Roadside Stall at Fairview: I Think This Is Becoming Real...

There have been a few moments lately where I’ve stood back and thought… oh wow, we’re actually doing this.

Fairview Flower Farm is starting to feel less like an idea I had in my head and more like a real little flower farm. And this past month has probably been the biggest month yet.

Our first ranunculus

After months of planting, watering, worrying, checking the weather, checking them again (and probably checking them another 47 times just to be sure 😂), our ranunculus finally started flowering.

And they were worth the wait.

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Our first to bloom were the beautiful Italian-bred Elegance Rosa ranunculus. I knew when I ordered them that they were something a little special, but seeing them actually flowering here at Fairview was another thing entirely.

These started as the tiniest little plugs and corms, and somehow we've ended up with these incredible flowers. That still blows my mind a little.

We've planted around 1,000 ranunculus this season, including some beautiful Italian varieties, and we're only just starting to see what they're capable of.

There are plenty more to come.

And then… we opened the flower stand

This one feels pretty special.

For a long time, one of the things I pictured when I thought about Fairview was having a little roadside flower stand where our local community could stop in and buy flowers grown right here on the farm. Nothing overly fancy.

Just beautiful, seasonal flowers that were cut from the paddock and placed in the stand for someone to take home and enjoy.

And this month, we finally did it.

Well… when I say we, Shane did a fairly significant portion of the actual building while I assumed my new position as Head of Projects 😂. But it came together exactly how I hoped it would. We stocked the stand with our first bunches of premium ranunculus, put the OPEN sign out and waited to see what would happen.

Four hours later, we were sold out.

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I don't think I can properly explain how much that meant to me. It wasn't necessarily about selling the flowers. It was seeing cars pull up. Seeing people stop.

Getting messages from people who had bought a bunch.

And realising that flowers we had grown here, from these tiny little plants we'd spent months looking after, were now sitting on kitchen benches and tables in homes around our community.

That is exactly what I wanted Fairview to be.

Meanwhile, the farm keeps growing

While all of that has been happening, we've definitely not slowed down on the planting front.There are hundreds of stock flowers growing — lavender, pinks, blues and beautiful soft tones that I cannot wait to start cutting.

We've planted our Fama Deep Blue scabiosa, white anemones, paper daisies and, because apparently I have absolutely no self-control when it comes to ordering plants…

I bought 1,000 snapdragon plugs. 😂

At this point I think Shane has accepted that when I say, “I've just ordered a few more flowers,” it's probably best not to ask for an exact number. The snapdragons are only tiny at the moment, but they're in the ground and hopefully settling into their new home at Fairview. There is something very exciting about looking at a bed of tiny green plants and knowing what it could look like in another couple of months.

Learning as we go

I don't want to ever make Fairview look like I've got all of this figured out.

Because I absolutely don't.

I'm learning constantly. I've learnt about soil, wind, frost, irrigation, pests, spacing, harvesting and approximately 700 other things I didn't even know I needed to know when I started. There have been plants that haven't worked.

There have been things I've planted too close together. Things I've worried about unnecessarily. Things I probably should have worried about a little more.

And there have definitely been moments where I've wondered what on earth I've gotten myself into.

But then I walk down to the flower patch after the rain, or see our stock plants beginning to take off…

…and I remember exactly why I started.

What's next?

More flowers. A LOT more flowers, actually.

Over the coming weeks we're hoping to see more ranunculus coming into bloom, followed by stock, scabiosa, anemones and eventually those 1,000 snapdragons.

The Fairview Flower Stand will continue to be stocked whenever we have flowers ready to cut, and we'll always post on our socials when fresh bunches are available.

There are also a few other Fairview things happening behind the scenes.

Some practical.

Some probably slightly ambitious.

And some I'm very excited about.

But for now, I'm just really enjoying watching this little farm take shape.

A year ago, Fairview Flower Farm existed mostly in my head. Now there are rows of flowers growing, a roadside stand at the front of the farm and people in our community taking Fairview flowers home with them.

Thank you to everyone who has stopped at the stand, bought a bunch, sent me a message, shared a post or simply followed along.

You're helping make this little idea feel very real.

Thomasin xx

Fairview Flower Farm

Loch Lomond, Queensland