Lauren Richardson lives and works in the Macedon Ranges growing edible flowers. Her business is called Foraged Flavour.
She will be the guest speaker at Kyneton Horticultural Society’s AGM next week where she will share her flower farming and edible flower business journey.
Lauren’s talk will reveal the challenges she has faced and lessons learned, from when the first edible flower beds were installed, to how the farm has expanded to over an acre in size with flowering trees and shrubs, a rose garden, multiple greenhouses, and outside flower beds.
As well as providing an introduction to edible flowers, her presentation will detail how she now works with the seasons to manage pest and disease pressures, and how she has come to understand the importance of good soil in transforming an empty weedy paddock into a garden sanctuary for bees, pollinating insects, native birds and wildlife.
After almost 15 years studying and working in Melbourne, Lauren returned to the property where she grew up in the central highlands to establish an edible flower farm. Starting as a side hustle to fund her way as she finished off a Master’s degree in architecture, demand grew sufficiently large to turn this hobby into a full-time business. So, in 2013, Foraged Flavour was established with just four 6m2 garden tubs and little-to-no gardening knowledge.
Twelve years on, Lauren has gone from being able to list all the flowers she could identify on one hand to being a passionate flower farmer and one of the largest suppliers of edible flowers to the Australian food service industry. Her blooms have had cameos appearances on popular cooking shows like Masterchef Australia and have been featured in prestigious magazines including on the cover of Vogue Australia Entertaining and Travel.
This presentation along with KHS AGM will be held in the Kyneton Football Netball Club Rooms, Kyneton Showgrounds, on Monday May 19 at 6.45pm for 7pm.
