THE SECRET TO AMAZING PRODUCE EVERY WEEK - Misfit Garden!

This week on the Forkin' Good podcast, Kate and Simon visit Misfit Garden in Taupō and discover one of New Zealand’s smartest food waste solutions.

Misfit Garden rescues fresh fruit and vegetables that are too small, too wonky, slightly blemished, or simply not “perfect” enough for supermarkets, then delivers them straight to households around New Zealand. The catch? There’s nothing wrong with them at all. In fact, a lot of it is fresher, tastier, and more exciting than what you’ll find on supermarket shelves.

From buttery avocados and baby leeks to yellow watermelon, omega plums, baby eggplants and chef grade mushrooms, this episode is packed with fresh produce, food waste insight, and some serious inspiration for home cooks and chefs alike.

We also dive into Chef’s Garden, Misfit Garden’s premium produce arm for chefs and hospitality businesses looking for unusual, beautiful, super fresh ingredients direct from growers.

In this episode:
- Fresh produce delivered direct from growers
- Why “ugly” fruit and veg is still premium quality
- How Misfit Garden helps reduce food waste at farm level
- Why supermarket standards reject perfectly good produce
- The difference between Misfit Garden and Chef’s Garden
- How chefs can access rare and specialty ingredients
- What’s in a Misfit Garden box
- The surprise of yellow watermelon, baby leeks, mini cauliflower and more
- A special 25% off code for Forkin' Good listeners

If you care about fresh food, reducing waste, supporting growers, and eating well for less, this one is for you.

Use code FORKINGOOD for 25% off your first Misfit Garden box, at their website here: https://www.misfitgarden.co.nz/

Follow the podcast on Instagram and Tiktok: @forkingoodpod

Follow Simon on his channels below:
Instagram: @simon_gault
Facebook: @Officialsimongault
Tiktok: Simonjgault
Youtube: Simon Gault

Follow Waste-ed with Kate here:
Instagram: @wastedwithkate
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wastefreewithkate
Tiktok: wasted.kate
Youtube: Waste-ed with Kate

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Fork and Good podcast, and we're very excited. Well, I'm very excited. Simon's going to get excited. Because today we are at Misfit Garden, which is a super cool place that recovers vegetables and fruit that are slightly weird and then sends them out into the community. But the coolest thing is that they are not off. There's nothing wrong with them. And we're going to go through some and show you some of the produce that you might get in a Misfit Garden box. So Okay, I'm excited.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

So the hook is here, everybody, you can have this at home. These beautiful vegetables and fruits delivered to your door all over the North Island of New Zealand. And if you're sitting in the UK, then bad luck. Miss Bitgarden, I'll tell you why I'm so excited to be here, Tien. Oh my God, like when Kate said, we're gonna go and interview these people for the podcast about veggies in Taupo, New Zealand. I'm like, really? Okay, but now I'm here. And when you took me into the chef's refrigerator, call room, walk-in call room with lions, mane mushrooms, fig leaves, fresh figs. And then when I tasted those plums, you just don't see this stuff in the supermarket.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

No.

SPEAKER_03 1:30

But every chef in New Zealand should be listening to this. And everybody at home, imagine getting a magic box delivered to your door of, well, I think it looks better than what you see in the supermarket. And I know it's not supposed to, because it's not about the look, right? It's all on the inside, isn't it? It's like human beings. Jen, tell everybody about Miss Fit Garden because it's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Uh so Miss Fit Garden started about six years ago with my partner and I. We basically were reading all about the articles about how farmers were struggling to sell produce during the lockdowns of COVID. And so we kind of jumped in and started speaking to some growers who had some veggies that were growing over spec or oversize, and they had no market for them. So we literally started with one trestle table at the Sunday market selling three different colours of beetroot. It was very hard. So we were basically trying to hustle vegetables, but it was it was a tough market.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

Free foodies get excited, like, oh, different colored beetroot. I'd be like, awesome. No plain old boring purple beetroot. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Yeah, no, there was definitely like a market for it. And everyone was getting excited, but you know, like they would buy a kilo, but okay, cool, we've made a dollar today for that. And so we started speaking to more farmers and finding out more about what was needing like rescued, I guess. And it just kind of grew from there. So then we started doing boxes and it just snowballed. And we're here like five and a half years later, and yeah, we ship the whole of the North Island boxes of produce straight from farmers. We basically plan around the grower. So they'll say to us, Hey, I've got heaps of silver beet, or I've got leeks that I need to harvest this week because white next week they might start bolting. And so we plan the box around the growers themselves, pack it in a box, and then we send it to your door. And so it's like a subscription, so you can get a box every week, every two weeks, or every every four weeks, or three weeks or four weeks.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

So this what what excites me is like what you said about this stuff is coming directly from the grower, and it was literally like picked days ago. Oh, literally, yeah. Like, no, it's not gone to a chiller. You're you're collecting it, it's coming straight here. It goes into your chiller for what a couple of days?

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Yeah, so we at Max. So we speak to the growers on Friday to put kind of our like wish list in, and then they'll harvest it on Saturday and Sunday, and then it arrives to us on Sunday about 10 p.m. All the trucks just come and drop everything off into the chiller. So when we come in to work on Monday, the chiller is chocka, just full of all this like amazing stuff, and we don't really know what it's gonna look like until we go and open the door on Monday, and we're like, okay, these look amazing, these are massive, these are tiny, and then we plan and consolidate everything, and then everything's packed Tuesday, Wednesday, and then the chiller is empty on Wednesday, and then we start again. So, yeah, like you said, it's it's it's fresh in the supermarket because it's literally just been harvested, yeah, and then straight out the door.

SPEAKER_03 4:18

That's so cool. So the little bit of difference is I've just pulled an apple out of the box, and if you're listening, this would be a great one to jump on our YouTube channel to watch. But there's a tiny blemish, so that's why it's not making the supermarket. But if I was picking this apple without the blemish in the supermarket, it would probably be in two weeks from now. Whereas this arrived yesterday, yeah, and I can just feel it's smooth on the air, it just feels different. You gotta get your laughing gear in from that cake and climbing.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

This one here, this one's been turned away because there's no there's no stalk in it. And the colour as well, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:03

So they'll mainly be rejected from the store, the stalk being missing. They just don't hold as well in long-term cool store because the oxygen gets in. Yeah. Or it is literally just the apple's not quite red enough. So this is a half red, half yellow apple, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

But it's still completely right.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

It tastes the exact same, it's just not had the sun hitting it on both sides.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

Yeah, it's been hanging on the tree. The sun's got one side. What does it taste like, Kate? Kate's eating an apple.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Tastes like an apple. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

I'm not kidding, Sherlock. Come on.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Is that crispy and like just because it doesn't have the top on it, it doesn't stop it from tasting like an apple. It's beautiful. And because this is now, this will be new season apples. Not because they're not cool staller storing them for you know a year.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Brand new new season apple that is so fresh, so tasty. Here you go. You you no, I don't we're not wasting anything, unless we're gonna eat the whole apple.

SPEAKER_03 5:58

I'm gonna have to buy it out of it. Okay, you don't know. Stop it. I am gonna try one of these plum.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Ah, so I'm putting it here so I can eat it later. These are omega plum. So they are um dark flesh on the inside, a little bit acidic, but they tend to be a slightly softer fruit in general, so they don't get sold commercially very often because they just don't hold their cheap.

SPEAKER_03 6:21

Yeah, this is beautiful, fresh, and uh, you know, it's a bit smaller than the normal plums you see.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

It's a misfit.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

It's a misfit, but that in a school lunch would be the most perfect size. I can tell you that right now.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Tell put some. I'll gotta buy, I'll just start eating. I'll I'll feed back. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:42

So the Misfit Garden, you guys have a website, so you in the whole of North Island, you can jump online and have you've got a whole range of different boxes that can turn up veggies, mix of veg, mix of fruit, or tell people what they can do or your price point because this is a game changer for households at home.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

And the whole idea was we wanted to make healthy eating more affordable and more exciting because you get so guilty of just buying the same things over and over again. So we we put things in the box that maybe you might not be too used to buying, but panic not, inside the box is a flyer with how to cook stuff. So there'll be a QR code you can scan which gives you the recipe ideas. So our smallest box starts from$24, and that includes around about five kilos of super fresh produce, and then it goes all the way up to our$46 box, and in that is around about 11 to 12 kilos.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

We could do fruit and veggie or veggie only, but it's time by 11 kilos of fruit and veg from the supermarket for$49. Yeah, no, you can't do it. No, this is a game changer. You know, right now New Zealand households are struggling with the price of things, this is an answer for people. It really is. And this plum. Oh no, I was just letting you talk.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

I was like, Gene, keep talking, I'm eating. Um I I just think like the whole concept of this, especially from like a lot of people, funnily enough, when I do my food waste workshops, I ask them, when is apple season? Oh yeah. They have no idea. No. When is, you know, when's orange season? They have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

We've got a massive disconnect between people understanding where food comes from and actually just going to the supermarket and picking it up. And I think one thing that I I would love is for everyone to know how things grow and why things grow in a certain way. And if you understand that, then you then know why the apple isn't perfect or the capsule's got a slight bend in it. Because if you grow something yourself at home, you know that it does not grow perfect. No. But unless you're exposed to it, how are you ever meant to learn this kind of stuff? Well, then so hopefully by buying a box, you then are open to the idea of seeing something that's maybe a bit too big or a bit too small, but it tastes the same on the inside.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

And I'll let all our listeners into a little secret. At the end of this video, Jen is going to give you a way to get a 25% discount on your first box. There you go, on the Falking Good Podcast. And if you haven't subscribed, you're better because that's how you learn good deals like this, right? And trust me, it is beautiful produce. Yeah, it might. That carrot might not look like instead of a long and thin one, you know?

SPEAKER_01 9:27

Like I know where you're going to be. So I'm pronouncing it, I'm just explaining it to the listeners, like a short fat carrot versus a long skinny carrot. But I mean, that just that little bit there makes it visually imperfect. So if you're on YouTube, you can see it. But that is still a carrot. If you cut it, it's still.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

Way fresher than what you're gonna find on the supermarket.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

But you can feel it. Like the skin on the carrot is not dry. Like the stuff at the supermarket is always dry around the outside of the carrots. You look at that, like that is fresh.

SPEAKER_03 10:00

That's like you're getting out of your garden, you've washed it, and these are chill because you've had them in your tiller, obviously, since this morning when they arrived.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

But it, you know, they're just it's as if you grew it at home, is the idea we always like to see.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

It was like a treasure hunt. Look, yeah, look at that. Little mini one. Yeah, it's a mini pineapple. So the only reason that that's not okay is because it's small. Just smaller than usual, yeah. Yeah, but it's still gonna taste like a pineapple. And actually, that would be like a cute, like you could use it as a table, you know, on the table, you could garnish it.

SPEAKER_03 10:36

Or a big wedge in your pina colada, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, that would fit better in a glass, wouldn't it?

SPEAKER_03 10:41

So I used to grow these avocados, so I've just peeled an avocado out. So this is not a harsh avocado. Tell us about these avocados, because when I've eaten these, these are like butter in your mouth. They're beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Green gold. They are um a reed avocado. So they're always a bit bigger, rounder, smoother skin. But the main difference is that the skin doesn't change colour when it ripens. And they've got quite a thick skin as well. Uh, but like you said, super buttery and just oh yeah. The creme de la creme of avocados.

SPEAKER_03 11:11

And and not tossed around the supermarket from one box to another. So not all brews like all the avocados you get in the supermarket. I don't want to be I'm not slagging the supermarket off. I'm telling you that this is just a secret that you should know about buying from MythFit Garden.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Straight up fresh projects.

SPEAKER_03 11:31

Because it is super fresh and you're getting it way cheaper. And I've just had a plum that you cannot get in the supermarket. Why are they not selling those in the supermarket?

SPEAKER_00 11:41

A lot of the varieties just won't be viable commercially. They won't travel well, they won't store well long term in a chiller, which isn't great if you're holding things for a week. But I I I recently I know that with those omega plums, one of the big corporate companies bought out all of the supply of those omega plums so no one else could access them this year. So we weren't didn't think we were gonna get any this year, but we managed to get 10 boxes. A bit of a treat.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

How long is that 10 boxes gonna last? I'm just gonna.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

How many are you gonna eat?

SPEAKER_03 12:12

That our listeners were how do we get these plums? How long do you have them for? Like 10 boxes are not gonna last very long.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

They'll be they'll be all gone by the end of this week, but we should hopefully get more next week. Oh, that's things go on.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

Do you know what's cool? That that avocado there that came from literally 15 minutes down the road from my place.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Oh no, hey.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

I'm in Caddy Caddy, so that's from Waihe.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

This is an organic grower. He doesn't have very many of them each year, so we just buy whatever's available.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

That is so cool. And then there you go, Simon.

SPEAKER_03 12:41

A beautiful little eggplant. It is looks absolutely pristine. So why is that not in the supermarket?

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Just too small. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

Too small.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

I guess for supermarkets they pay, they sell things per piece and they've got a set price or a skew through their tills, so they wouldn't be able to take something.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Well, nobody would buy it, because it's like when you go in to buy broccoli and it's per piece, and people dive in there and try and find the biggest one. Exactly. And then and then I a la it makes me laugh when people put it in a bag so the checkout lady doesn't touch it, and everybody's pulled and touched every broccoli in the entire bin to get the big one. Like with that, you're just getting a small one, but it's cute, but it's like it's still, there's nothing wrong with it.

SPEAKER_03 13:19

It is a beautiful looking. I mean, if you cut that in half and then got a knife and put some slits in it, a little rizzle olive oil, salt, and pepper, and on the barbecue, oh my god, it would just be a meal in itself.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

He makes me hungry and all about this. There's a there's a mandarin. There's nothing wrong with that mandarin at all, like except that it's just visually imperfect. So it's just got a few little blemishes on it. So I mean that that's the crazy part.

SPEAKER_03 13:50

Well, none of us are perfect looking, right? So why do we expect our fruit to be perfect looking? It it's about how they taste. It's like people, it's about what's inside you that makes you who you are and how beautiful you are. Yeah. And the fruit is no exception to the rule of vegetables. Yeah, beautiful. Oh, look at these leeks. They're baby leeks. Oh, from a chefs. I'm like just getting so excited, you know. If you just cook that so slowly and butter and a beautiful chicken stock and laid the whole thing down on a plate. Oh my god. It just makes me hungry. Well, when I came in here and I just, you know, had used to have restaurants and all the produce suppliers supplying veggies are not like they used to be. They used to be you'd ring the guy up and they would tell you what was available. Now everything's done online. They don't just sell vegetables, they sell sugar, they sell flour, they sell canola oil and everything. They're every they're trying to be everything to a man and dog. Whereas you guys here are supplying restaurants. Yes. And you only do fresh produce and you have amazing stuff. Like, you know, I've just been in the fridge and seen fig leaves. I've seen beautiful fresh figs, lion's main mushrooms, portobellows that you've got, so they're still closed up. Sometimes big ones, and I've just been before we started with Jen when I saw these things. I like, I've got a function on Saturday. I'm like, could you get me just five nice big ones that I can just slice, grill on the barbecue, and it just be you have those lines and but it hasn't opened up. Yeah. Chefs, any chefs listening out here, you would go to it's called Chef's Garden. Chef's Garden. Okay, so that's a separate arm to the Misfit Guns, just looking after chefs or cafe owners that actually give a shit about what you're getting, actually care that you want beautiful, fresh produce. And it's not a one-stop shop. You can't buy your lollies for the stuff, your flour, and your canola oil. It's just beautiful fruit and vegetables from people that care and are in constant contact with the grower. So if you've got something coming up on your menu and you want something like you want beautiful little baby butternuts, then chef's garden and Jen is who you should be talking to. I I know I'm I I get so excited on this podcast sometimes. I didn't know where I was coming today to come here, and it is truly exciting for chefs in New Zealand.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Yeah, thank you. And I mean, this just Jen, like just looking at this leak, I mean, why is that? Like you instantly picked up it's a mini leaf.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

So we sell them to restaurants as baby leeks, and they're in hot demand. They're always quite hard to get.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

But for example, this grower, it's for him. This is a grower that doesn't normally grow baby leeks. Uh so it's a byproduct.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

But there are some growers that would specifically just grow these to sell them at a premium.

SPEAKER_02 17:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

But these are literally just a byproduct of our main leek supplier who will grow the big perfect one.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

Whereas the guys in Auckland will be selling the baby leeks for double price, probably. Five times the price. Five times the price.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

They'll sell them per kilo, yes. Yeah. And they've they're quite hard to get now, whereas we've got a steady supply and access. Wow. As part of the chef's garden mission that I just absolutely love is that we can put this connect between chefs and between growers. And the the ethos is connecting chefs to growers. It's basically you know allowing chefs to have this connection back to where the food actually comes from. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:39

Oh wow. Look at that. Now you've bought out a bendy pepper. Yeah, you know. Looked like I got half pissed on drinking too much.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

But honestly, you you feel that. Like if when you go to the soap market, they're always a little bit softer. Like that is absolutely fresh.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

That would have been picked on Sunday, and we are currently sitting on Tuesday at midday. So as fresh as it gets, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

That's amazing. And this is going out today, right? Yeah. We've just pulled that out of one of the boxes. This is like treasure hunting, isn't it? Really? That silver meat over there. We've got oh, the tomatoes. Now these are growing locally, yeah?

SPEAKER_00 18:17

Yes, so these are from a hot house just outside of Topo where we're based. About 15 minutes away. They are grown in a geothermally heated hothouse. And they we picked them up yesterday. So they were picked on Monday. So less than 24 hours ago.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

Yeah, that's it. It's just so free shape.

SPEAKER_03 18:33

So can we talk about the geothermal? Because I've seen that before where the hot house and it's all heated from the hot water coming out of the ground.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

Well, you that's got to be up your alley, Kate. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

But we're saving on electricity. Well, we're reusing something that, you know, does create power. So yeah, I mean it's amazing. But in New Zealand, a lot of our power is actually from renewable sources. Whereas when you go overseas, you've got all sorts of different like nuclear, coal burning. Whereas in New Zealand, a lot of it is hydro, geothermal, or uh wind. Now, like you go down Palmer's town north and the wind farms are massive down there. So we get a lot of our power in New Zealand is actually from renewable, and then it that now they're creeping into the solar as well. But in Australia, like they have masses of solar because they have grants from the government to help people, you know, buy a solar system for their house, which I would love to see in New Zealand, just saying. But you know, anything that we can use with the sun, it's the same as using the washing line instead of you know putting it in the dryer. It's every way that you can do it. Yeah, and and geothermo, thermal energy is perfect.

SPEAKER_03 19:45

Oh, is this yeah, that's well, I've got to get this cauliflower out. When you buy a cauliflower from the supermarket, these are cute little ones. So, what is wrong with this cauliflower? Why is that not in the supermarket?

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Nothing wrong with it. This is a market gardener that we work with. So a lot when we started, it was we were buying things that supermarkets wouldn't take, but now we work with so many small market gardeners just to buy whatever they've got. So this grower basically said he's got lots of caulies, but they're a bit too small. So it's it's not a supermarket reject, as per se, it is literally just picked for us from this farmer.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

But when you open the cauliflower up at Zoom, you see the little brown bits on top. Yeah. Damn. You need to get on YouTube and look at this if you're listening. That is the freshest, most beautiful looking cauliflower. That's how we should be getting. That's how it should be. And this is your hack to get fresh food, fresh veggies and fruit delivered to your door, and you're gonna get a 25% discount, but we'll tell you that at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

So just on that, what like there's a lot of cauliflower leaves here. Yeah. What would you do with those cauliflower leaves? I've got an idea because I've got that as she's no, I've I was at the late the I can't remember the lady's name, but she was the first ever green Michelin star restaurant in the UK. She came out to New Zealand, did this program, and I was there eating it, and she got the all the cauliflower leaves and she deep fried them like kale.

SPEAKER_03 21:14

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

But she made them like kale.

SPEAKER_03 21:16

Yeah, so the leaves drop the stalk. I've never I've never done anything with them. That's why when you said, What would you do? I looked at you and said, You tell me. You're so bloody clever.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

But what what like looking at it?

SPEAKER_03 21:28

It reminds me of a story, actually, where my dad was teaching this guy how to be an instructor on an aeroplane and he reached it. You know, the the guy had to do teach how to do an engine failure, so he leaned forward and he turned the engine off. And then my man leaned forward and pulled the keys out and said, You're such a smart ass, you do it. Anyway, so you're telling me that.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

But what else could you do? Like as a chef, like what would you, you know, explore with that? Like it's so fresh.

SPEAKER_03 21:58

As a as a As something to serve something, and imagine how cool that looks. You know, you could have just a little ceviche in there, but you could have a little cauliflower couscous done over the top, a little bed of that sitting in there, and you could almost eat out of it with chocolate stuff. But I've never cooked it before, so I'd have to.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

We're gonna have to experiment then. That was your idea.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

We've actually we've got recipes for this. Like we would just roast them in the oven. Yeah. Yeah, just like a like you would do a uh kale chip. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Yeah, it's so cool. And then your little mini, you these you got all excited.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

Yeah, baby, baby butternut. I always love butternut over pumpkins, I just think the flavors even better.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

Yeah, it's so cool. And then finally, we've got this little um watermelon. Now, what I mean obviously it is small. But what what's so again?

SPEAKER_00 22:52

This is from our uh one of our favourite market gardeners in Hawks Bay. And so market gardeners are different because as opposed to being a commercial grower who's just growing cauliflower or just broccoli, he will grow a you know 50 different varieties of things. And this year they planted watermelons. And we we don't really know which colour they're going to be when they arrive. So inside it might be yellow or it might be a red one.

SPEAKER_03 23:13

So we don't really know. It's a roulette watermelon.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

And that's in the boxes this week, so we have no we can't even tell from the outside. So there's a watermelon in the box, and it's just a uh luck of the draw. So we'll see here.

SPEAKER_03 23:25

Oh, we're gonna cut it open and see. Okay, it sounds like it. Yeah, but how often we said it's small, but it's not that what size would you call that?

SPEAKER_00 23:32

That's about a 1.5 to 2 kilo watermelon. So they're perfect for the boxes.

SPEAKER_03 23:36

And it's like a small balloon. You know, like how would you describe the people the size of the bottom?

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Well, yeah, it probably is about the size of a balloon, to be fair. But it's so like again, like so heavy, it hasn't dried out. Fresh season, moment of truth. Yeah. Okay, what colour?

SPEAKER_03 23:52

Come on, we're gonna bet. Uh I reckon, I reckon I'll go red then. You're going red? Oh, well, I'm going out, you're going yellow. Are you ready, everybody? I'll show you guys first who are watching.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

Oh, that actually, how cool. So that looks like a rock, it looks like a rock melon. Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_03 24:16

Like, that is look how juicy it is.

SPEAKER_00 24:19

There and they taste amazing. It's sweeter or yeah, oh, definitely. Sorry, it's not a very nice.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

We just really came here for like I just needed yeah, afternoon tea. I'll get a plum. I'll finish the apple, I promise.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

There you go. Oh, get that. So I've been buying watermelons from the supermarket, so I'm dying to try to see what it's like. Yeah, it's so juicy.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Like literally so juicy.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

Yes, it pips as well. Wow, oh yeah, and it tastes different from the red.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

I don't know why, I don't know how it's more florally, maybe, but it's also quite unusual because it's still got seeds, whereas a lot of varieties now that you buy will be seedless.

SPEAKER_03 25:02

That is beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Oh my god. And how cool for the kids at home. Like when you get the watermelon, cut it open and it's yellowed.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Yes. Yeah, well, I guess it's so cool. Most people haven't seen it before. And to be honest, we hadn't seen it until this year either.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Yeah, that's just neat. I'm just gonna suck the juice out of that. Um how how what an awesome I I think what an awesome setup you got, like just seeing all the produce that you guys are packing, all the the boxes are as you said to one of the ladies before, uh, couriers must love you guys because uh like there's a lot of stuff going out. Going at the door, yeah. I know, I mean, from a food waste perspective, uh around a third of the world's food is never actually eaten.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

Oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

And that that's scary.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Yes, and a lot of the loss comes at a farm level as well, it just doesn't make it off the farm in the first place, purely from being the wrong size, the wrong shape, or it just doesn't meet uh what the market wants. So a lot of growers will overplant just to hedge their bets based on weather events or it being cold, and so they just plant too much. And so a lot of it of what we take is just this surplus. It's giving them another avenue to sell food that otherwise they just wouldn't be able to. And that's been the really fun thing. We've we've got such a tight connect with all the farmers that we work with, and we just speak to them every week, and it's just this really fun relationship, and they yeah, and you're helping them out, and they're helping you out, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

So it's actually a good friendship to have, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 26:30

And the people that are buying direct off you are buying it cheaper than what they could get it at from the supermarket, it's way fresher, but it might not be quite the right size as the supermarket one, or have the tiniest blemish, or the apple doesn't have the stalk in it, or the watermelon might be a slightly different colour. But if you visit Miss Fit Garden's website, Jen is going to give you 25% off your first box.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

So, yeah, that's valid for everywhere in the whole of the or whole of New Zealand actually. We are excitingly launching to the South Island next week. So we've been we've been looking at it.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

Does anybody know about that? Is that the one?

SPEAKER_00 27:11

We have announced we announced it last week, but it's not we've not done a huge push on it. So yeah, it's exciting news. It's very daunting, but I'm really excited. We've already got farmers that have been getting in touch to try and make that connection and make make a plan for the future.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

So you guys will be packing it down there?

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Packing in Christchurch. Yes. So it'll be all South Island produce. Freight's so expensive to get things between the islands, so it will be different stuff in the box, different things, different seasonality as well.

SPEAKER_03 27:36

So for exciting kinds, so cool. Yeah, so that's so a 25% discount on your first box, and the code is can we tell them what the code is? They'll have to put a code in.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

The code, yes, is Is there anything else you want to tell everybody? Well, we can say we'll just make it forking good. Forking good? Well, we're already excited, yeah. Yeah, it's forking good.

SPEAKER_03 27:57

It couldn't be anything else, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:58

No, no. And it's a forking good deal.

SPEAKER_03 28:00

And by the way, we do spare if you've subscribed and given us a review before we actually approve it.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

Yeah, but uh, I think like, you know, it's a yeah, it's a forking good deal, forking fresh vegetables. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:14

I'm excited because this is something we're really delivering for our listeners. And you can get something really exceptional at a better price. You you're gonna love it if you give it a go. I'll be very surprised. And please, after you do your first order, jump on to our fork and good Facebook page and tell all our other people what you think of it. Because I think you're gonna be over the moon about it.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Or even take some photos of what you cooked with it and share it with Simon. Yeah, yeah. But um, yeah, and and you know, even your box, like what have you what have you got in your box? It's like people who do those unboxings of just rubbish, you're gonna do an unboxing of your vegetables. Way more incredible, way more than do the cut of the watermelon to see what color you get. No, that's really awesome, Jen. I'm so stoked to have been able to come around and have a look. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

It's really nice to meet you as well, and show you what we've done and to kind of like, yeah, share the misfit love. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:15

And for chefs out there, or if you're a cafe owner and you want to have veggies that your competition doesn't have, and fruit that your competition doesn't have, what website do they visit to see what's garden.co.nz.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

And so that is we just supply straight to chefs, straight from farmers. We have over 250 different items available to order, but our point of difference is we want to try and get those unusual varieties that just other suppliers can't get. So heritage veggies, tomatillos, finger limes, just fig leaves, all the all the exciting and weird and wonderful things. Yeah, the crazy things. The weirder the better. Give me a challenge. And yeah, do we see that? Give me a challenge. I love finding stuff. And we've got we've got growers that plant for us.

SPEAKER_03 30:01

So everyone's that's what chefs want to hear. Yeah. You know, instead of wearing off, I was like, oh, how much is that? You know, it's like, yeah, love it, love it, love it. It is awesome. Thank you for having us, Jim.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

It's been really nice to meet you. Yeah, thanks for like um having to have lunch before you came because I should have warned you already. No, I haven't. I've got my little collection here, taking it with me. But yeah, that's cool. And we'll make sure we put all the stuff back in the box for the person who's getting this one as well. Sorry, we didn't touch it, I promise. Anyway, thank you guys so much for kind of for joining us again this week. Just a reminder Love Food Hate Wastes are running leftover legends this month. So jump on and log your leftovers on their website www.lovefoodhatewaste.co.mz and Missfoot Garden are part of that as well. Yeah, lift of relegends. Yep, so jump on there and also, yeah, just you know, get your box underway and stuck into some veggies. Yeah, yeah. Get healthy and fruit, of course. Yeah, get healthy.

SPEAKER_03 31:02

And that's a wrap of the Falk and Good podcast for this week. We'll see you next Tuesday. That's Simon Golp, Kate Fenwick, and Jen Long from Miss Fit Gardens. See you guys.