More than a decade of teaching has taught Natalie Brock a thing or two, but the biggest life lesson has been to “do something you love”.
Working as a wellbeing leader meant most days were spent looking after students and staff, until one day she realised she hadn’t been looking after herself.
“After the pandemic, I got to a point where I was unhappy doing what I was doing,” she says.
“I thought to myself, ‘If I’m going to stop teaching and I’ve got another 10 years of work ahead of me, I want to be doing something that I really love’.”
Ms Brock picks her flowers every second day. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)
Celebrating her 51st birthday, she took her own advice, put down the pen and picked up the pruning shears.
A family affair
Ms Brock’s first memories of flowers began when she was five years old, traipsing through her grandma’s garden.
“I remember wandering around with her while she explained which spring bulbs were coming out of the ground,” she says.
“My nana had the most beautiful garden, as many in that generation did.”
Fifty years on, she tends to her own farm nestled among 60 hectares of flourishing vineyards in the South Australian Riverland town of Monash.
Zinnias are one of the many varieties Ms Brock grows from seed. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)
With the help of her “green-thumbed” viticulturist husband, Aden, Ms Brock has managed to turn a quarter of an acre of unkempt land into a flourishing haven filled with bright blooms.
Ms Brock grows dozens of floral species including dahlias, snapdragons, ranunculus, zinnias, and leucadendrons.
Before: The land before Ms Brock quit teaching. . . After: Ms Brock’s garden five years later.. .
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Her focus is set on working with the natural environment and using sustainable farming practices to help her flowers flourish.
“‘I’m definitely a fan of fresh flowers, purely from a health and ecological point of view,” she says.
“By investing in the soil, and using fewer pesticides and sprays, we have created a really healthy ecosystem.”
Ms Brock has five shade houses where the flowers bloom. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)
Sustainable practices
Ms Brock says being pesticide-free and buying sustainable flowers are factors she believes Australians are considering more than ever.
“When flowers come in from overseas, they’re treated with chemicals and flowers are commonly dipped in [herbicide] as they come through quarantine,” she says.
While Coco has passed away, Honey loves traipsing through the flowerbeds each day. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)
“People like the concept of homegrown flowers that are super fresh.”
Some countries that export freshly cut flowers to Australia were found to have inspection failure rates of more than 50 per cent, according to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
And while revised import conditions in 2018 led to a 70 per cent reduction in quarantine pest detections in imported flowers and foliage, Ms Brock says a “grown not flown” culture was a welcome change to her regional community.
More than 200 dahlias were planted this season. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)
Ms Brock’s flower studio is nestled among 60 hectares of vineyards. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)
“They know that when they come and get the flowers, they’ve only just been picked and they’re going to last longer than if you were to buy them at a supermarket,” she says.
Leftover blooms that still have life in them are delivered to hospitals around the Riverland and are given to patients who have no family or may need a little pick-me-up.
Ms Brock loves putting smiles on people’s faces with her fresh bouquets. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)
“I love that when you deliver flowers to someone at the door, their face just lights up,” she says.
Wilted and out-of-season stock is given to her husband as vineyard compost, with the aim of developing a zero-waste operation.
Any leftover flowers or weeds are put into compost and used on the family’s vineyard. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)
Flowers in a frosty situation
While Ms Brock loves her new career, the flower farm that was once the family’s secondary income is now their breadwinning business, following a severe frost event that hit the Riverland region last year.
Ms Brock says resilience is a trait all Riverland farmers need to have. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)
She hopes she can continue to grow the business, but says times are tough for her family and the region.
“The grape industry is looking pretty dark at the moment so, given that the wine industry is so bad, we are constantly reviewing what our future will look like,” she says.
“Anyone who’s in primary industry knows that it ebbs and flows and you have to be prepared for that financially and mentally.
“I’d love to be able to say that I can continue doing this full time, but I don’t know if that’s going to be a reality.”
Ms Brock loves that she can be out on the farm in the morning, and arranging boquets by the afternoon. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)
While the future remains uncertain for Ms Brock’s family, she’s determined to fight for her dream.
And although times are tough, she’s glad she followed her own advice and is doing something that her younger self would be proud of.
