Grow It Local

Like all good stories...

What the hell? Gardening? Composting?

Worms! If I knew all this latte-pinko-leftie-hippie-

greenie stuff was so much fun I never would have

have let it in!

WOW! A HORSE, WHAT FUN! What Present! I’ll take it.

This one starts in Ancient Rome. Or rather, with a Trojan Horse.

Grow It Local began thanks to a grant from Waverley Council, they wanted to gaugeand encourage more people to grow their own food.

We let folks know what we were up to on the Interwebs and by putting up posters about town

Around 300 Local Growers put their patches on the map, checked us out on socialmedia and bought along what they’d grown to Bondi Farmers market in exchange for a ‘golden ticket’ to the Local Growers Supper at Three Blue Ducks.

Grow It Local

A wonderful time was had by all, It was especially magical seeing more experienced green thumbs mixing it up with those new to growing. It surely was an inter-generational, inter-cultural edible extravaganza.

And so very, very delicious.

Kinkee the chicken even pulled the raffle ticket out of the colander. For reals.

Enter a Magical helper...

NO!!! Not Kevin Bacon. Though he is quite magical. We’re talking about...

Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore and her colleagues at the City of Sydney.

With their help we put Grow It Local patches in bus stops and distributed thousands of basil and coriander seeds via the best cafes in town.

In places like Cafe D.O.V in Darlinghurst. This is Tim in his cafe yard with his compost.

Kitchen by Mikes In Rosebery, where Mike is putting in one helluva garden and sourcing the bees knees (and honey) in local produce.

At Ortos in Surry Hills, these guys are putting the best organic and free range eggs in everything!

Ram from Substation in Alexandria is brewing some wonderful coffee and is on the look out for a rooftop farm to supply his cafe.

That bastion of beards, The Commons in Surry Hills are sourcing beef from their family farm and putting toe-to-tail on the menu.

And over at The Grounds not do they have a ridiculously cute compost machine by the name of Kevin Bacon, but they’ve also got an amazing garden run by Erin to show people what it’s all about.

And the gang from Yullis in Surry Hills, have an entire bar upstairs where there is no bottles, all of the beer and wine is served from large kegs and taps.

As a result, patches popped up all over the map!

Easy sy

So maybe it was time to do something a little more ambitious.

Enter...

Opera House crowd of 2,200 to feed I have.

Farm, you must.

Video

Watch the video

Crowd Farming was born.

We even got a beehive at the Royal Botanical Gardens. Reckon the bees appreciated that view.

Crowd farming

We all ate very well.

We made all of the growers and our ‘Heavy Weight’ producers the heroes of the day. Because that’s what they are.

R MmnY

1019 gardens registered on the Grow It Local map

3328 growers on Facebook

498 #growitlocal tags on Instagram

1000 + subscribers newsletter subscribers

So now we have...

Let’s take a peek in their yards

Garden Name: Piglet’s Corner Where: Dover Heights, NSWGrowing: Beans, lemongrass, vietnamese mint, basilsage, thyme, chilli, chamomile, verbena, lemon balm, figs Tip: Get the neighbours involved for the ‘dig out’ when you’re starting and reward them with lots of treats.

Garden Name: Signature Apartments Garden BedWhere: Redfern, NSWGrowing: Lettuce, Pumpkin, Rocket, Tomato, Beans, Spinach, Coriander, White carrot, Broccoli, Spinach, Capsicum, Red Chillies, Lavender, Thyme, Kale, Herbs, Basil,Tip: Raise the beds, garlic spray for bugs. Make it pretty

Garden Name: Help Yourself Where: Glebe, NSWGrowing: Lettuce, Rocket, Spinach, kale, silverbeet, Japanese turnip, snow peas, snap peas, radish, mizuna, celery, bay, french tarragon, salad burnet, sorrel, oregano, chives, lemon balm, lemon thyme, thyme, basil, parsley, aloe vera, rosemary, sage, mint, borage, society garlic etcTip: Don’t be too precious, there is plenty to go around and people taking food is a good thing.

Garden Name: Vorsprugarten Herb Ladder Where: Parramatta, NSWGrowing: Herbs, Indigenous grass habitats, flowers. Tip: You can grow in pretty much anything. We’ve re-used PVC piping and used the flow of water from the roof as irrigation.

Garden Name: Mediata la Masseria Where: Kellyville, NSW Growing: Edibles now growing: Eggplant (2 varieties), Rhubarb, Leeks, Tomatoes (4 varieties), Cos Lettuce, Coloured Chard, Spinach, Cucumber, Chilli, Green Beans, Snow Peas, Broad Beans, Chamomile, Lavender, and we recently received a Pomegranate tree, Curry Leaf tree and a Banana plant ... these are to go in the ground on the weekend.Tip: Spend time in the garden! It’s good for your health and good for your pocket.

Garden Name: The Firepit Where: Blacktown, NSW Growing: A selection of chillies. From the mildest to the Guinness World Record-holding hot chilli. Tip: Paul is currently growing the “Trinidad Scorpion which recently took the title as the world’s hottest chilli.”It’s practically impossible to put in your mouth” says Netra. Paul’s chilli growing tip is to save seeds each year, so that the quality of the plant generation grows year-on-year.

Garden Name: MattWhere: Lamington, WAGrowing: Lettuce, Beetroot, Pumpkin, Rocket, Potatoes, Citrus, Tomato, Beans, Carrots, Berries, herbs, mangoes, peas, cabbage, capsicum, chilliAbout: Sustainable, organic fruit and vegetables grown with recycled and harvested water, on the edge of the WA desert.

Garden Name: Wally PocketWhere: Alexandria, NSWGrowing: Chillies & herbs About: The Green Guerilla Group at LJ Hooker Corporate look after wally pockets on our balcony that are filled with herbs and chillies. Perfect to sprinkle on our lunches!

Garden Name: My Super Efficient Bucket GardenWhere: Bondi, NSWGrowing: Tomato and capsicumAbout: My own unique design deep water culture hydroponic garden - I built it myself. It can grow vegetables all year round, and is not effected by the weather. Anyone can do it, all you need is 1m x 1m area in your garage or apartment!

Garden Name: AliceinNutritionland Balcony GardenWhere: NewtownGrowing: Parsley, mint, basil, thyme, oregano, rosemary, spinach, rocket, chivesAbout: It’s OK to make mistakes, its how you learn. Just try and if you fail, laugh about it and do something differently next time.

Garden Name: The ChippendenWhere: Chippendale, NSWGrowing: Chillis, lemons, basil, thyme, tomatoes and strawberriesAbout: Very newly established balcony garden

Garden Name: Vine Street Balcony gardenWhere: Bondi NSWGrowing:Strawberries, Rosemary, Cat MintAbout: Strawberries, Rosemary, Cat Mint, etc

Garden Name: Worm Ticklers Hang Out Where: Alexandria, NSWGrowing: Lettuce, spinach, basil, dill, chives, potatoes, carrots, rhubarb, radish About: making the most of a very, very small terrace in space. Battling the slugs and snails on a very daily basis, and composting like a machine. Old webbers, shoes, jars, and baskets make for excellent pots.

Garden Name: Southan Street Organic Project Gardener: Tania SmithWhere: Smithfield Plains, SA Growing: Spaghetti Squash, Pumpkin, zucchini, various beans, snow peas, bok choy, radishes, rocket, baby spinach, corn and heaps more.About: These guys ripped up all the lawn in their front yard to put in loads of edible veggie beds.

Go on then...

Miss Piggy Eats Courtney Thorne Courtney Thorne

Fanny Lumsdaine’s Farm Deanne J Nim Sat

The Thyme Machine Alannah Huntley Capi Water

Matt Moran Fanny’s Farm Alannah Huntley

Fanny’s Farm Zetland Balcony Rosemarina

Fanny’s Farm Mi Vida Espanola

Chloe’s Herbies Max’s Max’s

Garden with a View The Patch Out Back Seed it Up Balcony

And if all else fails...

A random and beautiful garden in Sandy Bay, Growbart.

Stick a succulent in a stiletto.

Wanna know more?

Jess Miller jess@goodywtoshoes.net.au

www.growitlocal.com.au