I gave this spiel about Grow It Local at the Powerhouse Museum Sydney in August 2013 as part of Design Sydney. It was meant to inspire folks to give gardening a go and show how creative it can be. If you can't see the video you can look at it here http://youtu.be/V9DVKJua_Z8

1. Grow It Local

2. Like all good stories...

3. 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.

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

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

6. Around 300 Local Growers put their patches on the map, checked us out on social
media 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.

7. Grow It Local

8. 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.

9. And so very, very delicious.

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

11. Enter a Magical helper...

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

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

14. 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.

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

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

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

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

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

20. 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.

21. 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.

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

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

24. Enter...
Opera House crowd of 2,200 to
feed I have.
Farm, you must.

25. Video
Watch the video
Crowd Farming was born.

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

27. Crowd farming
We all ate very well.

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

31. R MmnY
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...

32. Let’s take a peek in their yards

33. Garden Name: Piglet’s
Corner
Where: Dover Heights,
NSW
Growing: Beans,
lemongrass, vietnamese
mint, basil
sage, 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.

35. Garden Name: Signature
Apartments Garden Bed
Where: Redfern, NSW
Growing: 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

38. Garden Name: Help Yourself
Where: Glebe, NSW
Growing: 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
etc
Tip: Don’t be too precious,
there is plenty to go around
and people taking food is a
good thing.

40. Garden Name:
Vorsprugarten Herb
Ladder
Where: Parramatta,
NSW
Growing: 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.

42. 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.

44. 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.

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

48. Garden Name: Wally Pocket
Where: Alexandria, NSW
Growing: 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!

49. Garden Name: My Super
Efficient Bucket Garden
Where: Bondi, NSW
Growing: Tomato and
capsicum
About: 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!

50. Garden Name:
AliceinNutritionland
Balcony Garden
Where: Newtown
Growing: Parsley,
mint, basil, thyme,
oregano, rosemary,
spinach, rocket,
chives
About: 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.

51. Garden Name: The
Chippenden
Where: Chippendale, NSW
Growing: Chillis, lemons, basil,
thyme, tomatoes and
strawberries
About: Very newly established
balcony garden

54. Garden Name: Vine Street
Balcony garden
Where: Bondi NSW
Growing:Strawberries,
Rosemary, Cat Mint
About: Strawberries,
Rosemary, Cat Mint, etc

55. Garden Name: Worm Ticklers
Hang Out
Where: Alexandria, NSW
Growing: 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.

58. Garden Name: Southan
Street Organic Project
Gardener: Tania Smith
Where: 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.

60. Go on then...
Miss Piggy Eats Courtney Thorne Courtney Thorne
Fanny Lumsdaine’s Farm Deanne J Nim Sat

61. The Thyme Machine Alannah Huntley Capi Water
Matt Moran
Fanny’s Farm Alannah Huntley

62. Fanny’s Farm Zetland Balcony Rosemarina
Fanny’s Farm Mi Vida Espanola

63. Chloe’s Herbies Max’s Max’s
Garden with a View The Patch Out Back Seed it Up Balcony

64. And if all else fails...

65. A random and beautiful garden in Sandy Bay, Growbart.
Stick a succulent in a stiletto.

66. Wanna know more?
Jess Miller
jess@goodywtoshoes.net.au
www.growitlocal.com.au