Making a meal of what comes naturally - Jewels Bowering started growing food a couple of years ago to feed her two sons "as naturally as possible". Now, depending on the season, you'll find crops ranging from tomatoes to Madagascar beans and snowpeas to pawpaw - as well as three much-loved chickens - in the modest patch outside her Bondi home.
Ms Bowering has joined forces with more than 150 backyard "farmers" in the Waverley area through a project called Grow It Local. Gardeners register their patches at the Grow It Local website and Facebook page and share tips, tricks, seeds and cuttings.
On Saturday, many will donate produce for a community feast prepared by the chefs at popular Bronte restaurant Three Blue Ducks. Sixty lucky Waverley gardeners will then receive a "golden ticket" to attend the free dinner the following day.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Chef Grant LaBrooy is one of the team whose challenge it is to turn the mystery produce into a feast.
"I'm really interested to see what we are going to get," he said. "For sure, there will be kale, lettuces, rainbow chard, herbs, eggplant, figs and some berries."
Mr LaBrooy said the event would show how easy it is to grow top-quality food for the family. "Anything you are picking fresh and eating within 24 hours is going to be far superior to something that has been shipped across the world or been gassed to ripen,'' he said.
Ms Bowering is excited to see what the chefs will make of her produce. "I'm definitely going to give them Madagascar beans and some arrowroot because I'd like to see what they will do with that and then maybe some of the Thai stuff like galangal and lemongrass."
Jordan Fly is another of the hopeful backyard gardeners who will hand over some of the spinach, chilli, leeks and fennel from his North Bondi patch. "I'm definitely hoping to get a golden ticket for the event," he said. "The great thing about this project is that it gets everyone together and you can see who is growing what. I've been surprised by how many people there are out there."
Mr LaBrooy said he was confident he and his colleagues would do justice to the produce they were given. ''We've got a bit of a joker up our sleeve," he said. "Our organic meat supplier is giving us 10 pork bellies. It's going to be a really good feed." ( smh.com.au )
Ms Bowering has joined forces with more than 150 backyard "farmers" in the Waverley area through a project called Grow It Local. Gardeners register their patches at the Grow It Local website and Facebook page and share tips, tricks, seeds and cuttings.
On Saturday, many will donate produce for a community feast prepared by the chefs at popular Bronte restaurant Three Blue Ducks. Sixty lucky Waverley gardeners will then receive a "golden ticket" to attend the free dinner the following day.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Chef Grant LaBrooy is one of the team whose challenge it is to turn the mystery produce into a feast.
"I'm really interested to see what we are going to get," he said. "For sure, there will be kale, lettuces, rainbow chard, herbs, eggplant, figs and some berries."
Mr LaBrooy said the event would show how easy it is to grow top-quality food for the family. "Anything you are picking fresh and eating within 24 hours is going to be far superior to something that has been shipped across the world or been gassed to ripen,'' he said.
Ms Bowering is excited to see what the chefs will make of her produce. "I'm definitely going to give them Madagascar beans and some arrowroot because I'd like to see what they will do with that and then maybe some of the Thai stuff like galangal and lemongrass."
Jordan Fly is another of the hopeful backyard gardeners who will hand over some of the spinach, chilli, leeks and fennel from his North Bondi patch. "I'm definitely hoping to get a golden ticket for the event," he said. "The great thing about this project is that it gets everyone together and you can see who is growing what. I've been surprised by how many people there are out there."
Mr LaBrooy said he was confident he and his colleagues would do justice to the produce they were given. ''We've got a bit of a joker up our sleeve," he said. "Our organic meat supplier is giving us 10 pork bellies. It's going to be a really good feed." ( smh.com.au )
No comments:
Post a Comment