From lawn to living larder

A harvest from the garden. What began as a small project has become a steady source of food and flowers.

There is something quietly powerful about turning a patch of lawn into something that feeds you.

Not in a grand, self-sufficient, off-grid kind of way. Just a few raised beds. A handful of herbs. A couple of rows of vegetables. Enough to change how you cook, how you shop, and how you think about food.

That is exactly what Holly van Dam has done.

Through her growing online platform, Grown by Holly, she shares a version of rural life that feels both aspirational and entirely doable. A kitchen garden built from scratch. Home baking, and three-month-old baby Walter on her hip. And a reminder that you do not need to own land, or have all the answers, to get started.

“I turned the lawn into our kitchen garden,” she says.

Holly lives on a dairy farm in the Waikato, where her husband Jonah is farm manager. Like many in the industry, their home is tied to the job, which means making the most of what is available.

“You have to make a home for yourself where you land. Wherever you go.”

The idea for Grown by Holly began overseas.

“I was living in the Netherlands. Jonah and I were living over there. I was working in a big greenhouse, growing flowers, and I decided that I wanted to come home to New Zealand and grow a ridiculous amount of flowers and sell them through the mail.”

Back home, that plan started to take shape. A large plot was prepared on Jonah’s family farm, and Holly began documenting what she thought would become a flower business.

Then plans shifted.

Holly and Jonah at home in the Waikato with their son Walter, where a simple lawn has been transformed into a thriving kitchen garden.

“Jonah got offered the dairy farming job that we’re on at the moment, and we fully pivoted. Now we’re dairy farming. Then it went into making my home gardens right at our new house.”

What followed was not a perfectly mapped-out garden, but something more organic.

“I thought it would be a no dig kind of thing. We didn’t dig up the lawn, we just laid soil on top of it.”

The result is a kitchen garden that now shapes everyday life -but can be converted back into lawn if the couple move.

“I look at the garden from the kitchen, so when I’m cooking I know there’s things in the garden to pick. I can plan my meal around it.”

It is a simple shift, but one that changes how food is approached.

“If I was to buy the same quality of produce that I grow, it would be very expensive.”

There is also a different kind of value in it.

“I find it really rewarding. If I didn’t plant that broccoli plant or seed those seeds, this item would never have existed.”

Like most gardens, it has come with its fair share of lessons.

“I’ve learned that I’m not the boss of the garden. There are so many factors I can’t control. You have to surrender a bit.”

Some seasons work. Others do not.

“This year I only got two cucumbers, whereas last year I had a huge amount.”

Her approach is straightforward.

“Just give it a go and you will fail but keep going. You will find success.”

And above all, keep it simple.

“Don’t overcomplicate it. There are no rules.”

Her own setup reflects that. Raised beds built from untreated timber, cardboard and compost.

“Four pieces of untreated boxing timber screwed together in a square, with cardboard on the bottom and compost on top. That’s all it is.”

It does not need to be permanent either.

“If you don’t want it to be permanent, it doesn’t matter. If you’re renting, you can still do it.”

For those starting out, she recommends beginning small. Holly uses the Tui gardening calendar for reference, and

“Start with herbs. They’re easy, they grow most of the year in New Zealand, and they’re satisfying to use in a meal.”

That same practical thinking extends beyond the garden.

Garden work does not stop. Walter is often along for the ride as Holly tends to the beds.

Finding a pathway to farm ownership

Holly and Jonah are preparing to launch a direct-to-consumer meat box business, supplying high quality New Zealand meat to households.

For them, it is more than a side project. It is part of a longer-term plan.

“We won’t be able to buy a farm if we continue on the traditional route,” Holly says. “We want to be landowners; we want to have our own farm.”

With land prices continuing to climb, they see diversification as a necessary step.

“This is hopefully the way that we can do that eventually.”

For Holly, it is also about access. It is something she grew up with and does not take for granted.

“The whole of New Zealand should be able to eat high quality meat, considering we are a huge exporter of the highest quality meat.”

The aim is to make that standard more accessible, bringing what many would consider “home kill” quality into everyday homes.

Holly and Walter on farm. Life and work are closely intertwined in a dairy farming system.

Keeping it simple

Holly’s content reflects the same grounded approach as her garden.

“It’s my real life, but it’s the nice parts of it.”

She believes it connects because it reflects a quieter way of living.

“It represents people who are into homemaking or living more simply off the land they have. It’s not career driven. It’s more simple than that. It’s slow, but it’s not boring.”

There is also a distinctly New Zealand perspective to what she shares.

“There’s not a lot of Kiwi creators who live in rural New Zealand, and a lot of rural women don’t feel represented online.”

For Holly, the appeal of a garden is straightforward.

“It’s something real that you can touch. No one is judging your success. It’s completely your own.”

And for many, that is reason enough to start.

Photos: Holly van Dam

Follow Holly on Instagram @grownbyholly.

www.grownbyholly.co.nz