Inside a permaculture garden in Duffy, Canberra

In 2006, Andrew and Leanne Scott came to Canberra because work and education opportunities were good here.

Andrew had retired from 20 years' service in the Navy. On a fire block which was originally part of the pine forest in Duffy, they built a handsome house designed by architect Hugh Gordon, made from rice straw bales and rendered, and moved in during December 2009.

A goldfish pond greets visitors at the front door, filled with rain water from a huge 88,000-litre water tank.

Leanne did a permaculture design course with Geoff Lawton and Bill Mollison at Melbourne University during the summer break, because the Scotts are passionate about these principles.

Their ideal is to have little impact on the environment as possible, while creating a place that is good for humans. Their natural lifestyle has included home schooling using a Rudolf Steiner education for their three sons, Hamish,18, Rory, 15, and Fin, 13.

To fertilise the garden, they bring in soil and mushroom compost in amounts that are easily handled by two people. They use lots of mulch, and apply biodynamic preps and comfrey tea to the soil and plants, plus they have a worm farm. Andrew does most of the hard digging and construction work, while Leanne does the planting and helps create garden beds.

There are a number of raised garden beds, each with its own crop. Here you'll find strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, warrigal greens, horseradish – which goes everywhere so Leanne runs the lawnmower over it – chillies, peas and beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and All Seasons carrots from DT Brown seeds. White, orange and yellow Le Bizzarre Coltivare carrots grow from Franchi Sementi seeds Leanne bought from Allsun Farm at Gundaroo. A grapevine grown over a wooden arch provides shade for a garden bench.

In a separate, north-facing orchard, they have planted two cherry trees, two apples, a mulberry, nectarine, peach, apricot, a fig tree and a satsuma plum. The fruit trees are still being hand-watered.

The family keeps chickens, all rehomed from various sources. The current very tame chook, named Chickadee by Fin, gives them an egg every couple of days and the shells are saved to crush around seedlings.

Andrew constructed the luxury double-storey chook house from an old bunk bed and Leanne has planted the large enclosure with lots of fast-growing acacias obtained as tube stock from Greening Australia.

Leanne grew up on a farm in Victoria and made her first herb garden near the house, constructed from fallen branches and filling it with soil and sheep poo.

She bought plants from a nursery but found, later, that growing from seed was her preferred option – seeing little green buds coming through the soil and pushing through to the light is a constant delight for her.

In the early 2000s, Leanne watched a series on Gardening Australia called Patch From Scratch, presented by Peter Cundall, whose sweetcorn of choice was a variety called Snow Gold. Leanne has used it ever since, raising it from seed every year in two plantings, late October and after winter-grown garlic is lifted, in late November.

It is sweet, juicy and reliable, and the family eats it raw or cooked in the husk for a couple of minutes in a microwave.

It was corn that led me to Leanne Scott, who is a runner-up in our spring giveaway (Kitchen Garden, September 30). She said she was planting corn to make succotash for a recipe she has adapted from Sally Fallon's book Nourishing Traditions (2001).

That week, at Floriade, Phil Dudman and Julie Ray were presenting Garden2Kitchen in the food tent. Phil is horticultural editor of the ABC's Gardening Australia magazine and he and Julie had contributed a corn harvest article to the ABC's Organic Gardener magazine, which he handed out to Floriade visitors.

The recipes included a triple corn brunch of creamed corn, sweetcorn and chilli salsa and polenta pancakes (for recipe details see julieray.com.au).

SUCCOTASH

(Serves 6)

2 cups of beans – kidney (adzuki, borlotti or lima), canned or previously soaked

6 ears of corn, cut off the cob

4 tbsp butter

½ cup creme fraiche (or sour cream)

½ cup quality chicken stock

sea salt and pepper

Saute corn in butter until just tender. Add kidney beans, cream and stock. Bring to a boil and skim. Simmer, uncovered, until the liquid has reduced and beans are tender. Season to taste. Succotash should be soupy, not too thick, and it is served in bowls.

– SUSAN PARSONS

Giveaway results (Kitchen Garden, February 10):

The winner of the Felco secateurs servicing is Professor Richard L. Jones of Kambah.

The winners of Freckles Bunte lettuce seeds are Kristina Collins, a teacher at Hughes Primary School, Jenni Cole of Braidwood, Mary Coulson of Gilmore, Barbara Gibbs of Carwoola, Patricia Georgee of Curtin, Jenny Horsfield of Kambah, Michelle Law of Downer, Greta Nielsen of Garran, Wendy Whitby of Scullin and Suzanne Knight who moved her three-year-old Tilton apricot tree from a Mr Fluffy house to a garden in Hackett.