"It really was all about us feeling like we could not meet our own family's needs, and to try and create some additional income while providing fresh produce for our family."
The business has been so successful, it's extended its range to include shade houses, chicken coops, garden sheds and pig pens.
A big part of their mahi [work] is supporting local kura [schools] and marae with their own environmental projects.
They do this by providing individuals and families on low incomes access to their product through raffles and donations to non-profit organisations.
They also hold community events to support local ventures, offer a variety of payment plans and rates, and aim to keep prices affordable.
Te Kura Kaupapa Ā iwi Ōmanaia recently worked with Grow Your Own Northland, who supported their two-year awa [river] restoration project.
The business initially provided the kura with a greenhouse for their native plants to be planted on the riverbank.
The project was so impressive, it was selected by Countdown as part of its Grow for Good Fund and featured in one of the supermarket's 'Little Greener Little Cleaner' TV advertisements.
Kelly Trebilco is a Year 7 - 8 teacher at the kura, and said the team behind Grow Your Own Northland had gone above and beyond to support their environmental goals.
"We are an a-iwi kura, so while we are guided by the national curriculum, we run mainly off our own, which is very focused around Ōmanaia-tanga and our local area," Trebilco said.
"A lot of our tamariki eel, swim or live next to the awa, and one day they asked why the awa near the marae was so paru [dirty].
"That sparked a conversation about what we could do, and Grow Your Own Northland got onboard, providing us with a shade house as well as some planter boxes, which we plan to use for a mara kai project.
"They've been so awesome and flexible with what we need, even customising our shade house to fit the tamariki's needs."
Trebilco said as a result of their restoration work, the awa's whitebait population had started to grow, and would only improve as the native trees started to provide more shade.
The Generator is an Emerge Aotearoa Group Trust initiative funded by MSD which provides seed funding and mentorship to help people on low incomes kickstart their business ventures and improve their financial situations.
Grow Your Own Northland was recently selected as one of five 'Generites' and received a $10,000 Generator Innovation Fund grant as a result.
Michelle said from here, her team was now looking to collaborate with other small businesses who might be able to donate some of their goods to provide kai and garden packages to people in need through subsidies and Government funding.
"Our goal at the moment is to try to find ways to work with other small businesses so that we can help people get the planter boxes, soil and seedlings they need to grow their own produce," she said.
