Michael Mobbs is one of those inspiring people who make you wonder where they get their ideas and energy. I first came across his Sustainable House at the EcoLogic exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum (www.powerhousemuseum.com/exhibit ions/ecologic.asp). The idea appealed greatly, there is so much we can do, if we really set our minds to it, to reduce our impact on the world around us.

The former environmental lawyer has been living in his Sustainable House in inner Sydney since 1996, (www.sustainablehouse.com.au) and recently has turned his mind to further challenges. One of his current projects is creating community gardens on the nature strips in Chippendale. It is surprising what can be achieved in such a small space, both in terms of building community and food production. And it set me thinking, what could we achieve here in Yass, where we have so much more space?

So I started pondering options for actions here at the Trib, given that time and water are so precious. Our garden here is very small, and I hadn’t really considered it would be terribly useful. But if Michael Mobbs had this resource in Chippendale, it would be a godsend to his project, so it became part of mine. I picked up my fork and set to work.

I have to say, just about everyone who walked past thought I was mad. Maybe I am, but I thought it was worth a try. If you never take a risk, you never get anywhere.

With a bit of sweat and toil, we are now the proud owners of a fledgling herb garden, which we are happy to share with our community. We’ve got chives, parsley, oregano, thyme, strawberries and a tomato, all of which are young but hopefully will be allowed to flourish.

If this experiment is a success, we’ll plant more. We’ll see how we go.

Our readers are invited to tend the garden (eg pull out the odd weed) and harvest a reasonable amount (eg enough for one meal at a time).

Suggestions are very welcome.

We’ve given it go, now it’s over to you, our community. Let’s hope some of our readers will be able to enjoy some fresh herbs!