WAYS in which we work to ensure that Granny Smith’s place in our community is sustainable are encapsulated by the chooks in my South Turramurra backyard. Several times per week they crowd the chook-yard gate as they see the trimmings from Granny Smith heading toward them in the wheelbarrow. Like any grocery, Granny Smith staff spend part of every day making sure that we’re presenting the finest, freshest greens, fruit and bread for you. The stock is taken down from our shelves, checked, leaves are trimmed or stripped, fruits are cut and sliced, and yesterday’s bread is marked for compost. All of these invariably organic leftovers go into a bin for my chooks. These make wonderful compost once my Rhode Island Reds, Australorps, White Leghorns and little Suffolk-cross have pecked through and turned everything over in search of the choice bits. And the hens close the circle of sustainability when they lay eggs which are collected and put in half-dozen-only cartons for sale back at Granny Smith. Perfect provenance!

We opened Granny Smith in Wahroonga in 2002 and in 2008 moved to Turramurra to become part of a small community of truly local stores. Our neighbours include a wine merchant, butcher, delicatessen, interior designer and a vet in lovely, leafy Princes Street. We offer local, seasonal and organic food. We receive farmer-direct deliveries to store and visit and select fresh organic produce from Organics Direct, Ecofarms and Back to Eden at the Sydney Markets twice a week in the dawn light. We also travel into the communities bisected by the Hawkesbury river to choose heirloom tomatoes, herbs and seedlings. Many of the people with whom we deal – farmers, makers, merchants and customers – have become our friends. Ours is an enterprise that we love, because good food not only nourishes our bodies. As San Francisco grocer Sam Mogannam of Bi-Rite says, food connects people and the environment. It creates communities.

- Peter Kenyon
Owner, Granny Smith Natural Food Market