Grown where?

It always brings a smile to my face when someone asks if we grow all the produce we sell at CERES.

“I wish!” is my response. 

I wish we could grow the hundred and fifty different fruits, vegetables and herbs Fair Food and CERES Grocery supply to over 1250 households each week and that’s not to mention all the CERES veg that’s served up at the Merri Cafe. 

And although you can grow bananas in Melbourne during summer with the help of a North facing brick wall there’s just not enough walls or warm weather at CERES to grow all of the fruit and veg we bring you.

That said, we do grow a lot of food in not a lot of space at CERES. Last week Farm Director, Melissa Lawson, shared a list of what her farmers harvested from Honey Lane and Joe’s Market Garden.

Basil
Beetroot
Bok Choi
Sprouting broccoli
Rainbow Chard
Coriander
Corn
Eggplant
Dill
Fennel
Kale
Cos lettuce
Parsley
Radish
Spring onion
Pea Sprouts
Sunflower Sprouts
Tomato
Zucchini

Oh and don’t forget the fresh u-pick flowers and the amazing range of veggie seedlings the Propagation Team raises for CERES Nursery

Why do people farm in the city when it’s so much easier and spacious in the country? – it’s a fair question.

The answer might be that we just can’t help ourselves.

Wherever we go we grow; from a quarter acre backyard mini-farm in Rezza to a pot of herbs in a sunny apartment window in Docklands, we’re driven, almost zombie-like, to farm…

…Must grow food. Must grow food.

Season after season a basket of our own veggies or fruit fresh off the tree is a story that never gets old. 

For years after he retired Joe Garita, hoe in hand, transistor radio in his pocket, kept coming down to “scratch around” in his old farm. Pulling weeds, harvesting this or that to take home or give away or just stopping a while to take it all in, nothing could keep Joe away. 

Go to any city around the world and you’ll find farmers like Joe growing food in the most unlikely spaces.  I’ve seen corn crops on unused lots, rows of greens on rooftops, choi sum on river flats and orchards out back of apartment blocks. 

At CERES Brunswick East establishing Honey Lane Farm in the unwanted space under the power lines always seemed like the right thing to do. While down at Joe’s Garden the regular Merri Creek floods have offered up a fertile two acre gift that’s been giving for over 150 years.

Each week you’ll find many of the vegetables our farmers grow at CERES in your Fair Food box.

If you’d like to see where they come from or buy them straight from the farm, drop down to Joe’s Garden Farm Gate in Coburg on a Saturday morning or every day at CERES Grocery at the park in Brunswick East.

Have a great week

Chris