When 11-year-old Bella McLachlan tried her hand at growing giant sunflowers the results were a huge success.
In what started as just a single packet of sunflower seeds from her local nursery has now grown into a side-hustle for Bella, who has been selling the seeds in WA's South West region.
Bella said it was her dad who gave her the idea of harvesting the seeds, and selling them in a roadside market stall in Bridgetown.
"They're pretty tough … you just need to plant them in a sunny spot and water them, and that's about it," she said.
It seems the word spread about Bella's sunflower seeds when one company put in an order for over one hundred packets.
Regenerative farming company Dirty Clean Food purchased 100 packets of Bella's giant sunflower seeds and has gifted them to people who have been isolating due to COVID-19.
Dirty Clean Food general manager Sophie Lanyon said the community's response has been overwhelmingly positive and they have been inundated with messages of gratitude.
"We were looking at putting together what we call 'isolation kits'. We saw [they] were doing sunflower seeds and we thought 'what a great gift'," Ms Lanyon said.
"So we thought it was both an opportunity to support a young woman in business and an opportunity to give our customers something to brighten their time and to let them know that we're thinking of them."
Bella said she felt good knowing her seeds were making people smile.
Each of the giant sunflowers hold between 300-500 seeds and removing them by hand is labour intensive.
Suzie McLachlan said the process takes hours, but it was a valuable learning experience for her daughter.
"Since moving down to the country a year ago the kids have been exposed to such a diverse and different way of living, and having opportunities that [they] never, ever would have had … if we were back in the city," Mrs McLachlan said.
"And the sunflowers, they're just beautiful."
