About Me

My name is Zozo, I’m originally from China and have been living in New Zealand since 2013.

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When in China I lived most of my life inside high-rise apartment buildings, which didn’t allow me to do the kind of gardening I wanted to. Not prepared to give up my interest,  I grew microgreens and vegetables on the balcony instead. One of the reasons I feel so blessed to live in New Zealand is that I have more access to nature and space to do gardening than ever before.

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 I call my business “Zozo’s Minigarden”, because I want to prove that we all can grow our own fresh, healthy and yummy food even without a big space to do so.

I am often asked  what made me follow this path .I believe it was simply me, following my heart. Yes, my hard-earned qualifications and experience seem a far cry from what I am doing now, however:

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“ The journey between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of life really takes place.”  Barbara De Angelis.

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Farming mushrooms has several advantages as they offer unique nutrition, have a fast growing cycle and are space saving. There is also the important element of environmental conservation compared to traditional plant crops and meat farming.

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The inspiration for worm farming evolved when I saw the plentiful organic waste from used mushroom growing blocks and the microgreens growing medium. It is a zero-waste circle of transferring waste (straw, wood shaving) into edible mushrooms, then reusing mushroom and microgreens waste to turn into the high quality fertilizer (worm casting), which goes back to into the earth.

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Apart from making this business successful, I also want to share with more people the idea that growing food like mushrooms and microgreens in a simple way is easy and also beneficial to us and the earth; additionally, worm farming is an alternative way of composting to turn waste into great fertilizer.

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Simply put … Simple, Resourceful and Sustainable.