A gardening enthusiast who started a venture amid drought near Trangie says Buy From The Bush has "fast-forwarded" its growth by two or three years.
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Claire Austin, who launched Gin Gin Garden Club 12 months ago, reports of packing boxes of tools, seeds and other goodies nearly every night at her rural home to send out to customers across Australia.
She credits the movement started by Grace Brennan in 2019 with having "a huge impact" not only on her venture, but on local communities.
Gin Gin Garden Club is listed on the new Buy From The Bush Marketplace, and Mrs Austin says orders have "probably more than doubled" as a result.
It's been a rapid rise for the venture, which its founder says is primarily an information-giving page and community forum on Instagram, to which she later added a retail side.
Last year while on maternity leave, loving the outdoors but dealing with discouraging drought and bore water, Mrs Austin started the garden club to "seek some local wisdom" about how to handle dry conditions.
"I started going around and profiling some local gardeners and knowing that they were doing a beautiful job in their gardens..." she said.
"Initially it was a little community of my friends, and it's grown a lot since then."
Being on maternity leave, she said she didn't have an income, but was spending a lot of time on the project, so thought about how it could "pay its way".
"I love garden tools and accessories, and outdoor wares, and I spend a lot of time outdoors, so I started looking at wholesalers, and... I started an online shop," Mrs Austin said.
The side hustle featured on Buy From The Bush in its early days, taking it to the next level.
"Buy From The Bush gave me a huge exposure that I did never think would happen, so it's had a really positive impact on my business," Mrs Austin said.
"And sort of fast-forwarded it two or three years in terms of growth ahead of what I'd be if I didn't have that exposure."
Mrs Austin reports of a ripple effect.
"I go into the local post office, and Trangie Post Office is really fortunate because there's so many online businesses posting out of there," she said.
"But you go into town, you buy a coffee that you probably wouldn't normally buy.
"I posted things this morning, and I ended up buying coffees and then we've got people harvesting out here [on their farm], so I bought them coffees, and then I bought a mat... from the local coffee shop. So the flow-on effects are huge as well for the local communities."
Mrs Austin said it was making them more sustainable for the longer term.
"So if we do go through another dry spell, all of a sudden you've got an increased customer base that you're not relying solely on the local communities that might be a bit cash-strapped because there's not much income coming through because of potential future drought, and you've got an increased customer base all over Australia," she said.
The new entrepreneur recommended the Buy From The Bush Marketplace as a "one-stop shop" and a "really good option to support bush businesses".
"I can't emphasise enough how important Buy From The Bush is for the long-term as well, and I just think it's amazing, the work that they've done and they've got a real long-term focus, which is really good, they really care about our rural communities and making everything more sustainable," Mrs Austin said.