10/03/2026
Yesterday I pulled into a servo to fill the truck.
Diesel sitting up there on the big signā¦ $2.20 a litre.
You already know what sort of mood that can put people in.
As I walked in there was a bloke at the counter already wound up like a clock spring. Arms moving, voice getting louder with every sentence. By the time I joined the queue heād pretty much solved the national fuel crisis, fixed the government and reorganised the economyā¦ all while pointing at the poor lady behind the counter.
Letās call him old mate Nev.
Now Iām not saying fuel isnāt expensive. It is.
But that lady behind the counter didnāt drill the oil.
She didnāt sail the tanker here.
And she definitely didnāt climb up the ladder and change the number on the big sign out the front.
She was just trying to get through her shift.
And the whole time Nev was going on, she just stood there calm as anything. Nodding politely, doing her job.
It made me think how often that happens in life.
People see a number they donāt likeā¦ and the person standing closest to it becomes the one they unload on.
Which made me think about something I was doing the night before.
Everyone had gone home from the nurseries. Forklifts quiet, phones finally stopped ringing for the day.
So I wandered out to the farm and stood there looking at a row of trees that have been part of my life for a while now.
Our Magnolia Teddy Bears.
And when I say a whileā¦ I mean six years.
Six years of watering them.
Six years of feeding them.
Six years of pruning them.
Six years of shifting them into bigger pots as they slowly turned from little plants into proper trees.
Six summers trying to keep them alive when the sun feels like itās been turned up to BBQ mode.
Six winters walking the farm checking irrigation lines while they just sit there looking tough as anything.
Thatās 2,190 days of growing.
And if you do the maths, selling them at $850 each works out to about 39 cents a day.
Thirty-nine cents a day to water them, feed them, prune them, shift them around the farm and keep them alive through heatwaves and storms.
To be honestā¦ that probably hasnāt even covered my water bill.
But thatās how growing trees works.
You play the long game.
And these arenāt little plants anymore.
These are big Magnolia Teddy Bears. Proper feature trees.
So big they only just squeeze into our big truck, and even then we canāt load many because theyāve grown into some pretty serious trees.
The kind that stop people walking past a garden.
šæ Magnolia grandiflora āTeddy Bearā
Evergreen tree.
Glossy deep green leaves with that beautiful velvet brown backing underneath.
Huge creamy white fragrant flowers through summer.
Theyāll grow roughly 4ā6 metres tall and about 2ā3 metres wide, which makes them perfect as a feature tree, screening tree or a classy driveway entrance.
Weāve already sold some wholesale at the same price, which means youāll probably see them popping up around the region in nurseries for $1500 or more.
But we sell them direct from our 2 nurseries and we have heaps in stock now.
Anywayā¦
Back to the servo.
After old mate Nev finished his speech and stormed out the door, I stepped up to the counter and said,
āSorry about thatā¦ he shouldnāt have done that to you.ā
She looked at me and said something that stuck with me.
āIām glad you were standing there. You made me feel safe.ā
I laughed and said,
Me ā¦ made you feel safe. Iām just a big teddy bear who loves trees and people.ā
We ended up chatting for a minute while the pump ticked away outside.
Then she said something that made me smile.
By the way āI love teddy bears.ā
I said, āReally? Want to see mine?ā
She looked confused and now a little weirded out..
So I pulled out my phone and showed her photos of these big Magnolia Teddy Bears growing on the farm.
Her face lit up straight away.
āTheyāre beautiful,ā she said.
Then came the questions everyone asks.
How Big?ā¦. āAbout 3mts and chunkier than meā
āHow much?ā
When I told her $850, she looked at them again and said,
āThatās actually a bloody good priceā¦ but I could never afford one.ā
And thatās the truth.
Not everyone can.
But the whole conversation stuck with me on the drive home.
Because the world can feel a bit heavy some days.
Fuel prices.
Bills.
Stress.
People snapping at each other.
We canāt change everything thatās going on out there.
But we can choose how we treat the people standing in front of us.
Kindness still matters.
So tomorrow I might just swing back past that servo again.
And I might just walk in carrying a little Teddy Bear plant for her.
Not one of the big $850 ones. It wont fit in her car..
Just a little one a cute one, we have some around 1.2mts tall for $165.. baby teddys.
Because sometimes the world doesnāt need another rant.
Sometimes it just needs a small act of kindnessā¦ and a teddy bear. šæš»
FREE HUGS with our Teddys instore
Shepparton 535 Archer Rd Kialla
Echuca 13-15 Northern Hwy
