Big News for The Fox and Dingo

Hello,

It’s been at least 6 months since I last wrote in my seasonal journal. This growing season has flown by, and while I’ve been capturing what I can with my camera, I haven’t quite felt inspired to write, for one big reason in particular.

This season has been wonderful. I am so happy to be growing and arranging full time, and very grateful that the support of our lovely local customer base has allowed me to do that. There have been wedding flowers, work shops, markets and many flowers sold through local stores Blueberry Den and Stable and Wick. We have been most grateful to our wonderful little group of flower subscribers, who committed to buying regular flowers from us all season.

Behind the wonderful busy flower season, I haven’t written here in this journal, because I wasn’t ready to share what was really going on in the back ground of our life. So here is the big news:

We’re moving to Australia!!

There has been a big sense of unsettlement for us both knowing this would be our last growing season here in England. Staying focused on selling the flowers, while planning for the future has been a tricky balance. David and I have big dreams and plans that we have been working towards for many years. When I moved to the UK just over 6 years ago, I originally had a five-year visa, and we planned to move back to Australia together before that expired.

Since I found my love of growing flowers, I have always known this was not the permanent country I’d forever be growing in. It has been a challenge to focus on growing our business, and to invest time into an allotment that was only every for a few years. Like so many others, the effects of the last two and a half years have put delays on our plans and has extended the amount of time we have lived here. During the delay we of have had small moments of doubt if we were making the right decision, antagonised over whether it was easier to stay and put roots down here in Salisbury. We love the area, and we could have rented land to grow on a larger scale.

We also know leaving David’s children Jessica and Oliver (who are now 21 and 19) as well as my wonderful in-laws, will be one of the hardest things we will ever do. Despite the setbacks and continuous delays, we kept dreaming of a quitter life. One where we can buy land, build a house and grow a lot of flowers and vegetables. We want to have the space to share this with others. We want to create a life that provides opportunities for our family, for our grandchildren to be able to experience things that would be more difficult for us to achieve, living here in Britain. We want to inspire them and help them see that happiness and living a life that brings you the most amount of joy is so important.

Despite the doubts and delays we have stayed on course and yesterday we finally received the news that the David’s visa is approved, and we can now begin to prepare for our big move. David has secured a great job in the career that he loves, and this means a lot of the big stuff will be arranged for us, including our move and having a house to live in when we arrive. It will still be a little while until we find our dream property to create our dream garden, and do all the things that we are planning. We will however be living in the country that we want to do it all in, and Australia is where we have decided to make our home.

For me, it means I will have a break from growing flowers on the scale I am now, (just for a little while) and will focus on developing my floristry skills while supporting other local growers. I want to write more in this space and share the process of starting a garden from scratch. I will spend time building up a new network in our community, and connecting with other flower loving people. I know from experience this will take a while, so I will be job hunting, when we arrive and working in the meantime, so we can get that dream home! I will of course continue growing and experimenting in the garden of our rental property, and learn to grow flowers in a season where the weather is very different to England.

The big question is when will we be moving? A lot of that is up to David’s employer as they will be arranging our move. It is very likely to be November or December and there is a lot to do before then. We have 6 weeks or so left of our last British flower season, and I plan to make the most of it.

If you are a Salisbury local and love what we do, now is the time your support will mean so much. Every penny we make, we are saving so that I can continue to do what I love most on the other side of the world. We have two markets left on Sunday the 11th of September, and Sunday the 9th of October. We will of course be selling our usual fresh flowers, along with this years seed range that I’m working hard on having ready very soon. I’m drying a lot of flowers that will be available, and we will also be selling some of our more mature perennials and gardening and growing kit, that is too difficult to get dirt free (things that won’t pass through strict Australian customs).

If you have every wanted to learn flower arranging from me, now is the time! I’m hosting three workshops through September, click the link below for the details. I love teaching what I am passionate about, so if you have considered joining in, I really hope you do.

For those of you across the country that we haven’t had the pleasure of meeting in person, your support and encouragement over the past few years has meant so much. If you would like to support us a little more, I will soon be releasing this years seed collection. It is the fourth year we have shared our cut flower seeds, and this season I’d love them to spread as far and wide across the country as possible. While we won’t be here to grow our flowers, I love that the future generations of our flowers will continue to bring so many of you joy for years to come. There is something so magical about growing cut flowers from seed, and I really hope that I have inspired some of you that haven’t grown before, to sow some seed and experience the magic.

Dried flowers will also be available towards the end of September and into October, and I will be designing a selection of mini bouquets that will be perfect for posting. If you remember our very popular dried flower baubles from last Christmas, they are likely to make an appearance too, depending on our move date.

Now that our big news is out of the bag. I want to spend more time over the next few months writing and photographing, so you can expect to hear from me a little more that you have this past year. I want to soak up the last of the summer and capture the magnificent seasonal shift into our last autumn here. I have a great burning to write a long love letter to Britain. I feel the need to really put into words how much this land that we are growing on, and the people of Salisbury have given me, that I’m currently welling up with happy tears just thinking about.

Most of all, I am so excited to see our Australian family and our dear friends. It has been 3 years since we were last in Australia and there is much reuniting to be had.

Speak to you soon my friends, much love,

Lauren x