Garden

At the back of the restaurant there is a small backyard area. During the time that the boys did the fit out, it was used as a place to store building waste. The result of this period of damage left not much growing there at all, a few weeds and lots of dusty bald patches. It looked terrible and it didn’t sit well with the Three Blue Ducks. The idea of using every little space as productively as possible led them to decide to make a garden out of the old backyard. Organic or at least chemical free food should be a right of every individual, what better way to move down this path than to grow produce yourself; locally.

Two very good friends of the Ducks, Sabine and Julie, took it upon themselves to learn as much as they could about the theory of permaculture. And just after the boys opened the restaurant the girls set to work with the hard work of Gus to build a garden. The idea at the time was that the spent coffee grounds and organic waste would be cycled back through the worm farm and the compost heap and used to grow healthy fresh produce for the café. As the customer turnover increased so quickly a garden this size quickly became too small.

Grant has taken the initial idea of a sustainable micro system, and together with Paul they have built on what the girls started. Along with their ongoing studies in the field of permaculture, Paul and Grant bring a new passion to the garden. Every tiny space is in use. There are chickens, which produce just a few eggs but an incredible amount of fertilizer from the waste they eat. An aquaponics system has been implemented, and fish, birds, insects and reptiles all enjoy the space that has been created. Worms thrive in the planting beds, feeding the soil directly. While it isn’t a perfect model, it is a great example of what anyone of us can do in our own back yards, the result will hopefully be more people growing chemical free food for their families. Come check it out next time you are around for lunch.