Emma Scaddan laughs at that thought of what a guidance councillor would have said to her as a child when she told them she wanted to have a beautiful garden for a living.
But, that is exactly what she’s done on her stunning mountain acreage property.
“I’ve made my own flower gardens since I was a child,” she shared.
“We have a lot of gardeners in the family.
“I love artistic, creative things and creating something beautiful. Working on the property to make a beautiful garden is something I really enjoy.”
Emma and her husband, Luke, moved here just over six years ago with their then three-year-old daughter, Amy, from Brisbane, fulfilling a lifelong dream of owning acreage.
“We wanted to raise our family in a friendly, country town without being too remote. Tamborine mountain was that perfect combination of all those things,” she explained.
“It’s just a nice community.”
However, they didn’t actually move here with the vision of having a flower farm.
“The place we found was our dream property, but five acres of garden is a lot for working parents to keep just as an expensive hobby, so I found a way to make the garden earn its keep and be able to work from home with a young family,” she said.
Emma had been working as a physiotherapist at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, but decided to give it up and turn her passionate hobby into a full time business and Tamborine Mountain Flower Farm was born.
Just over two and half years ago, their second child, Liam blessed their lives, and he too adores spending time in the garden with the family.
“He’s a surprisingly good helper. His catch phrase at the moment is “me help you”,” she shared.
“Sometimes his assistance is more helpful than other times.
“He does a surprisingly good job of helping me move mulch and has learned to ask which ones are weeds before he pulls them out.”
Emma supplies to Joseph the Greengrocer and loves watching the faces of customers as they try to decide which of the beautiful bunches to choose.
The family have also added two cabins to their property, keeping the busy mum even busier.
“We keep creating new areas in the garden and a lot of locals got see that when we opened up during the Garden Club’s Springtime on the Mountain,” she said.
“Having guests walk around and the enjoy the garden and stop to have a chat and ask about different plants is what I love.
“I feel like I’ve flukishly worked out how to have a garden as a profession.”
