All hands on deck as Medowie family flower farm, Little Tin Shed, prepares for busy Mother's Day

It was 1983 and her uncle had given her and husband Vincent a corn bag full of the flowers.

The white and pink flowers, planted along the front fence of the farm land, cut a pretty sight as people travelled into the Medowie town centre.

Now, 38 years later, travelers are treated to a kaleidoscope of colour as they pass the property that is home to the Little Tin Shed.

The Harris family has ramped up its chrysanthemum planting during the years and has up to 30 varieties growing on site.

More of the flowers than ever before have been grown by the family following overwhelming support last year, spurred on by the buy local movement.

The family has begun picking and bundling the flowers as they prepare for Mother's Day on Sunday, May 9.

Sarah Mulholland, granddaughter to Mrs Harris, said the Little Tin Shed has long sold chrysanthemums for Mother's Day but it has only been in the past few years that it has ramped up in production.

"We sell them to florists and other sellers, plus people have always been able to buy them from the Little Tin Shed," Mrs Mulholland said.

"We're taking a break from fruit and vegetables at the moment so flowers became more of a focus. When COVID hit, it went crazy.

"We found that more people were getting behind 'support local' and were really keen to buy from local growers. We're one of the only local flower growers around so everyone was coming to us."

Mother's Day last year for the Harris family was the busiest ever. Mrs Mulholland said the roads around Little Tin Shed were "packed with cars" on the Saturday with people looking to buy locally grown flowers.

"Even on Sunday morning, when we had the 'closed' sign up, people were running in looking to buy flowers," she said.

Expecting a similar response this year, even more flowers have been planted and the family will begin selling bunches of flowers from the Little Tin Shed in the week leading to Mothers Day beginning Monday, May 3.

Bunches of Little Tin Shed's chrysanthemums begin at $10. Mixed bunches, with varieties of colours and other flowers including sunflowers, are priced up to $40.

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