We started growing our own vegetables many moons ago after settling back in NZ from years of travel and working overseas. But really, it’s been a part of my life since birth…

Growing up we had huge vegetable gardens, an orchard and various other fruit and nut trees on our property. My father used to sell organic vegetable boxes to locals and excess to the local fruit & vegetable shop. Because of this, a huge proportion of what we ate was straight from the land and most of my favourite childhood dishes were formed around what was in season and plentiful. The freshness and flavour of homegrown vegetables can not be beaten; like freshly dug potatoes or hand-picked corn in summer and broccoli or kale in winter.

Since having kids ourselves it has become an even more significant part of our lives. It’s important to us that we teach our children about real food, not food from a packet. By growing vegetables organically we know exactly what’s going into our bodies, limiting the amount of chemicals we ingest while also protecting the environment from unnecessary synthetic fertilisers and pesticides.

Our garden is a team effort, I grow the seedlings and plant them out. Then it’s over to my husband who predominantly looks after them from there on in, creeping around in the dark with a torch at night looking for slugs and snails, tying up the tomatoes and picking off the caterpillars when I get squeamish. I then step in again when it comes time to harvest and cook!

We are by no means experts, but we love what we do and hope that we can encourage you to have a go too.