Community
4 February, 2026
Charity in bloom: flower farm raises funds for fire-affected families
Along with partner Shane McIntosh and the help of St Arnaud businesses, she’s managed to raise over $500 to help fire-affected families.
MEGAN Osborne knows just how important it is to have some brightness after tragedy.
After living in the aftermath and hurt felt after the 2009 bushfires when she lived in West Gippsland, she knew she needed to use her newly established flower farm near Moolerr to help.
“I saw what happened at Longwood, what happened at Harcourt, and I knew I had to do what I could,” she said.
“I know what it feels like, I couldn’t sit back and do nothing.”
Along with partner Shane McIntosh and the help of St Arnaud businesses, she’s managed to raise over $500 to help fire-affected families.
“It’s just about spreading a bit of joy,” she said.
“We approached people like Parkview Bakery, Lyal Eales and the St Arnaud newsagency and they were all so happy to be a part of it,
“So while we still have healthy flowers, we would take in fresh bunches every day for them to sell. It was lovely to see so many businesses wanting to help such a worthy cause.”
Mr McIntosh said the sunflower crops had been “a little experiment”.
“It’s very early days, but we wanted to see what sorts of flowers we could grow on the rain alone.
“It’s important for us to take a sustainable approach and not use irrigation to keep them alive.
“If they can survive in this climate as it is, we’ll do our best to try and grow it.”
Ms Osborne said this was hopefully the beginning of a budding little business for the couple.
“We’re going to use the next few months to work out what we can and can’t grow, use a bit of trial and error and just build it all up,” she said.
“We want to be able to use the land we have for good and bring a bit of joy and happiness to the area. We’ve moved here to live a quiet life and this will be able to keep us busy without putting too much pressure on ourselves.
“Keep an eye out and we’ll be up and running soon.”
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