We’re closing out 2025 with a soulful, grounded, and beautifully honest conversation with Brooke Stewart of Meadowbrook Flower Farm. Set between Port Fairy and Warrnambool, Brooke’s six-acre farm is shaped by wind, weather, family, and the deep desire to build something meaningful from home.

Brooke shares how flower farming became the anchor she needed during motherhood, a FIFO lifestyle, raising a child with Williams Syndrome, and the isolation of early COVID. What started with a handful of Aldi dahlias, a cottage garden, and a suggestion to “go for a walk and listen to a podcast” has grown into a thriving, seasonal farm that reflects her resilience, curiosity, and huge heart.

This episode is rich with learning, laughter, and the kind of honesty that reminds us why Dish the Dirt exists: to celebrate the growers, the stories, and the small everyday triumphs happening on farms across Australia.

As the final episode of the year, it feels fitting, grounding, and full of hope. Thank you to every listener who has tuned in, shared an episode, spread the word, and supported local flower farmers in 2025. This community is a gift.

• How Brooke discovered flower farming through motherhood and a well-timed podcast recommendation
• Building a flower farm around FIFO schedules & family life
• Moving from a 120-year-old cottage to six acres of possibility
• Floods, droughts, crickets, windbreaks & the unpredictable reality of farming
• Her love for bulbs (especially gladioli!) and planning crops around life, not perfection
• Soil regeneration, composting & reducing inputs
• The power of showing up at conferences and finding your flower farming “village”
• Overcoming imposter syndrome and claiming the title “farmer”
• Community dinners, local networks & the importance of women supporting women

3 things she’d take if she had to leave quickly:

• Her zero-turn mower
• A sunflower head for seeds
• A handful of trusty snips

One flower to repopulate an empty island:

• Bells of Ireland (or Gladioli!)

Flower hero:

• Lisa Mason Ziegler

This is the final Dish the Dirt episode of 2025.

Thank you for:

• every listen
• every share
• every message
• every time you’ve supported a grower featured on the show

Your support builds this community, lifts up our growers, and keeps these stories alive. I can’t wait to bring you more voices, more farms, and more beauty in 2026.

Add any links here if you’d like @meadowbrookeflowerfarm

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• Key topics:

  • Diversifying crops and sustaining staff year-round

  • Protected cultivation and the benefits of greenhouses

  • Exporting Australian flowers to Japan and beyond

  • Collaboration, community, and why sharing knowledge matters

  • Adapting to climate change and investing in renewable energy

• Mentioned:

  • Wildflowers Australia

  • AgriFutures research library

  • East Coast Wildflowers and the growers who inspire him

🎧 Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you listen.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guests: Elsa from Hunter Forage & Madeline from Mount Vincent Flower Farm

In this episode, Rebecca chats with Elsa and Madeline about how a small group of passionate local growers turned into a thriving community of 30+ members known as the Hunter Flower Collective.

We talk about:
🌼 How the collective began — and the joy of growing from five friends to 31 members
🌸 The challenges and creativity of micro-scale flower farming on residential blocks
🌿 How connection, collaboration, and shared learning have become their biggest strengths
💧 Dealing with floods, pests, and limited space — and finding resilience through community
💐 The importance of supporting local florists and fostering strong grower–florist relationships

The Hunter Flower Collective is proof that big things grow from small beginnings — and that when flower farmers come together, they can change the landscape of their region.

Connect with the Hunter Flower Collective:
Instagram → @hunterflowercollective
Elsa → @hunter_forage

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Harvest (Hunter Valley’s local flower hub)

• Grow Not Flown

• Earthenry Flower Farm (TAS)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.