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Ep. 89: Flower Farming in Australia's Barossa Valley with Katie Lyndoch
1.3k Plays2 days ago
She started with zero qualifications, a personal trainer husband, and six dahlia tubers from the hardware store. Now Katie and her husband Rob run Little Lyndoch Flower Farm in Australia's Barossa Valley, growing just three crops on under an acre, and building a business that actually brings them joy.
In this episode, Katie shares how they sold everything during COVID to fund the farm, why growing fewer crops made them more profitable, and what it really looks like to build something from the ground up with your partner.
What you'll hear in today's episode:
- Why Katie and Rob narrowed their entire farm down to just three crops, and how that one decision changed everything
- The story of Uncle Lucky's greenhouse and how six dahlias became 3,500
- How they figured out outsourcing when they couldn't keep wearing all the hats
- Katie's honest take on marketing, showing up authentically, and why the quick 3-second reel always outperforms the one that took 2 hours
Resources & Links Mentioned
- Little Lyndoch Flower Farm: littlelyndochflowerfarm.com.au
- Instagram: @littlelyndochflowerfarm
About Katie Lyndoch:
Katie is the co-founder of Little Lyndoch Flower Farm, a seasonal flower farm and creative studio in the Barossa Valley, South Australia. Alongside her husband Rob, Katie has built a business that includes wholesale cut flowers, dahlia tuber and ranunculus corm sales, floral design for weddings, and a 3-day retreat called Bloom. She's currently developing the Bloom Academy for online learning. With no formal training in floristry, farming, or business, Katie and Rob are completely self-taught and share their journey openly to inspire growers and creatives around the world.
If this episode resonates with you, would you share it with a flower friend? And if you haven't already, subscribe so you never miss a conversation.
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Transcript
Introduction to The Backyard Bouquet Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Backyard Bouquet Podcast, where stories bloom from local flower fields and home gardens. I'm your host, Jennifer Galizia of The Flowering Farmhouse. I'm a backyard gardener turned flower farmer located in Hood River, Oregon.
00:00:17
Speaker
Join us for heartfelt journeys shared by flower farmers and backyard gardeners. Each episode is like a vibrant garden, cultivating wisdom and joy through flowers.
00:00:28
Speaker
From growing your own backyard garden to supporting your local flower farmer, The Backyard Bouquet is your fertile ground for heartwarming tales and expert cut flower growing advice.
00:00:39
Speaker
All right, flower friends, grab your gardening gloves, garden snips, or your favorite vase because it's time to let your backyard bloom.
Meet Katie Lindock from Little Lindock Flower Farm
00:00:56
Speaker
Today's guest is Katie Lindock, co-founder of Little Lindock Flower Farm, a seasonal flower farm and creative studio located in Australia in the heart of Barossa Valley. This year on the Backyard Bouquet podcast, we're intentionally sharing more global flower stories because while our climates, seasons, and growing and conditions may differ,
00:01:20
Speaker
The heart of flower farming connects us all, and Katie's journey is a beautiful example of that. What began as a gifted greenhouse and a few dahlias has grown into a thriving flower farm, floral design business, and educational space that inspires growers and creatives from around the world. Alongside her husband Rob, Katie has built Little Lindock by learning as they go, sharing the process openly, and creating community through flowers.
00:01:50
Speaker
In today's conversation, we'll talk about starting without a roadmap, building something meaningful from the ground up, and how flowers, whether in Australia or anywhere else, have a way of shaping both land and life.
00:02:05
Speaker
I'm so excited to welcome Katie to the podcast and to continue this global conversation about flowers, farming, and the stories that connect us. All right, Katie, welcome to the podcast.
00:02:17
Speaker
Hi, Jennifer. I'm very excited to connect with you and to have a chat to you today It's so great to have you here. um You are joining us from Australia, which is so amazing.
Barossa Valley Climate and Dahlia Challenges
00:02:31
Speaker
I can't wait to go and visit Australia later this year when i travel for the Flower Summit, and I've never been, and most of my listeners are probably thinking that the Barossa Valley just, it sounds beautiful with the name,
00:02:44
Speaker
Paint us a picture, help us understand where your farm is and what your growing environment is like. It really is a beautiful part of the world We love the Barossa Valley. We grow and our farm is in a little town called Lindor, which is on the outskirts of the Barossa Valley.
00:03:01
Speaker
And I think most people around the world know the Barossa Valley for its beautiful wine. So we're a wine region. and our climate is very hot and dry. So very hot, very dry.
00:03:15
Speaker
and so our summers are really hot and our winters get quite cold, but we actually have never experienced a frost here on our farm. So we're a little bit elevated here in Lindell.
00:03:26
Speaker
And so that's one of the challenges that we don't have to face, but it does get very, very hot here in the brossa. And so right now you are where in your growing season? mark So right now we we're actually a couple of weeks behind from last season. our dahlias are about to bloom in about two weeks time.
00:03:49
Speaker
But we're actually, yeah two or three weeks behind this year because of the heat. We had some extreme heat waves about a month ago and it kind of set the plants back a little bit because they were put under a lot of stress. But we're just about to hit our growing season.
00:04:05
Speaker
I love that social media connects us to growers all over the world because right now it's still cold and we are months out from being able to plant our dahlias. So I get so excited when I see your blooms coming on because it's like, oh, there's some flowers and missed our cold winters. So.
00:04:24
Speaker
You said it's really hot where you live. How does that influence what you can grow and how you grow on your farm? So it influences it a lot for us. When we first moved to the farm,
00:04:38
Speaker
I, like most growers, wanted to grow all the things. So I planted all of these crops and learnt very, very quickly that where we were located, we had to pick crops that would grow well. And learnt that over time through trial and error.
00:04:54
Speaker
And so now we keep it quite simple here on the farm. We're only growing on just under an acre. And so we grow two crops in summer. which is the dahlias and alzinnia. And then in spring, we grow ranunculus. And we've found that those three crops grow well in our climate.
00:05:12
Speaker
And even though each season it changes slightly, we've learnt yeah when to plant um and work with our weather. So if you're only growing three crops, I love that because especially for our listeners who are new or so many of us in the U.S. are getting our seed catalogs right now. And it's so easy to be like, oh, well, maybe I'll grow that and maybe I'll grow that.
00:05:39
Speaker
How did you narrow it down to just those three crops? What influenced your decision there? Or what was the mindset that you said, okay, it's time to not grow everything and just grow these three things?
00:05:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's so easy to do. And look, we we even when we made the decision, it still gets to that time where it's you know seed purchasing time or you're planning and the mind just wants to grow all all of the things. And I think for us, it came to a point in our business where we were experiencing growth and we sat down and we started growing looking at the business side of the business and for us profitability you know became something that we really had to look into and so it rob's the flower farmer and i'm um the florist so i love growing all of the things and creating with all of the things but sometimes all of the things wasn't actually making us money and
00:06:36
Speaker
some some of the things we were growing were actually costing us. So when we looked at, you know, the water or the space or even the time that it took to grow those things, we were running at a loss. So that's when we made the decision to only grow two crops and really pour our love and energy into growing them well and growing quality flowers. And after that decision was made and we had our first season,
00:07:04
Speaker
The reward and the product of the dahlias and the zinnia that we were growing and and really showed us that we made the right decision because we did have more time to, yeah, pour our love and effort into those two crops and and learn more as well. We had the time to learn more.
00:07:20
Speaker
So, yeah, it was a no-brainer. I love that. that's It's always so hard to make those decisions, but once you know that you've made that right decision, and just seeing your face and the smile, it's like, yes, that was the right decision.
00:07:34
Speaker
Now, you said Rob is the farmer and you are the florist. I'm really curious, if you're a florist, are you working with just those crops or where are your flowers going and what are you doing with your flowers?
00:07:50
Speaker
No, so i I started off as a florist and the business, yeah, so our story started, do you want me to maybe give you a bit of background? Absolutely. but not yeah So i was actually, in 2016, I was working in administration and I had never grown a flower or created with a flower before, but it just being in administration, it just wasn't for me. And I knew that this, you know, wasn't what I wanted to do.
Katie's Transition from Administration to Floristry
00:08:22
Speaker
And I ended up leaving my nine to five to chase this dream that I had of running my own business. And at the time i was only hiring out some vintage pieces of furniture on the weekends. And I started going to weddings and I started meeting people and I just fell in love with the human connection side of running a business And so i took the leap and I met Rob and we started hiring out this, you know, vintage furniture for weddings. And as we started meeting people, they asked if we did flowers or if I was a forest.
00:08:57
Speaker
And I said, yeah, absolutely I am. But I had never never made a bouquet in my life, never made an arrangement. But the moment I picked up flowers and I went to the markets and I started designing with them, i knew that I had found my passion.
00:09:14
Speaker
And that's how it all began. and that's how I started building the floral design business. And Rob and i built that together.
00:09:27
Speaker
And then we ended up here on the farm. But when we purchased our farm, we never thought we were going to build a flower farm until Rob actually started growing.
00:09:40
Speaker
he he grew, he went to the hardware store. I still remember, and he came home with these six dahlias. And I didn't even really know what a dahlia was, to be honest, apart from, you know, the ones that I was purchasing at the wholesale markets.
00:09:52
Speaker
And he planted them and he fell in love with growing. And so... That's how our journey began. i love that. What a great story. So a decade ago, you guys met in the wedding industry with vintage furniture, having no idea that it would turn into a full full flower farm and florist farmer florist studio. Is that correct? Yeah.
00:10:19
Speaker
Yeah, well, Rob was actually a personal trainer. So why Rob was a personal trainer. I met him and his gym was across the road from this showroom that leased to put all of the vintage furniture in. And we met and, yeah, we started the business just hiring out the furniture. then I started the design studio because I fell in love with the floristry side.
00:10:42
Speaker
And then we actually purchased our property together to store all of the furniture that we had in the sheds were on the property so there was no no talking about starting a flower farm until God started growing and and really found his own passion so very interesting but he was a personal trainer and now he's just in love with growing and and learning about flower farming what a great story so do you also help on the farm or do you strictly focus on the florist side of it
00:11:15
Speaker
So when we first started Little Indocflower Farm, we were both on the farm and we were both doing, ah we did actually, we did everything together. So we would do the farm work during the week and then i would prep the weddings. We would go out together and set up the weddings, do our deliveries and try and wear all the hats. And then it came to a point where we realized, okay, I think we need to work out what our strengths are.
00:11:42
Speaker
And we started outsourcing and we've we've got help on the farm now. And then Rob's strength is the growing and, you know, taking care of the farm and taking care of the crops.
00:11:54
Speaker
I help sometimes, um but my strength is marketing and the floristry side of the business. So we play to our strengths now and it really, really works well. So it's a good team.
00:12:05
Speaker
That is such a great point that you said about realizing your strengths and weaknesses and hiring out help. How did you realize that it was time to hire additional help for your farm?
00:12:17
Speaker
We realised I think when when you start experiencing growth and and any business owner, will when when the growth happens, but then the overwhelm comes with that.
00:12:30
Speaker
And sometimes it just gets to a point and it got to a point for us that we just couldn't keep doing what we were doing. We're pretty amazing, us business owners. We wear all the hats and we we wear them quite well, but sometimes it gets to a point and I think, you know, for us we were like, okay, we need to outsource now because we can't keep doing what we're doing.
00:12:48
Speaker
And we took that risk and and it was really uncomfortable, but it completely changed our business and our personal life. And that's when Rob and I were like, okay, we need to start playing to our strengths. And I'll give you a quick example. So the team, the team,
00:13:08
Speaker
Like respectfully think I'm a distraction out in the flower field because I used to harvest with them, but I would get so carried away with taking photos and creating content and i was absolutely no help at all. So they would prefer me not to help harvest and to just focus on the content.
00:13:27
Speaker
And so once we started doing that, I had all this time to create more content and market the business and focus on, you know, building our community. So, yeah, you learn that as you as you go along. But yeah, the initial ah process and, you know, even starting to think about outsourcing can be quite scary because obviously it's a cost as well.
00:13:49
Speaker
Absolutely. It's a huge cost to bring people into the business. As we've scaled our farm in the last year, we have been growing our team and it it's a leap. it's It's kind of scary, especially when you're used to wearing all the hats and giving someone else ownership of a responsibility. You're like, is it going to be done? And there's a trust component that goes along with it of being able to trust someone else or to delegate or to lead a team. So all of a sudden you go from being a farmer whose hands are in the dirt all the time to managing a team. And it's it's a big leap. So.
00:14:23
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. It's a massive leap. And it's one, I think, too, something I've learned as well is just giving yourself, showing yourself compassion too because you're only human and you're learning along the way. but I do remember when we first took that leap, I remember my mindset. i I would think to myself, there's no way that someone could do what we do. Like there's no way that someone could send an email for me or or email a wedding client. And it's because, you know, you you're used to controlling everything. And so learning to let go and, know,
00:14:53
Speaker
But then once you do that and you find people that ah that are great, they do the job better than you because they're focusing on that one task or a couple of tasks. And it's just, yeah, it can be life-changing. But it is a learning process and learning to let go is something I found really hard too.
00:15:11
Speaker
Oh, that's a great learning lesson. I want to go back for a second for clarity. So with your three flowers, the types of flowers you grow, ranunculus, dahlias, and zinnias,
00:15:23
Speaker
Where are your flowers going? Are you wholesaling them? Do you have clients coming to your farm? What's your process? so we have changed all through the years. we We offered retail, we had farm pickup, and now we're at a really good spot and we feel that our processes work quite well. so we wholesale all of our cut flowers now.
00:15:51
Speaker
to one of the local wholesalers here in South Australia. And then we also, to make sure that we're offering to our local community, there's a beautiful little patisserie that's opened up in um two towns over. So we wrap up some bunches there and we sell them retail to be able to offer our flowers to the locals. But most of our stock goes to wholesale and it works really, really Are you also selling Dahlia tubers?
00:16:23
Speaker
Yes. So we sell our tubers and our ranunculus quorms. So we have two annual sales. So you're your sales outlets and our wholesale, you have a retail site, and then you have two online sales for ranunculus quorms and Dahlia tubers.
00:16:44
Speaker
Yes. Okay. Thank you for helping paint a picture of your business. So... Are you also, you mentioned you're a florist, are you designing the bouquets that are going to the retail or are you also taking on wedding clients? What does that piece look like in the business?
Focusing on Education and Launching Bloom Academy
00:16:59
Speaker
So we also, our design studio, we run mostly each season, 20 to 25 weddings each season. So throughout the year. So it was quite a, yeah, it was a,
00:17:14
Speaker
large production studio and we had a team of four florists. But this season we've decided to pull back on weddings because we're and wanting to focus on the educational side of our business.
00:17:26
Speaker
And so we're just taking on limited weddings this season. And that's worked well for us too, having that time to pour our love into our new project and because last season it got a little bit, a little bit, yeah what's what's the word?
00:17:43
Speaker
Beautifully chaotic. like that. yeah It was too much having, you know, for me and our senior florist trying to run, you know, 25 weddings plus the farm, plus wholesale, plus retail.
00:17:57
Speaker
Again, we had to revisit and pivot and and make a change for this year so we can manage everything better. well but we love weddings and we'll always take on weddings but for this season yeah we've decided to pull back but the wedding business is another income stream so okay thank you and you just mentioned you have a new income stream or a new venture with education can you tell us about that yeah so we run our three-day retreat here on the farm
00:18:30
Speaker
It's called Bloom and it's been such a beautiful experience. and But we've had lots and lots of feedback from people who can't attend their retreat or would like to have visual learning. So we're working on the Bloom Academy, which is going to be online learning and we're in the process of putting that all together.
00:18:51
Speaker
and but I think there's yeah there's a need for online education and and and inspiration and for community, I think. I think people... are looking to join communities and be a part of something. So that's what we're working on at the moment.
00:19:06
Speaker
Oh, that's very exciting. Okay, so tell us, I want to go back in time, because on your website, I was reading, and I've seen your greenhouse, your story began because you were gifted a greenhouse. Is that correct?
00:19:22
Speaker
Yes. so my uncle Lucky, so Rob grew his first six dahlias and then he decided he wanted to grow more. And my uncle who had been growing vegetables for I think almost 50 years had just retired and heard that we wanted to start growing. So he arrived at the farm one day with this greenhouse and Rob and him built it together.
00:19:48
Speaker
And, yeah, it's quite beautiful. It's still here on the farm and it allowed us the the space to grow 100. that was we went from 6 to 100. And as we all know, once you grow 100, there's no turning back.
00:20:04
Speaker
And, yeah we that was our second season. So Uncle Lucky's Greenhouse was a catalyst for for us to find out our passion, I think, for dahlias.
00:20:15
Speaker
I love that. I started with a similar story with a greenhouse and a few dahlias. It's amazing how that can really catapult a whole journey because for me, I was i had 16 dahlias from Costco.
00:20:28
Speaker
And I, over the years, turned that into about 200. And so I convinced my husband that we needed a greenhouse. And then that greenhouse was like, well, i need to grow a few more flowers. i'm going to add some cosmos and some zinnias and For me, next thing I knew, COVID hit and I had a demand for flowers because people were hungry for them.
00:20:47
Speaker
what At what point going back in time, because I know in 2016, you said you left your corporate job. What was the year that you started, and that you got the greenhouse and you realized that you could do more than just have a backyard garden with these flowers?
00:21:02
Speaker
Yeah, so 2016, I left my job and then we spent the next couple of years building the wedding business and it grew very quickly because um we were sharing our story on social media, on Snapchat actually.
00:21:15
Speaker
Oh, my goodness. but you I was actually, but people don't believe me, but i I wish I should try and log into my old account, but we were booking weddings through Snapchat, and that's where I learned quite quickly that people were online and this whole new world of sharing, you know, your business online um was beginning, I suppose. But we did that for the first couple of years, and then we ended up on the farm 2019.
00:21:41
Speaker
And, you know, and Rob decided he wanted to grow some more flowers. But then in 2020, COVID hit.
00:21:52
Speaker
And, yeah, we weren't sure if we would ever do another wedding again. We just, you know, we weren't sure and we weren't sure where our income was coming from. um But we had all of our beautiful vintage pieces.
00:22:05
Speaker
And, yeah, we made the decision then to sell basically all our business stock to fund the farm. wow And so, yeah, I think, yeah, it was it was ah it was a scary time and it was a risk that we took, but we made the right decision looking back, but it was like letting go of a big part of the business.
00:22:26
Speaker
But we, um I remember listing everything on Facebook Marketplace and we sold everything, contactless pickup, and I think we had about $15,000 to start out the farm. when we...
00:22:37
Speaker
and wow that's yeah that's when we I think, realised that we were going to do this. But it wasn't until that growing season that we experienced everything that we experienced that we realised, okay, yeah, this is what we want to try and do. And we thought, wow, like imagine being able to grow our own flowers and offer it not only to the local community, but if we ever do weddings again, we'll be able to offer our clients locally grown flowers.
00:23:04
Speaker
So, yeah, that's how it started. I love that. What were a few of those aha moments for you guys? You just mentioned that there were a few moments that kind of just gave you that clarity that like, this is the next right step.
00:23:18
Speaker
I think, I think it was just anybody that's grown flowers before you just get this feeling. It's like, you find your purpose and it it becomes, it's ah it's a passion. And I don't think that ever goes away. And I think once we grew those first one hundred plants and we cared for them and you're learning every single day. And I think that's something Rob and I really love. We love like, and it doesn't matter how long you grow. Like you talk to growers that have been growing for 60 years, every single day there's a new lesson, a new challenge to face. And I think that's when Rob and I were like,
00:23:54
Speaker
you know Rob loved personal training and i I was loving doing weddings, but this was a different type of passion and purpose. And I think that's when we were like, okay this is yeah this is what we want to do full time.
00:24:07
Speaker
It's amazing when you kind of have that aha of like, oh, this is what I'm i'm supposed to do. it It really is a moment that I've heard from so many guests over and over that they had that moment they felt. So thank you for sharing that.
00:24:21
Speaker
Now, did you ever have any formal training or did Rob have any formal training to become a flower farmer? Absolutely none. There's not one not one qualification for floristry or flower farming. In fact, rob Rob didn't even know how to use a power tool when we moved to the farm. So he's completely self-taught and yes so am I in floristry, flower farming and in business.
00:24:48
Speaker
Yeah. Which, I mean, with flower farming, you almost have to just get your hands dirty. It's the best way to learn.
00:24:55
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, you just have to jump in. I think it's all it's all trial and error. And, you know, like like I said before, everybody's different. Everyone has their strengths. But I think it it all comes from trial and error and just giving it a go and learning along the way.
00:25:10
Speaker
Absolutely. Now with the learning along the way, how did you learn to trust your instincts when you didn't have a guide per se telling you how to do all of this?
Business Insights: Intuition, Mistakes, and Accountancy
00:25:22
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. Following your intuition is a big thing. And I've only learned recently. I think looking back on our journey, anytime that I didn't follow my intuition,
00:25:36
Speaker
it probably wasn't the right decision. So I think, yeah, moving forward and to anyone listening, I think just following your intuition and doing what you think is right or what feels right to you is always the right answer because even if you make a mistake, you're all the one that's going to learn the lesson.
00:25:52
Speaker
So, yeah, leaning into, especially if you're making a decision in business, what feels right. Can you share any of those lessons you've had to learn the hard way?
00:26:03
Speaker
There's been lots. Yeah. ah do Do you mean like a business lesson or a time that we didn't? Either a business lesson that you learned the hard way in farming or a growing lesson. I mean, because we experienced both of those as flower farmers. So...
00:26:20
Speaker
If you have one of both, that would be great. Or if you just want to share one of either? Yeah, I can share both. I think the biggest business lesson for us, um to be just completely honest, I think was, you know, not learning about money earlier on and not learning about tax and things like that. And I think in business, when you're so passionate and you're building, um time goes past quickly. And if you don't learn the business side of the business, you can get,
00:26:47
Speaker
in you can get stuck or in trouble and for us we were just reinvesting all of our money back into the business and not learning about tax and you know we got stung a few times and you know it was a bit of a setback but for us and what we try and talk to other people about is you know really learning about tax and about the money side of the business too especially if you're planning on scaling and growing so that would be one piece of advice What do you suggest for those that are trying to scale their business? What's what's one piece of money advice they need to learn?
00:27:20
Speaker
I would say go and find a good accountant. Some people are great at money and they understand how everything works. But for Rob and I, that wasn't the case. And so we didn't invest time and money. into learning and and having, um but this is a part of outsourcing too. So getting a good team behind you if you're planning on scaling, you know getting a good broker, a good banker, an accountant that you can talk to about your plans. and Because even in the past when Rob and I have spoken to an older accountant about our plans, they they they don't see the vision because,
00:27:53
Speaker
If I talked to you, of another flower farmer, about our vision, you'd be like, yeah, I get it, I see it. But sometimes when you're talking um about a vision to somebody who ah you know works with numbers, they don't get it. So finding somebody that you can talk to about your vision and where you want to go and how much you think you might make so you can put things in place um when it comes to money to make sure that you're making the right decision, decisions moving forward.
00:28:17
Speaker
yeah That's great advice. I love what you said about outsourcing because I remember when I first started scaling my business, I was talking to my coach at the time and i said she said, it sounds like you need some help. And I was like, well, I can't afford full-time help.
00:28:35
Speaker
And she's like, no, it's not that you have to hire full-time help. Who is in your corners that can help you? And that was when I realized, oh, I could outsource this or I could hire a bookkeeper or i could hire someone to help me with a graphic or design a logo. And there were just because they didn't fall under my payroll didn't mean that I didn't have a team. I was building a team through outsourcing. So I love that you said that. I just wanted to throw that out there for those who are listening, who are kind of at that spot where they're not quite busy enough to have someone on payroll, but it's too much for them to handle alone. I love what you're talking about, that this team is your network beyond the farm.
00:29:14
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. i think it's so important. I think, and and going back to what I was saying before, it is scary to take that leap and to start outsourcing. But honestly, if there's anyone listening that's in, you know, in a phase of business where they're feeling really overwhelmed or feeling like they're wearing all the hats and it's too much, I would...
00:29:32
Speaker
or what I did, something I did was write down all of the tasks that I'm doing in a day or a week and after a fortnight sitting down and having a look back at that task list and seeing what you can outsource. Is it a graphic designer? Is it a little bit of admin help or work on the farm? Or even in your personal life, what can you get out that what can you outsource in your personal life that you don't have to do to allow you more time to do the things that you want to be doing in your business or that you're good at?
00:29:59
Speaker
So, yeah, outsourcing is really, really important. Thank you so much for sharing that. Looking back at your early business decisions, how do you feel like they have helped shape the business you run today?
00:30:12
Speaker
ah so we've made so many mistakes and i don't really call them failures, but there's been a lot. and There's been a lot of mistakes. And I think making those mistakes, we've learned learnt a lot too. And so,
00:30:29
Speaker
um What was the question again? Sorry. i feel like I'm going off track and answering that. It was no what decisions have I made? How did your early decisions in growing your farm and floristry business shape the business that you run today? And ah you were perfect with that, talking about mistakes. um Yeah, making lots of mistakes earlier on, just giving everything a go, just not worrying about what other people think we should be doing or what, you know,
00:30:59
Speaker
Well, just trying to overcome doubt and fear and giving everything a go earlier on allowed us to make so many mistakes and then we learned from those mistakes, but it also gave us opportunity to learn and figure out exactly what we want to be doing. So I feel like earlier on, if we didn't give everything a go and take lots and lots of risks and just try it all and not worry about what other people think, and we wouldn't have...
00:31:22
Speaker
been where we are now, which is at a really sweet spot. We're doing all the things that we want to do. We've worked out what's profitable and what's not. And so I feel like yet taking a risk earlier on and trying lots of different things has allowed us to shape the business into what it is today.
00:31:37
Speaker
That's such great advice. I love that. And it's
The Power of Authentic Storytelling
00:31:40
Speaker
so true. If if you don't take those risks early on, you're going to wonder later down the road if you should have done them. And it's a lot easier to make those mistakes when you're just starting out than when you're five or 10 years down the road and you have more invested in the business. So that's great. Yeah, absolutely. And I think also too, we're scared to make mistakes. because we're human and we don't want to make mistakes. But I think I look back, yeah, looking back and thinking about all of the mistakes we made earlier on, I'm so grateful for them because we're also allowed to change our mind and try a new things. So, you know, sometimes flower farmers aren't sure if they want to do floristry or retail, but I feel like my advice would be try it all or little parts of it as you can.
00:32:21
Speaker
And it allows you to work out what you actually want to be doing and what you enjoy. Absolutely. And one of the beautiful things about what we do is that every year we almost get a clean slate. You can start over, especially for those of us who have seasons who have a ending frost. I mean, my whole field dies at the end of the year. So when I clean it up, I literally have a blank slate to start the new year over. And I was talking with Julia Freitas from the Flower Hat about this, that it's like, when you look at your growing's experience,
00:32:55
Speaker
You don't just have like 10 years of flower farming experience. You have 10 very different years of experience if you're 10 years into your career because every year you've been faced with different challenges and trials along the way. so And if you're not making those mistakes, I think you're missing out because i heard a saying recently, and I think it was from Lewis Howes, and I'm not going to quote it perfectly, but he said something along the lines that your next breakthrough is just behind that mistake.
00:33:27
Speaker
yeah So you have to keep making those mistakes to get that next breakthrough. Absolutely. I love that so much. And it's so true because when you make those mistakes in the moment, it doesn't feel great, but you learn for next time. And it's the same as giving things a go. um i remember we opened up a pop-up shop of retail space. And after a couple of months, Rob and I just decided,
00:33:51
Speaker
It's not working for us. We weren't enjoying it. So we pulled back on that idea and everybody thought it was a big failure and that we didn't do well and it was actually just us making the the decision that we weren't enjoying what we were doing. And we lost a bit of money with the setup, but I'm so glad that we tried that to know that doing pop-up shops isn't what we want to be doing or, you know, running that part of the business isn't what, isn't, you know, what we want to be doing. So I'd much rather give things a go and, and, and work out instead of thinking, i wish I'd tried or I wish I had a given that a go.
00:34:25
Speaker
Absolutely. I love what you said that you said you realized it didn't bring you joy because that is so important. Like if you get into something and you realize you're not enjoying it, you don't have to keep doing it.
00:34:36
Speaker
And you you gave yourself permission to pull out even though people said, oh, that's a failure. It wasn't a failure because you were following your intuition. i love that. Yeah, absolutely. And it's okay to try. and And we were allowed to change our mind. And that's what I think I love about flower farming and forestry. Each season, we get to sit back and decide you know what we want to do, what we want our gardens to look like.
00:34:59
Speaker
It's really, really beautiful. i love that part of it. Me too. Okay, I want to touch on the marketing side because I think marketing is one piece that a lot of farmers struggle with in particular because it's very different than just growing the flowers. You now have to go out and tell your story and put yourself out there. You are someone that does that very well.
00:35:23
Speaker
What can you say has really helped you with your marketing side of the business? I think for us, and I think for anyone, it's just sharing your story, your unique journey, and showing showing up authentically and being as real as possible, and sharing I think one thing that we've done um from the beginning of our journey for the last decade really is share not only the wins and the beauty but also share the challenges that we've faced and the struggles, like even personal struggles. We're quite real online and vulnerable and that connects and resonates with people because we're all human. And I think sometimes too what we're really good at doing is like
00:36:11
Speaker
And this is only coming from, you know, talking and mentoring with other business owners and creatives. We're really good at putting other people on pedestals sometimes that have been in business longer. And we forget to realise that we all experience the same things and we all feel the same feelings. So I feel like when Rob and I have shown up and shared some of those feelings and thoughts in business and personal life and in growing,
00:36:33
Speaker
It's really connected with people and built trust. And I think that that's, you know, really important for anybody that's just starting or anybody that's been in business for three, five, six years is to really lean into showing up authentically, being your true self and just sharing your story with people because it will resonate and you will build a community um whether it's locally or online.
00:36:58
Speaker
And that is marketing. That's what I believe marketing is, you know, 2026.
00:37:04
Speaker
Absolutely. It's really what people want for marketing these days, it seems like, is the authenticity. And I love that you brought up the piece of sharing your story because if you step back, we all grow the same flowers. Our flowers look so similar, but what distinguishes us from other farmers is our story. And everyone's story is going to resonate with someone differently, and that's going to connect them to the customers that are meant for them. So I love that you do that. How do you show up on days that where it's harder, like you're busy, you're starting seeds or you're you have clients, you have a wedding, you have something going on.
00:37:42
Speaker
How do you still consistently show up authentically to your audience?
00:37:49
Speaker
I've actually changed my way. and I don't. I don't anymore. I used to show up even if I was having a bad day or I was tired. i would show up, but I feel...
00:38:00
Speaker
as though people can feel that and see that when you're exhausted. Or so now I just i i give myself a day's grace and I stay off the phone if we're busy or I don't have the time to show up or i show up and be authentic and say, guys, i'm I'm tired today and I'm not in the mood or, you know, this is what's happened on the farm or we're going through this at the moment.
00:38:22
Speaker
And, yeah, it it just shows people that, you know, we're, real people doing real things but i think too um it can become bit of a pressure cooker expecting to show up consistently all the time and so i think yeah giving yourself a day or two to just you know be off the phone if you need it is really really important because it does it's a massive job showing up online and showing up consistently it's it's a yeah it's a big big job and a big part of um
00:38:53
Speaker
what you need to do to market. So taking you care of yourself is just as important. That's really good advice because it is exhausting at times. I mean, i come from a marketing background and I still sometimes feel like I spend an hour i'll putting together a post and I'm like, I could have started so many seeds in an hour instead of worrying about one post that's maybe going to reach a hundred people today.
00:39:16
Speaker
And I love too, the reels that take me two hours to make flop and then the ones that take me three seconds while I'm cooking dinner end up getting all of these views and reach so many new people. So it's it's just one of those things. With marketing, I think you need to make it work for you. We're all living extremely different lives. Some of us have, you know, we've got the farm and two other external jobs. Some of us are, you know, at sports commitments on the weekend, school drop-offs and things like that. So I think...
00:39:45
Speaker
Making marketing work for you is really, really important and scheduling scheduling it in when you can and, um yeah, getting a system that works for you, I think.
00:39:57
Speaker
What does your system look like? Do you have a schedule of when you post or when you engage with social media?
Marketing Strategies: Time Blocking and Instagram
00:40:04
Speaker
What does that look like for you? Yeah, so for a very long time, i would i was spending a lot of time on my phone. So lots of time and... and connecting with people, replying to all the DMs. But one thing I found is I was doing it all throughout the day and it was just, it was too much, spending too much time on the phone, creating, capturing, and then also trying to nurture the community.
00:40:29
Speaker
And so now what I like to do is I like to block out certain days or certain times to do those things. And it's honestly worked wonders. So I'll have a day where I'll capture things on the farm.
00:40:41
Speaker
So we'll spend three or four hours just filming. but I won't put it all together until the following day or another time block throughout the week when I can sit there and focus because I found for me trying to to do everything all at once was way too much and I wouldn't be able to create something that I really wanted to. So I time block throughout the week.
00:41:01
Speaker
I'll um capture, then I'll have another day or a couple of hours where I create. And then I try to be quite strict with my time online to avoid...
00:41:12
Speaker
procrastinating or wasting time throughout the day when I could be doing other things like, you know, working on the farm or working on the business. So I think time blocking is really important. I love giving it. a guy Yeah. That's such great advice of time blocking and separating it. So like you have a time block for taking the content, photographing or videoing, and then you have a separate time block for putting it together. I think that's brilliant. wanted to add in um we we want to enjoy it as well the create it's such a creative outlet for so many of us some of us don't enjoy it so time blocking and and separating the task even more so is really really important but for us that you know use it as a creative outlet we want to enjoy it and i found separating those those tasks has helped with that as well and you end up with a better result
00:42:00
Speaker
Well, your content is always beautiful. Do you use any apps or editing services for putting your content together for social media? We just use Instagram and now edits. So we were, i was using CapCut before just for captions for the educational content, but now we're just using edits because I found actually Instagram favors edits more. So yeah,
00:42:22
Speaker
ah We just create, we just film on the phone. and We just use our phone because earlier on I was trying to get all the gimbals and the professional cameras, but it just became a whole nother world. And I think it was too much. So we just use our mobile phone and um the edit app in Instagram. and And sometimes we use Canva, but yeah, very rarely. we tried to We've tried to simplify it as much as possible.
00:42:51
Speaker
It's funny because I was a wedding photographer for so many years. And so I have all of this fancy equipment still. And so I switched over. It was 2016 or 2015 when I shot a wedding. And I'm like, I grow all of these flowers. But I have three professional cameras, all of this lighting gear.
00:43:09
Speaker
I didn't bring it out once this last season. It was all on my phone because it's so much more work when you're out in the field and you're dirty, your hands are wet. You don't want to have fancy gear, but if you have your camera in your pocket or in your tool belt, it's so easy to pull your phone out and take a good picture. And today's cameras take wonderful pictures for social media quality.
00:43:32
Speaker
Yeah. oh The phone, it's incredible quality. i think it's... um Nice to, I like using my professional camera to capture, you know, say product shots and things like that.
00:43:45
Speaker
But yeah, the the phone the phone is great. But I didn't know that you were a wedding photographer. That's amazing. I was. It was really fun. And it's what led me here. i mean, you never know. There is, oh, I can't think of the book all of a sudden. Of course, I'm blinking now. But there was this book that talks about how life only makes sense looking back.
00:44:02
Speaker
And it's so true. I mean, had I not had this wedding experience, I mean, at the time my job was photographing weddings and newborn babies. And my hobby was gardening.
00:44:14
Speaker
And this was before the local flowers movement. And i grew flowers and I had just started growing cafe alay dahlias. And my bride had this cafe alay dahlia in her bouquet. And I look it and I'm like, i grow that in my backyard. And so when I told a florist, she's like, wait, you grow these? What?
00:44:31
Speaker
And there was very few people in our area at the time. But had I not had that experience, it would have never led me to where I am today in my path. So I think we all have to take these journeys, kind of like how you left your job.
00:44:47
Speaker
You went into the wedding business also and happened to meet Rob, who was working at a gym there. That has led you to where you are today. I know. And see, that is so beautiful. I love hearing that. Thank you for sharing that with me. But it's like this is the thing that I was talking about with how unique our stories are and how important it is to share that with people too because it's so inspiring to others. and So i love that.
00:45:15
Speaker
Yes, we all have to get our start somewhere. And at the time you might be like, or when something doesn't work out, like most of my listeners know that we lost our growing space in 2023 that we were leasing. And at the time it was devastating.
00:45:29
Speaker
And I'm like, why is this happening to me? Well, a few months later, an amazing farm came for sale on farmland and I was renting on or leasing on residential land that wasn't technically designated for farming.
00:45:44
Speaker
And had I not lost my land, I would have never discovered this property that's now our, we call it our forever farm. I hope it's our forever farm, but it's the land that we're stewarding now. But certain things had to line up for that to happen. And it only makes sense now that I look back at it. So I hope that people listening can hear our stories and think, okay, I might be in a hard time right now, or this might not make sense.
00:46:10
Speaker
But maybe next season or five years from now you're going to look back and go, that's why I had to learn that lesson or I had to go through that to get to where I am today. Absolutely. Yeah, I love that.
00:46:21
Speaker
ah Can I ask how how big is your new farm? I knew that you had a new farm. I didn't realize that you had lost... a property. but We were leasing land. So we had, when I started, I was a wedding photographer, a newborn photographer. So we had built a new house in 2018 that was also had my newborn studio attached to it. And I had this small little sliver of a space in our front yard. And so I took all my dahlias with me. i we sold our lot previous house and I, the buyers wanted my dahlias. And I said, how about this? How about,
00:46:55
Speaker
I will dig them up and I will divide them and I'll leave you some and I want to take the rest because there's more than you can grow in this yard once I divide the tubers. And they said, okay, so I had 200 and something tubers to plant in our front yard at that house. And I was photographing weddings and babies. um And we had a third of an acre.
00:47:17
Speaker
But next to us, our neighbor had two acres of an empty field. And our other neighbor had an acre. And on her acre, she had a quarter acre she wasn't using. So we slowly over time scaled up as we grew. And so I started with I think it was like 3000 feet of space that I grew my dahlias on and just to see like, would anyone buy them? And then the next year it was a quarter acre and then a half acre and then an acre. And then we had a scale back when we lost our growing space, which was great because I wouldn't have had the bandwidth to maintain an acre and move to a new property. And now we're growing on about two acres of land. So we have 20 acres, but we're, we're not utilizing all of it at the moment.
00:48:00
Speaker
Wow, so you're new. that's Rob's dream. 28, like even just 10 acres would be Rob's dream. That's so special. How much space do you have? So our farm's only two acres and we're growing on less than an acre.
00:48:13
Speaker
Yeah, so around, I think we're growing on around an acre and and our farm, yeah, is just just over two. But you can grow so much on an acre. I mean, that was my last space and it was more than I could handle myself.
00:48:29
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, I think an acre is more than enough of growing space and we've utilised the space well and and because we're only growing those two crops, yeah, we're we're able to um run it, yeah, sustainably too, so it's good.
00:48:47
Speaker
How many dahlias are you able to grow on your space? I think this year is we've planted the most, I think just under three and a half thousand. Yeah, three and a half thousand with our seedlings.
00:49:00
Speaker
So yeah, we've got 3000 in the main field and then around 500 seedlings this year, which is exciting. So you're hybridizing also?
00:49:11
Speaker
I'm trying, I'm learning, learning a lot. So that's one of the things that I wanted to invest my learning into this season because I found the last couple of seasons, I just couldn't ah care for the patch and the plants properly or document properly and note take. So that's one of the things I'm excited to do this season.
00:49:32
Speaker
Oh, that's exciting. Is this your first year with seedlings?
00:49:37
Speaker
This is my fourth year with Seasings, but I would say my second year really, yeah, leaning into the learning side of it and and properly note-taking. Before, it was just like Christmas every day, going out to the patch and seeing what what was out there.
00:49:54
Speaker
It really is like Christmas. This will be my fifth year. um So we're we're on similar tracks. I grew 1,200 from seed last year, first year seedlings. And I learned my lesson that that was too many for me to note take and keep track of that many first year seedlings.
00:50:11
Speaker
That's good to know. So you just, as in once they started flowering, it was just too much, too many to Well, it might have also been the fact that it was our first year on a new farm. And so trying to navigate everything else, um I haven't decided how many we'll grow first year seedlings this year, because now we're four years in and on our own seedlings. I've been growing from seed for about six years now, but this will be my fifth season of just our own saved seedlings. So we have about
00:50:45
Speaker
200 probably in our going into second to fifth year seedlings this year. um And so I think maybe between 500 and 1000 is where we're trying to land on first year seedlings this year.
00:51:00
Speaker
It's just addicting. What a dream. Yeah, it really is. It's one of those things that it's so much fun to learning and I think there's so much to learn in that space, but that's very, very exciting. Have you got a few that you're releasing or that you have released?
00:51:15
Speaker
I have not released any yet. We were hoping to in 2026, but with moving our farm, a few of our first year seedlings, or not first year, sorry, our fourth year seedlings, I made the mistake. I planted them on our first few rows, which had the least amount of amendments applied to them. And so those rows struggled a little bit this year. So we decided we're going to evaluate the flowers for one more year before deciding if they'll get released or not.
00:51:45
Speaker
What about you? Yeah, that's so good. yeah We have, so last season we lost a lot of our seedlings because our patch was at the front of our property and some of the pine tree roots from the main road had come all the way into our farm and suffocated a lot of our plants without us knowing.
00:52:05
Speaker
And so when we dug the plants up, a lot lot of the tubers underneath were suffocated. And so We lost some of our stock, but we've got, I think, three seedlings that we're hoping to release.
00:52:20
Speaker
We were going to try and release them this year, but we're not sure on numbers yet. We want to see what numbers we have and maybe grow them out for another year so we've got enough stock to share with our community instead of releasing a little amount and disappointing people, which is never nice.
00:52:39
Speaker
That's the hardest part about hybridizing. It's like, what's the right number to have available to meet the market demand and not have anyone disappointed? Yes, absolutely.
00:52:50
Speaker
Do you have those seedlings named? Yes, we've named two of them so far. our community helped us name them. and One is called Little Lindock First Love because it was our first seedling.
00:53:03
Speaker
and also named after Rob's 16 year old cat. So we lost her the same week we named our ah first seedling and then the community were like first love because it was Rob's first love and also the first dahlia. So very, very sentimental that flower.
00:53:21
Speaker
And our second one is little Lindoc Luminate. It's a beautiful orange gold flower. a ball that has like lemon lemon tips. It's yeah, it's quite special that one too. It's good. High pedal count, which I love.
00:53:37
Speaker
Oh, I do love high pedal count. And those are great names. I love those names. he Well, with your season being underway, what are you most excited about this season?
Looking Forward to a New Season
00:53:48
Speaker
i am most excited about, I think, capturing ah the farm. because we've done lots of work around the farm and it's um i'm excited to spend more time capturing the flowers yeah and documenting the i think the learning side of this season is something i'm really really looking forward to and rob is too so investing a bit more time into learning note taking the photography side of it That's exciting. Well, we can't wait to see your pictures that come out of this season.
00:54:21
Speaker
If you could go back in time and speak to yourself your very first season that you and Rob were starting out, what would you tell yourself?
00:54:34
Speaker
I would say that it's... probably going to be a lot harder than what I think it is. And there's going to be so many incredible opportunities, a lot more than what I thought too. So a lot harder than what I thought and it's going to be incredible, but just keep going.
00:54:55
Speaker
That's what I would say. That's great advice. Keep going. What do you hope people take away from your story? i would hope that people...
00:55:07
Speaker
feel inspired, but also to take away from our story that you you don't need to have it all figured out to start something new or to give it a go. you can You can just go out there and learn. We've got the ability to learn anything, and I hope, yeah, that Rob and I's story have has represented that, that you can just go out there, and whether you've got qualifications or not, and and give it a go.
00:55:32
Speaker
and try something new because you never know. Your dream might be, you know, you might find your passion and your purpose just like we all have. Absolutely. Is there anything I haven't asked you today, Katie, that you want to share with our listeners?
00:55:47
Speaker
I think I've covered it all. i just hope that if there's anyone listening that's thinking about getting into the world of flowers that they do because it's so beautiful and I think we're so lucky that we get to connect with one another and support one another and it's, you know, my experience with the flower world has been very, very positive. So if you're listening to this and you want to get into the flower world, I hope that you feel inspired to, yeah, and give it a go.
00:56:13
Speaker
That's great. Thank you. Okay, I have started something new in 2026, doing a quick fire to end each podcast episode. So I have a few quick questions for you. And the first one is, what is your favorite flower to grow right now? And why?
00:56:30
Speaker
Okay, so this is a bit of a curveball, but we also grow a small amount of hydrangea on the farm. um And I love hydrangea. And the reason why i love hydrangea is because my grandmother, that's the first flower my grandmother introduced me to and she used to grow them. So i would say hydrangea and then very, very close would be dahlias.
00:56:50
Speaker
I love that. And hydrangeas are the, I think it's the flower of the year 2026. can see that. Yeah, yeah. i say that yeah yeah And okay, next question. Why do local flowers matter to you?
00:57:05
Speaker
ah that They're so important. I think we need more local growers because when we have local growers, we will rely less on imported flowers. And also...
00:57:17
Speaker
Locally grown flowers, it's so special when you know where they've come from. As a designer, when I'm designing with locally grown flowers, like you can put ah people or or a place is connected to the flowers that you're working with, whereas when when we use flowers and we don't know where they come from, there's there's not that connection. So I feel like it's, again, that human connection to a place or to people, and that's really, really special.
00:57:43
Speaker
Absolutely. What is one thing you wish more people understood about flower farming?
00:57:51
Speaker
That it's hard work. It's a lot of hard work. um And what else? And it's very rewarding. I think, too, I think when you asked me this question, I was like, when I was a florist and I didn't have any flower farming experience, I really didn't know what went into it.
00:58:09
Speaker
And as well as it being it as well as it being hard work, I also have such an appreciation now for what people put into growing one bunch of flowers, like the love and the care that goes into that.
00:58:23
Speaker
And so I think if you're not in the world of flower farming, you don't realise that. so I wish, yeah, more people or I hope more people learn um all of the love and energy that goes into growing one bunch.
00:58:34
Speaker
And that it's, yeah, it's it's very hard work, but it's rewarding. It is. It's hard, but so worth it. Okay.
The Joy and Flexibility of Flower Farming
00:58:43
Speaker
my final quick fire question for you is what are you most grateful for that flowers have given you beyond the blooms?
00:58:52
Speaker
The lifestyle. Yeah. the lifestyle and the flexibility. i think it's, yeah, we're very, very grateful for this life that we're living on the farm.
00:59:04
Speaker
And I'm very grateful for the flowers because, yeah, the flowers and everything that we're doing here has allowed us to live this life. So that's what I'm grateful for. Well, we are grateful for you being here today, Katie. Before we say goodbye, can you tell our listeners where can they find you? And we'll also include links in today's show notes.
00:59:24
Speaker
Thank you. loved chatting and connecting with you. But if anyone's listening that hasn't heard of littleindockflowerfarm, you can find us on Instagram, which is where we focus most of our sharing and our storytelling. And also our website, littleindockflowerfarm.com.au.
00:59:42
Speaker
Perfect. Thank you. Well, we will include links to both of those. Katie, it's been so fun chatting with you today. And I hope that I get to meet you in person when i go to Australia next November for the first ever flower summit.
00:59:55
Speaker
I know. Amazing. Me too. I'd love to meet. I love yeah connecting. I feel that's another thing I'm grateful for social media, being able to connect with everyone all around the world. Yes, flower people are just the best. It's so fun to connect. And we have an instant connection no matter where you are, because we all share the same love for flowers. So thank you for sharing your story with us today, Katie. And for those listening, make sure you go follow Little Lindock Flower Farm. So thanks, Katie. Have a great day. Thank Jennifer. You too.
01:00:26
Speaker
Thank you flower friends for joining us on another episode of the Backyard Bouquet. I hope you've enjoyed the inspiring stories and valuable gardening insights we've shared today. Whether you're cultivating your own backyard blooms or supporting your local flower farmer, you're contributing to the local flower movement and we're so happy to have you growing with us.
01:00:47
Speaker
If you'd like to stay connected and continue this blossoming journey with local flowers, Don't forget to subscribe to the Backyard Bouquet podcast. I'd be so grateful if you would take a moment to leave us a review of this episode.
01:01:01
Speaker
And finally, please share this episode with your garden friends. Until next time, keep growing, keep blooming, and remember that every bouquet starts right here in the Backyard.