“From our land to your plate”
At our restaurants Fudog, Federal and Fedeli we believe in serving fresh, local, and seasonal food that celebrates the bounty of our region. That’s why we decided to create our own kitchen garden, where we plan to grow a variety of vegetables, herbs, and flowers that we use in our dishes.
Follow along below for updates.
Federal diner, Fedeli and Fudog have been working hard over the last few years on calculating our carbon credits and trying to find ways to reduce this.
Surprisingly for us, most of our carbon use was from transport of supplies into the region. When Cyclone Gabrielle hit up north, we became increasingly aware of our food resilience , or lack thereof.
All of a sudden we had no Spinach for our Hawea Flat, broccoli for our wok fried greens and very limited supply of herbs. At this time we relied heavily on local suppliers and our own home gardens.
This got us thinking, if we can get a dedicated space and put in some time and effort we can have a consistent supply of herbs, greens and other vegetables over the summer.
The Fed Alley Garden project was conceived.
Our garden is not only a source of delicious ingredients, but also a way to increase our food resilience.
Food resilience is the ability to prepare for, withstand, and recover from disruptions in the food supply chain in order to make food accessible for all1.
By growing our own food, we reduce our dependence on external sources and increase our self-reliance. We also contribute to the local food network, which supports other growers and producers in our region. Our garden is a way for us to connect with nature, with our community, and with ourselves. It is a way for us to build resilience into our food system and ensure that we can feed ourselves and others in times of need.
We will practice organic gardening methods, such as composting, mulching, and crop rotation.
We harvest our produce daily, ensuring that we always have fresh and ripe ingredients for our dishes. Our kitchen garden is more than just a source of food; it’s also a source of inspiration and creativity for our chefs. They are excited to created seasonal recipes using the produce from our garden.
We are starting small with just 12 beds and a 6 metre tunnel house and a compost heap for the veg trimmings from Federal Diner, Fudog and Fedeli.
For the first year we will grow, herbs, leafy greens, Asian greens, microgreens, tomatoes, chillis and a small number of brassicas.