Shopping out of the garden

Mum Amanda Wallace gets in the garden with Marea, 6, and Katelyn, 4. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

When Amanda Wallace asked her daughter where milk came from, the then 3-year-old replied "the supermarket".

Slightly shocked, Amanda decided then to put a focus on making sure her children knew where their food came from and what they were eating.

These days, the family has converted part of their Lynmore section into a vegetable patch where the three children - Marea, 6, Katelyn, 4, and Benjamin, 22 months - can help see the development of food from the seed packet through to their dinner plates.

Amanda grew up in a family which had a focus on vegetable gardening and says it's a great skill to be able to pass on to her children.
The benefits are three-fold - not only do the children grow up knowing where their food comes from, it's tastier and much cheaper than buying it.

The established fruit trees at their new house, including lemon, peach, plum and apple trees, were part of the reason that prompted them to select the place, while the vegetable patch has "pretty much everything".

From lettuce to sweetcorn this year they've also tried their hand at watermelons.
"It's really expensive to buy from a supermarket. We grow so much that we give a lot away."
Amanda says they generally grow enough to be self sufficient, but do buy items like mushrooms, which they don't grow.