Dayan Francis
2024 | Trade - Hospitality
“Hospitality is my passion. I love every bit about it, and I love creating sustainable practices in every venue I work at. Sustainability is important to me as it protects my future and one day, my kids' future.”
Hello, my name is Dayan Francis. I’ve been working in the hospitality industry for almost four years.
In 2024, I was given a scholarship through BBM, where I received funding to travel overseas and study abroad in my field.
I travelled to Canada in late 2025, where I spent three months living and working at Eigensinn Farm before finishing my placement in early November.
Staying at Eigensinn Farm gave me a completely new understanding of what sustainable living actually looks like.
The farm grows an incredible variety of produce, including multiple varieties of different crops. For example, we grew three types of tomatoes, two types of carrots and two types of beetroot, along with lettuce, kale, zucchini, pumpkins and many other vegetables. We sold the extra produce on the weekends.
Here, I even learnt to forage for wild mushrooms under supervision because you wouldn’t want to pick the wrong mushroom this far out of town.
We raised our own livestock on the farm, including pigs, sheep, chickens and a duck, and we even had beehives on site.
Seeing this level of diversity and self-sufficiency really changed my perspective on where our food comes from. Seeing it all firsthand gave me a deeper understanding.
One of the most impressive things about the farm was how little waste there was. All waste was carefully separated depending on how it could be used. Food scraps were fed directly to the animals, while other organic waste went straight into compost to support future crops. Some materials were even used to fuel fires. Very little was thrown away.
This experience made me more aware of how much food I used to waste and taught me practical ways to minimise that in my everyday life.
On the weekends, we hosted a special farm-to-table dining experience. I worked as a server during these events, taking orders and serving food, while also helping with food preparation, such as making salads or coffee.
Another unique aspect of the farm was that we even roasted our own coffee beans over the fire.
Everything we served was deeply connected to the farm. Guests enjoyed pizzas from the home-built wood-fired oven, topped with farm-grown ingredients, fresh salads such as beetroot salad and kale Caesar salad and smoked ham from our farm-raised pigs.
Wild apple trees provided apples for a delightful apple strudel for guests to enjoy.
This experience dramatically changed the way I think about food. Before coming to Eigensinn Farm, I never fully appreciated how much effort goes into producing food or how much of it would be wasted daily.
Living and working there showed me how every part of the food system can be used, from feeding animals with scraps to turning organic waste into compost for future harvests.
This experience has given me a deeper respect for sustainable food practices and the importance of reducing waste, something I hope to carry forward into my career in hospitality.
Thank you.
Dayan’s scholarship relates to these UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs):