In the centre of Westbury, Leah Case is cultivating more than just vegetables. At the helm of The Great Green, a compact yet vibrant urban market garden, she is nurturing a sustainable business built on organic principles, community spirit, and a deep-rooted love for growing food.
“I produce veggie boxes weekly, year-round for the community,” she explains. “I also do some plants, edible perennials and some seedlings”.
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Leah’s journey into gardening wasn’t born from a business plan, but from a desire for a lifestyle that aligned with her values. “I got into it so I could be flexible and be there for my kids and also not do a job that destroyed my soul,” she says.
Though The Great Green officially began in 2022 as a nursery, the business has since grown into a full-fledged market garden, with a weekly veggie box service launched less than a year ago. “June will be our one year anniversary,” she notes.
Operating on roughly 300 to 400 square metres, Leah’s garden is a testament to low-tech, hands-on agriculture. “I don’t use any machinery. It’s all hand tools and all one person job,” she says. Her growing methods closely follow organic standards, though she’s not formally certified. “We use compost for fertility and soil improvement. Pest control is like diversity… I use things like insect netting… it’s all very fluid and experimental.”
The diversity of crops reflects both the region’s climate and Leah’s philosophy. “Right now we’ve got a lot of sweet corn coming on, the last of the tomatoes. Potatoes, lots of greens and herbs,” she explains. “In the winter we have more of the same—silverbeet and coriander and carrots and beetroots and all the delicious cool climate, temperate things.”
This season, The Great Green is feeding 17 to 18 families each week, with a goal of reaching 20. Deliveries span the Westbury and Deloraine townships, supported by a pickup location at the Junk Shop Antiques in Deloraine. “They’re lovely,” Leah says of the shop owners. “They have let me take up a corner of their shop for a couple of hours every week.”
Leah’s connection to the community is as personal as her gardening. Some customers pick up their boxes on foot. Others follow her updates on Instagram and Facebook under “The Great Green Grower,” where they can also sign up for the service.
Running a market garden hasn’t come without its trials. “My snow peas all died and I was very proud of those,” Leah bemoans. “That big wind storm that took out my tomato seedlings three times. I had to replant three times. Learning that rats like beetroot, they get in underground and eat them from underneath.”
Yet she remains forward-looking. “This year I’ve been focusing on getting to baseline functioning as in sustainable business levels… next year I would like to continue the 20 boxes a week and reinstate my plant business side,” she says. Plans include a roadside stall stocked with produce, plants, and a local seed swap. “I save a lot of seeds, so I’d like to be able to share that.”
The nursery side features perennial fruit plants like kiwi, passionfruit, various berries, gooseberries, fig trees, feijoas, and grapes. . “Whatever I can propagate from my stock.”
Asked what she loves most about Meander Valley, Leah’s answer came without hesitation. “The diversity of the natural environments that we can interact with,” she exclaims. “And I also really like the gardening aspect of our community. I think we have a lot of home gardeners who love growing food, and we’re all really nerdy about it and love talking about it.”
