other seasonal vegetables are artfully arranged in a flower pot. The bouquets are then shipped across Calgary.

Korsgaard and Herring have already had requests from people looking to franchise their business. For now, though, the duo is taking the business slowly, developing new products and finetuning their operation. They are currently experimenting with a pickle and cheese bouquet.

“ We are just seeing how it plays out,” says Korsgaard.

Bouquets range in price from $35 for a personal veggie bouquet (serves one to five) to $70 for a large bouquet (serves 12 or more). Fruit bouquets cost $45 to $85. All products may be ordered online at www.spear-it.ca.