Home for the Harvest

If you’ve ever been to northern Alberta, you know one thing for sure: it’s cold. For this reason, it’s not exactly a gardener’s paradise. Only a few plants reliably grow in this region, and the growing season lasts a brief four months.

So you can only imagine how frustrating that setting was for a gardening enthusiast like Mary Jane Duford.

“I did my best, growing this tiny little countertop garden and a few plants on my little patio in the months where I could do that,” says Mary Jane. “But I really longed to move back to my hometown in the Okanagan Valley, where I knew I could grow apples, peaches, grapes, and all sorts of lovely things.”

Eventually, Mary Jane saved up enough money to move back, commuting between the Okanagan and Alberta to continue her work on the engineering team at an open pit mine. Along these commutes, she would see these beautiful leaves changing colors and a name popped into her head: Home for the Harvest. She was inspired to create a website dedicated to sharing tips and tricks with readers on how to start and nurture their own gardens.

“My website's goal is to make gardening approachable, joyful, and educational,” says Mary Jane. “I do this by sharing clear, practical guidance and celebrating the growth that happens through trying new things. Because gardening isn’t just a vital life skill — it’s also really satisfying.”

As Mary Jane generated more and more ad revenue, she decided to join forces with Raptive, a Google Certified Publishing Partner. Once she qualified for their ad threshold, she could hand off the ad management to them — so that she could focus on creating great content.

“I decided that I was gonna aim straight for Raptive,” says Mary Jane. “And now that I work with them, I get paid once a month — and don’t have to talk to anybody. I don't even have to send an invoice. Raptive just makes it all really easy.”

In 2022 and 2023, Mary Jane’s revenue increased to the point where she could start paying herself a salary, in addition to paying for the software and subscriptions she uses to keep the site running.

“The ad revenue also let me hire two freelance horticulture writers, which I would have never been able to do,” says Mary Jane. “That was absolutely fantastic because their expert content was high-quality and added so much to the site.”

She even had a horticulturist produce several videos for the site — and in the process, he’s become a mentor to Mary Jane.

“I considered all the horticulturists I learned from in my Master Gardener classes, then picked the one who was the best of the best,” she said. “I’m so glad I did — but he’s also pricey, so I’m grateful my revenue through display ads has helped make this possible.”

Looking ahead, Mary Jane wants to continue building up her reach and impact.

“Now I'm really feeling like it's time to properly launch it as a real business,” she says. “My goals are to totally increase traffic and revenue. I’d love to get my revenue to the point where I'm able to sponsor the local community, such as the school garden we’re building at the elementary school in my neighborhood.”

No matter what the future brings, Mary Jane is passionate about inspiring more people to dig into gardening, as well as sharing their experiences with others. Her favorite moments come when readers share how the site motivated them to take their gardening to the next level.

“The plant world is a lot like online publishing,” says Mary Jane. “Not everything goes perfectly the first time, but the key is to keep experimenting and learning from your results. What matters most is the effort and reps you put in. And when you finally get to share something truly valuable, whether it’s in the garden or online, it makes all the trial and error worth it.”