The idea started in winter 2025. Every second house seemed to have a lemon tree in their front yard. I saw so many overflowing with lemons dropping onto the ground. I expected lemons to be cheap at the supermarket, but instead they cost upwards of $1.50 each! There were plenty of buckets out the front of people's houses, but when I needed lemons I would still go to the shops because I couldn't remember where I had seen one. So I decided to test the idea online and it quickly blew up and the rest is history.

Once you started looking at how much perfectly good food was growing in Australian backyards, what did you discover? 

Probably that there is far more food growing around us than we realise. We tend to think of our food system as supermarkets, farms and maybe farmers' markets. But there is this whole layer of food growing quietly in people's backyards and a lot of it never gets eaten. And the funny thing is, it's not necessarily because people don't want it. Often people have too much of something at exactly the same time as someone else nearby is buying that same thing at the supermarket. The problem is really connection and convenience.

What’s the bigger vision behind Lemonshare or long-term goals?

Lemonshare was born to make produce more affordable and fight food waste. The marketplace is one way we can do that, but I’ve realised there is so much more we can do. That’s what I’m currently exploring: how Lemonshare can help people waste less, spend less on food and make better use of the food that's already around us. The marketplace will continue to be an important part of that, but I don't want to put a ceiling on what Lemonshare can become. I'm interested in creating practical ways for people to eat well, save money and reduce waste without it feeling difficult or too time consuming.

One thing I've become much more aware of is just how fragile our food system actually is. When you start looking at what sits behind the food on our supermarket shelves, there are a lot of dependencies: fuel, fertiliser, transport, refrigeration, packaging and increasingly complex supply chains. And I think that's what concerns me. We tend to take food availability for granted because we can walk into a supermarket at any time and buy almost anything we want. But there is a huge system behind that convenience. I'm not suggesting we should all stop using supermarkets or that backyard gardens could feed Australia. That's not realistic. But I do think there's value in building more resilience into our food system including making better use of the food already growing in our communities.

Beyond reducing food waste, what are some of the environmental and community  benefits of eating and sharing food grown closer to home? 

 For me, nothing really beats homegrown food. It tastes better, it is better for you and the planet. There's also the connection you develop with food when you know where it came from, especially if you grew it yourself. You appreciate it more. I remember once finding a whole bunch of perfectly good grapes in the organics bin at work. I couldn't believe it. And I remember thinking, I bet if you'd grown those grapes yourself, you wouldn't have thrown them away. I think that's part of what we've lost. When food is just something we pick up in a plastic container from a supermarket, it's very easy to see it as disposable. When you know the person who grew it, or you've grown it yourself, it has a completely different value.

Do you think backyard growers could eventually play a meaningful role in Australia’s broader food system? What could that future look like? 

I don't think backyard growers are going to replace farmers, and that's definitely not the goal. But I do think they could become a meaningful additional layer of our food system. Imagine if surplus from backyards was routinely shared or sold within a few kilometres of where it was grown. You could have people growing food for their own families, sharing their surplus with neighbours, hobby growers selling a little extra, and more established growers supplying their local community. It doesn't have to be either backyard gardens or commercial agriculture. I think there's room for both.

What's for breaky/ dinner today? My husband is working nights this weekend, so I will probably have breakfast for dinner! Haha

How can people join the Lemon share community? 

 You can head to Lemonshare: it’s completely free to use. I’d recommend creating an account because that gives you the full Lemonshare experience. You’ll see produce listings ordered by what’s growing closest to you, you can contact growers directly, and you can list your own surplus produce if you have something growing in abundance. There are also some extra benefits for the community, including free resources, growing challenges and discounts from our Lemonshare Perks partners. So whether you’ve got a lemon tree that's going crazy, you're looking for some affordable local produce, or you just want to grow a few things yourself, you can come and join us.