What does a prairie entrepreneur look like?
By Joan Janzen
Entrepreneurs on the prairies are accustomed to being versatile, accommodating their lifestyles and working to fit in with all types of conditions. Catherine Higginbotham and her family are a prime example of prairie versatility.
I paid a visit to Catherine on their farm just a few miles north of Eatonia, Sask. to check out her thriving home business. However, I soon realized Saskatchcushion wasn’t the only endeavour that kept Catherine occupied. She and her husband have a lot of ‘irons in the fire.’
Accompanied by my daughter-in-law Kyla, we were invited into Catherine’s massive home, which she described as passive solar heated and very energy efficient. She estimated its size to be 10,000 square feet, including the garage.
PHOTOS BY JOAN JANZEN, click for larger images and captions.
Along the way to her studio, where she crafts her famous pillows, we saw a giant tortoise lounging beside a large indoor fish pond. It was an unexpected but pleasant surprise.
Our hostess asked if we’d like a brew, which is the term she used for tea. Catherine is originally from England, and she explained that her mother grew up in Cabri, Saskatchewan, which helps to explain how our hostess came to our fair province.
She once worked in a pub in a small town of 60,000 in England, but after visiting Cabri with her mother, she decided to make Saskatchewan her home. It’s where she met her husband, Kelly Dearborn, and now here she is, living in rural Saskatchewan.
While raising her two children, Catherine was looking for a home business she could operate while having the flexibility of raising a family and helping out on the farm. Because she had always loved sewing and textiles, the idea of making cushions seemed to be a good fit.
She wanted to create something that could feature any town, no matter how big or small. A product that was simple but also a recognizable Saskatchewan brand.
“When I meet people, they always ask where you’re from,” she said. “Then they ask, where’s that? So it’s nice for people to actually be able to see where you live.”
Catherine’s customers are able to spot their town, which is labelled on a map on the front of each personalized cushion. Each cushion is made to scale, with a map on the front and a comprehensive list of the province’s communities on the back. She makes cushions in the shape of various provinces, including Manitoba, Alberta, Yukon, as well as Saskatchewan. The covers have a zipper, so customers can stuff their own pillow with recycled stuffing, which in turn helps reduce shipping costs.
Since 2016, Catherine estimates she has made close to 3000 cushions: small, medium and large sizes, in different colours. The cushions have been purchased by companies as gifts to their employees but are also popular at family reunions and weddings. In 2017 she was chosen as the winner of the Small Business Spotlight Opportunity.
She serves a wide range of customers, including Saskatchewan’s Minister of Energy and Resources, who gifts the cushions to visitors to our province. Those visitors include officials from Finland, the UK and Japan.
“I make them in the evenings. I have all the blanks ready in advance, so I just need to attach the personalized label,” Catherine explained. She estimates it takes twelve minutes to make a cushion.
“There’s no wait time. If someone in Saskatoon orders one today, they’ll receive it tomorrow,” she said.
The Saskatchcushion website features additional products - cross stitch kits, keychains, cross-back aprons and velvet pencil cases. “People message me and say they cry when they see the pillows and how personalized they are,” she said. “People tell me they see one of my pillows all over the place.”
As we went on a quick tour of her home, we saw her latest project displayed throughout the house. Catherine has been working on stained glass pieces, but it’s hard to imagine when she finds time to make them.
She and her husband, Kelly, always have a few new ideas brewing. They have plans to build a heavy-duty etching press sometime in the near future. And this past summer, they hosted a family from Ukraine who have moved to Eston, where they are employed. As I listened to Catherine talk about their guests, it was evident how much their personal story had touched their lives and hearts.
After touring the house, Catherine asked if we’d like to see the lambs, which of course, we did. Our hostess pulled on her rubber boots and coveralls, snatched up a couple of giant bottles of milk, and off we went to see the sheep. There were also cats, dogs, chickens, and turkeys, but primarily sheep, about two hundred of them. And it was lambing season.
Soon Catherine was busy bottle-feeding lambs, one of which was brought into their home, where it was bundled up with a water bottle. Nursing lambs back to health is just another one of Catherine’s job descriptions.
As we said our goodbyes and thanked Catherine for her hospitality, one thing became clear to me. Saskatchcusions all come in the same shape, but every prairie entrepreneur is totally unique.