Feature Image: Katie Arena and Rob Ryan, who own Little Lyndoch Flower Farm. (Provided).
Self-taught growers Katie Arena and Rob Ryan never planned to become flower farmers.
When they purchased an unloved two-acre property in Lyndoch in 2019, complete with waist-high grass, a rundown farmhouse and years’ worth of forgotten junk, the site was simply meant to store furniture for their vintage wedding hire business. Katie was working as a florist, Rob had never grown flowers before, and the closest they’d come to flower farming was planting six dahlia tubers picked up from the local hardware store.
Then COVID changed everything. As weddings disappeared almost overnight, the couple made the bold decision to sell their entire furniture hire collection and invest in growing flowers instead. Armed with YouTube tutorials, plenty of trial and error, six dahlia plants from Bunnings, and a shared determination to build something of their own, they transformed the neglected property into what is now Little Lyndoch Flower Farm.
Today, the Barossa Valley business is known for its spectacular seasonal blooms, workshops and thriving online community of more than 100k followers. Now, Katie and Rob are preparing for their biggest chapter yet after securing a 90-acre heritage property in Mannum.
The move will see the family relocate both their home and business to the new property, which features a 120-year-old homestead and four heritage buildings dating back to 1884. The family will relocate both their home and business to Mannum within weeks, leaving behind their current two-acre property for a farm more than 40 times the size.
“We’re moving the whole business and everything straight to Mannum, so we can be there full time and just work on the property every day,” Katie said.
“It’s 90 acres—we’re only on two here in Lyndoch in comparison.”
The move will give Little Lyndoch Flower Farm the space to grow its public-facing offering and sell flowers retail for the first time.
“We’re looking to be able to have a community join us on the farm,” she added.
“It’s something we haven’t been able to offer since the business has grown, so we’re looking to create a lot of experiences for our community and locally, and also tourists too.”
Katie added that she hopes to transform two of the property’s heritage stone buildings into a farm shop and a floristry design studio.
“The farm shop will be to be able to sell our flowers to our local community, and the goal would be to work with local businesses and have local products in the farm shop,” she said.
The floristry studio will also continue hosting the Bloom Flower Retreat, where Katie mentors flower farmers and florists.
Beyond the flower fields, the family has plans to restore the property’s 120-year old homestead to eventually move into.
“We’ll be restoring basically all these four heritage buildings that were built in 1884,” Katie said.
After months of searching and unsuccessful offers, Katie had almost given up on finding the right property before the Mannum farm appeared unexpectedly.
“We’d given up a week prior. We just thought, ‘Oh well, it’s not happening this year,'” Katie said.
“This just happened so quickly.
“We’d been looking for months, and we’d been outbid on other properties. They just weren’t the right ones. But this one popped up on my phone one day, we called the agent, and we were at a site inspection a couple of days later.”
After meeting the owners and submitting an offer, the property was theirs that same evening.
“It was just meant to be,” Katie said.
“We’re excited. We can’t wait to just slowly start bringing it all to life.”
Whilst the location and open hours have not been announced yet, you can keep up to date and find out more on their Instagram and website.
