ABOVE: Gray Pritchett and Suellen Thompson relax after picking flowers at their farm in Swan Bay. Photo: Susanna Freymark
Susanna Freymark
A flower farm by the Richmond River sounds ideal.
Planting and picking daisies, gladioli and sunflowers on a sunny day as the goats and Belted Galloway cows munch grass and a chatty duck wanders the 30 garden beds.
It sounds idealistic but it’s a lot of hard work.
Suellen Thompson and Gray Pritchett moved from Brisbane in March to the 70ha old dairy farm on the Coraki Woodburn Rd and set up Field and Flower.
The recent rain was tough on the flowers and there is a lot of experimenting on what flowers grow best in the clay soil.
On Friday afternoons there is plenty of picking in preparation for the Casino Farmers Market on Saturday morning.
Gray was an engineer and now works on the farm full time. Suellen continues her work as an accountant a few days a week and the rest of the time she is out among the flowers.
“Our vision was flowers,” Suellen said. “My sister is a florist and I come from a strong gardening family.”
Their ethos in life and business is to “give back.”
They sell their flowers at the farmers market and at the Coraki Post Office.
They started a Postie Posie, where a gift subscription to a bunch of flowers every week can be bought and then collected from the post office. The posies come in a glass jar and the jar is refilled every week.
“I tested it on my mum,” Suellen said. Her mum loves it.
They have a ‘good vibes’ posy too. It’s the remainder flowers from the cutting table that are bunched together and donated to someone who needs a beautiful bunch of flowers.
On their property is a virgin old growth rainforest and the Bangalow koala group came and planted 13,000 more trees.
Suellen points to the hill where the forest stands in the distance.
The duck quacks and Suellen goes back to picking the Cosmos flowers.
“They are a great beginner flower,” she said for people wanting to grow their own.
And her favourite flower?
Suellen recently “fell in love” with the poppy and Gray likes the tall, yellow sunflowers.
They keep picking as the sun tips the horizon. When they finish the couple relax on the veranda over a glass of wine and admire their field of flowers.
Find out more on Instagram @fieldandflowerswanbay
