Have you ever wondered what it would be like to pick bush foods in your backyard and add them to your plate?
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It's becoming the latest trend, and for a very good reason.
These plants are drought tolerant, native to the Maitland area and are great food for bees.
Nurseryman Noel Jupp has spent his life around wild bush foods and is grateful more gardeners are finally warming to them.
He has partnered with Slow Food Hunter Valley to sell 10 varieties of bush food plants at the Maitland Show on February 15, 16 and 17.
Nine of them are edible.
The native plants have come into their own over the years and they are accepted more now. The latest thing is people want to plant them to help provide food for the native bees,
- Riverdene Nursery owner Noel Jupp
Eventually he hopes everyone will have one or two of them in their backyard.
"It's something different from having an orange tree that they have to make marmalade out of, or a plum tree or a peach tree," Mr Jupp's daughter Rosemary added.
"They can have the shade and eat a different kind of fruit as well."
Slow Food co-leader Amorelle Dempster said promoting the plants was the next step on the city's fresh food journey.
"We are fortunate we have secured our farmers' livelihoods and fresh local food is part of our community now, but most of the foods we eat aren't native," she said.
The plants will be sold for $5 each at the Slow Food Hunter Valley stand.
There is a huge advantage to exploring Australian bush foods - we need to keep these foods alive and it's helping to improve the diversity of foods we grow here,
- Slow Food Hunter Valley co-leader Amorelle Dempster
Belinda-Jane Davis
Passionate about community news
Passionate about community news
