From their small market garden in Southern Tasmania, farmers Zeb and Jenna are creating community with nourishing food.

Zeb and Jenna are the founders and farmers at Early Bird Market Garden, a 1-acre block just off the channel highway in Cygnet, Southern Tasmania.

Their venture into food production began in the Winter of 2017, with a crop of Tasmania Purple Garlic. With a successful season behind them, they knuckled down and mapped out The Early Bird Market Garden—a place where they could grow a diverse range of vegetables for their Cygnet community.

In providing for their growing customer base, Zeb and Jenna employ an impressive array of soil-building and organic practices—understanding the link between healthy soil, healthy plants, and healthy people.

This ethos gives them a way to talk with customers about their farming practices and starts a conversation the pair hopes better connects eaters to their food.

Their farming philosophy extends well beyond healthy soil. With the Early Bird Market Garden following the Community Supported Agriculture model (CSA). CSA is a way for eaters to share with the farmer the costs and risks of farming as well as the bounty.

With over 30 patrons, their CSA community continues to grow, as does their garden—within their 1 acre of land, the pair now produces more than 20 different crops. This season, the usual culprits are in the ground – beets, broccoli and of course, Tasmanian Purple Garlic. 

You can find and buy produce from the Early Bird Market Garden via their website.