Many Ways Urban Farm is a micro farm located across three suburban blocks in Canberra’s inner north producing seasonal vegetables. Owner and operator Lil sells produce to Southern Harvest Association, delivers flowers to florists and supplies restaurants including award winning Pilot in Ainslie.
Along with supplying veggies to SHA, this season Many Ways is putting a greater focus on flowers. Not just cut flowers either, they are also selling a variety of edible flowers!
“A lot of space at Many Ways is taken up by greens and herbs which are harvested before they flower, taking potential food from pollinators and creating disturbance at the ground level which is crucial habitat for many creatures. For cut flowers, you have to cut them before they are open or pollinated to ensure a good vase life. BUT, edible flowers can stay put and can have a complex taste when pollinated! With my “growers” hat on, growing edible flowers means I can embrace all stages of the lifecycle of a plant within my production beds.” Lil says.
“I let my edible flower patches run the full cycle from seed to flower to seed to flower. Harvesting increases flowering too. They provide heaps of food for pollinators and a habitat that endures limited disturbance for creatures, including the blue tongue! Many of the edible flowers are also wonderful companion plants and bring diversity to the plots” They are an ecological asset on this little farm.”
By integrating edible flowers and cut flowers into the urban farm plots, Many Ways is able to unlock an extra income stream to increase their viability as a small-scale producer. It also has the added benefit of increasing the biodiversity and creating a haven for birds, bees, insects, reptiles and soil life. As a lifelong nature lover and Environmental Studies graduate Lil is passionate about protecting these creatures and sees environmental protection as a critical issue.
Many Ways grow several different edible flowers including violets, pansies, fuchsia, chives, rocket flowers and cornflowers! The next step is to include edible native flowers as they provide habitat for native moth caterpillars which solely take up residence in native species.
“My favourite edible flower is the chive flower. It tastes like chives with sweet floral hints. I put them in salads and on fish.”
SHA recently used some of Lil’s beautiful flowers in our Spring Salad Spectacular Long Lunch to add extra colour and flavour to our multicoloured green salad!
Bunches of cut flowers are available as well. A favourite bloom is cornflowers, which evoke a sense of peace and calm in the home with tones of blue, pink and purple. Other blooms are on their way like the sunflowers, burgundy lace flower, cheery zinnias and scented sweet peas.
Flowers from Many Ways Urban Farm are available on the OFN shop for Southern Harvest.
