While she may be someone of an expert in the field, the former Orange High School agriculture teacher said her gardening success can be reproduced by anyone.

“I get very excited about it and want to share it. I want to say to people it’s thoroughly attainable,” she said.

What started out as a plan to tick off a task on her dad Roy Jeffery’s bucket list has culminated in a greenhouse capable of producing passion fruit, blueberries and blackberries, in addition to the tropical fruit.

In 2017, seven members of the Nealon family started work on the aquaponics system which would allow them to build the garden they wanted on Burrendong Way.

“We have a sustainable, self-sufficient ethos out here, and with four kids and doing foster care there’s lots of people around and lots of people to help out,” Mrs Nealon said.

The family built a system which combines silver perch fish with hydroponics, cultivating plants in water to create a super garden.

Excretions from the fish are broken down into nitrates that are utilised by the plants before the water is recirculated back to the aquaculture system.

The fish will also end up on the dining room table, divided up between the neighbours when they reach the 700-gram mark.

Mrs Nealon said the whole family has been involved in building and maintaining the greenhouse, which has been a huge learning curve for her teenage children.

“They are getting their hands dirty. They love working one-on-one with you and getting involved with something they can see evolving,” she explained.

“It’s teaching an understanding of how we can re-use so many foods so we don’t have to waste so much.”

She said there there were additional educational benefits to the undertaking.

“Instant gratification is such a big part of teenagers lives now and gardening opposes that,” Mrs Nealon explained.

“I think they like that as a concept even though it is the opposite of all their usual screen time.”

The success of the greenhouse has caught the attention of agriculture enthusiasts elsewhere, with Mrs Nealon set to work with Condobolin High School to duplicate her system there.