How Homegrown Took Root: The Story Behind the Gathering
In February 2021, I was doing some research for a client project through the Wellington County Museum and Archives, when I stumbled across a composite image titled “Business Men of Harriston, 1891.” It was exactly what it sounded like — a class-style photo of 30 or 40 white men with award-worthy mustaches. Not a single woman in sight.
“This picture was designed by I.V. Stafford, Harriston’s Artistic Photographer, 1899.”
That image stopped me in my tracks. Because logic dictates that women had to have been running businesses in small-town Ontario in 1899 — whether officially recognized or not. They were likely running or contributing to shops, farms, services, and family enterprises. But there was no class photo, no record, no trace.
I started to imagine what a modern version of that image would look like. The Town of Minto alone is full of female entrepreneurs — farmers, florists, designers, shop owners, stylists, bookkeepers, makers, and wellness practitioners. And that was just in my community. All across the region, women are doing business their way, shaping their communities in the process.
The Seed
Because I can’t resist a creative side project (even when I probably should), I decided to recreate that photo — but this time, with women.
I reached out to dozens of women business owners in my community and asked them to help me recreate this image (socially-distanced and digitally, of course because COVID-19).
To capture what business looks like in Minto, and around the world, in 2021. To show how the business community in Minto has changed since 1899. To share our beautiful businesses and faces as a unified whole. To demonstrate community over competition.
To my surprise and delight, they responded enthusiastically. On International Women’s Day 2021, I posted the completed collage on Instagram. It didn’t go viral — but something much better happened.
Inset description: This picture is a historical update of a photographic montage compliled by I.V. Stafford, Photography, Harriston, in 1899. This edition aims to recognize the evolution and diversity of the current business landscape, and celebrate women-owned businesses in Minto in 2021. Participation with voluntary. As such, this compilation is not exhaustive, and its creator acknowledges gaps in business owner representation.
It planted a seed.
If one small rural town had this many women in business, what about every other town across this part of Ontario?
All I could think about was getting those women in the same room.
Letting the Idea Germinate
Like any seed, my idea needed time and the right conditions to grow. For a few years, the concept lived quietly in the back of my mind until one day, on a road trip with Belinda Wick-Graham, the Director of Economic and Community Development for the Town of Minto, I finally said it out loud.
The idea for Homegrown.
If you’re a business owner or you have a business idea, and you don’t know your local economic development people, start there. Their entire job is to connect you to resources to help you grow. And in this region, that network is powered by an incredible group of women — across Bruce, Grey, Huron, Perth, and Wellington Counties — leading local business centres, Community Futures organizations, and municipal economic development departments.
When Belinda and I shared the Homegrown idea, every single one of them said yes immediately.
The First Gathering
Ten months later, in June 2024, that seed had sprouted into the first Homegrown Gathering in Lucknow, Ontario — a one-day event for female-identifying rural business owners that was designed to feel part pep rally, part summer camp, and part business conference.
Homegrown was created to do three things:
Help rural women business owners connect with each other.
Provide support, encouragement, resources, and shared learning.
Celebrate the creativity and resiliency of rural life.
We built the day around panels, conversations, and reflection time. Moments to listen, share, and simply be in the company of others who understand what it means to build something from the ground up.
What Grew From There
Homegrown wouldn’t have happened without our partners and sponsors — the people and organizations who nurtured the idea and helped it take root. Every single one we approached understood immediately why it mattered.
And that’s been the biggest lesson of all: you don’t have to grow alone. The village exists. You just have to stop waiting for it to find you.
Since that first gathering, Homegrown continues to grow into a regional movement that celebrates women building businesses and lives they love in rural Ontario. It’s proof that when you plant the right seed, surround it with care, and share the work of tending the garden, incredible things can bloom.
Bloom in good company,
Heather Watterworth
Creator, Homegrown Gatherings
