Lessons in love – and lettuce

It's an age-old story: Sydneysiders fall in love, spread their wings ... and fall in love with the Illawarra. 

In an alternative plot twist, they develop an impressive garden which feeds them and surrounding wildlife.

Fairy Meadow couple Lisa and Brian Wellings will welcome visitors to their nest as part of the Illawarra Edible Garden Trail on November 22, when trail goers can see their native verge garden, thriving vegie patches and friendly chickens. 

“We’re really excited – hopefully when people come through, we can inspire some people to plant gardens at home, and they can see what you can do to a suburban block,” Brian says.

“It’s not very big, but you can actually produce quite a lot of food and there's still enough room for the dogs and chickens to chase each other.”

Lisa and Brian are high school sweethearts who grew up in Avalon on Sydney's northern beaches. The pair travelled the world together, and when they landed back home, Lisa received an offer to teach music at Corrimal High School.

“We came down for a weekend, had a look at the area and absolutely loved it. We thought, what a great spot – it’s the best spot in the world,” Brian says.

Fourteen years later, they both teach at local schools, and spend their afternoons together in the garden.

“We spend a lot of time out in the garden and to share a passion like that with each other is pretty cool,” Brian says.

“We both just love the garden, love being outside – we’re not indoor people… the best room in the house is outside.”

The pair started off small, with a simple vegie patch – lettuces, spinach and tomatoes. Their passion grew with their garden, and now they grow more than 20 different fruits and vegetables at home.

Visitors may see lemons, feijoa, nectarine, pomegranate, kiwi, mango, figs, orange, mulberry, lime, tangelo, avocado, dragon fruit, custard apples, pears, mandarin, persimmon and more. Lisa and Brian can give tips on growing, keeping bees, caring for chickens and composting.

Inspiration shared

“We have 9000 litres of water tank, so we catch as much water as we can and hardly use any from the mains. We compost, hardly throw anything out. All the food scraps go straight back into the garden. Sustainability wise, it’s pretty good around here. We don’t waste much and it goes in one big circle,” Brian says.

Brian and Lisa attended last year’s trail and are keen to share practical tips they’ve gathered from their neighbours and community.  

They often get seedlings and guidance from Dapto Community Farm, and are inspired by Bally Patch, Tarrawanna brewery and public school, Corrimal High School farm area and episodes of Gardening Australia.

"We absolutely loved the trail last year. I thought how cool, what a fantastic idea. It’s great seeing what people grow and then you can take a bit of inspiration from them,” Brian says.

The Wellings’ garden doesn’t feed just the family – it provides fresh food to swap with neighbours and a pesticide-free habitat for native insects and animals. Their street has become home to a supportive network of neighbours who swap tips and share resources and surplus produce.

“Sometimes it’s funny – our neighbour will grow things that I can’t grow here, like zucchini, and it’s only across the road.” Brian says.

One neighbour, Brad, drops off bags of coffee grounds from Xavier's cafe in Fairy Meadow for Brian and Lisa to use in their compost and gardens. Brad also drops off his scraps to feed the chickens, and enjoys their eggs in return.

“We’ve had chickens for a number of years. I couldn’t imagine a garden without them,” Brian says.

“One of our big challenges was trying to keep the chickens out of the gardens – they even stick their heads through the nets to peck at the food. But we don’t mind. They give us eggs, so we like to feed them.”

“We’re getting five eggs a day, so we’re feeding our neighbours. We take them over some eggs and honey as well.”

Lisa and Brian planted their front garden native verge with help from Wollongong City Council, complete two flowering gums, a lilly pilly, bottle brush and prostrate grevillea. Two doves enjoy this space.

"The cool thing with the native plants and little lizard bowls is that you just see lots of little animals, different birds and also little bugs,” Brian says.

“If we can't pick the fruits quickly enough and the birds are having a feed, then everyone wins – it's all good.

"You sit out there and you see them coming down from the tree flying into the bird bath, having a little splash around. You just hear the noise and they go back up – you just sort of stop and think and it just brings a little smile for us."

Fresher is better

The third annual Illawarra Edible Garden Trail invites locals to explore home gardens and community patches across the region, to get a taste of what’s possible with a garden out the back and a shovel in hand.

“It’s not really hard to get started. You’ve just got to dig up your turf and put a bit of compost in, a bit of manure, and plant some seedlings,” Brian says.

This year’s self-guided trail, organised by Healthy Cities Australia and Food Fairness Illawarra, includes more than 30 diverse gardens from Otford to Shell Cove. In collaboration with Gilly’s Kitchen Garden and Illawarra Natives, the event aims to connect experienced growers and aspiring gardeners with sustainability, community and food security front of mind.

“Nothing beats picking out a potato from your own backyard and cooking it up. If you need something, it’s just there. Just the food source that you can get from your own back yard. With food and cooking, a lot of it comes with love, and so I think the food tastes a lot better when you know it’s yours,” Brian says.

Lisa and Brian enjoy a variety of home-cooked meals inspired by their backyard gardens, from mulberry muffins to fresh eggs on toast.

“If we get an abundance of spinach, say, it’s like, okay, let’s make a bit of a pasta or something. You can figure out what you have, and what we’re going to eat by what we’ve got in the garden,” Brian says.

"Currently we’ve got a nice cauliflower to pick. So I'm looking forward to cooking that. I might do that tonight with the beetroot."

As school teachers, Brian and Lisa see the trail as a learning opportunity for families to see the benefits of growing their own food.

“There's some kids that still think food comes in plastic packaging. Hopefully we can unravel that idea and teach them about sustainability, about what food means, and that it’s not to be wasted. You put the time into it and you get rewarded with a great produce.”

The Illawarra Edible Garden Trail is on November 22 amd 23, from 10am to 3pm. Lisa and Brian’s garden is open only on November 22. Tickets via Humanitix