Mr Kummerow and partner Claire Kane sell most of their produce through the Wanaka Farmers Market, which will hold its spring launch on October 21, from 4.30pm.
The couple also have a large garden at home but demand for their herbs, vegetables and fruit means they are contemplating extending their farm garden.
"We are still developing it... The idea with the business was we didn't want to borrow money and just wanted to let it grow naturally. But I just bought a wee tractor," Mr Kummerow said this week.
Their farm garden is on Pete and Dawn Ward's property, on Domain Rd - Ms Kane and Mrs Ward are sisters.
Growing in a cold climate has required good organisation for seasonal produce to be available throughout winter and into spring.
Mr Kummerow has built several tunnel houses from recyclable materials and potatoes, tomatoes, silverbeet, snowpeas, turnips, rocket and lettuce are now well under way.
Outside crops are also in the ground, sheltered from the elements by rows of larger plants such as artichokes and rhubarb, and some are already starting to push through the soil.
Mr Kummerow was raised on a farm in Queensland, and worked there as a builder, a national park ranger, and a policy writer for the Environmental Protection Agency.
He was invited by friends to Wanaka for Christmas about six years ago, decided to stay and now works as a St John Ambulance officer.
A bit shocked by supermarket prices for fruit and vegetables, he decided to grow his organic food.
He has not obtained organic certification but the garden is spray-free.
He has joined those gardeners returning to older varieties of produce, started his own seed bank and will soon be releasing a self-published gardening book.
While people seek his advice, Mr Kummerow says he is still learning too, because he grew up in a warmer climate.
He supports the farmers market because it is social and educational and his customers have become friends.
The markets teach children the value of producing something for sale, while promoting small industries, social structures and bartering systems that are long gone, he said.
Although the farm garden is expanding, gardening is a lifestyle the couple want to enjoy and encourage in others, rather than turn into a millstone, he said.
Future projects include creating a vegetable show garden, exploring companion planting and making an environment friendly to birds and hedgehogs.
"Professional people these days burn so much energy in gyms when they could be doing that out in the backyard and feeding themselves out of it, as well," he said.
The Wanaka Farmers Market started up on Pembroke Park in the summer of 2008 and operated on Sunday mornings between November and May.
This winter the market switched to Thursday evenings from 4.30pm to 6.30pm and now operates all year round.
Market chairman Tim Ryan said yesterday up to six stall holders were registered for the spring launch and more were expected to join them.
Previous seasons had attracted up to 15 stall holders selling fruit, vegetables, meat, seedlings, eggs, bread and other products.
Mr Ryan said a count of patrons had not been kept "but it is very popular".
"We find a lot more locals tend to come on Thursday evenings.
"Locals are our bread and butter. The emphasis has to be on locals because the market is about local food production ...
"If we produce more local food for everyone it saves because we are basically at the end of a dead end road and everything gets trucked in here. So if we can get more things going for ourselves, it makes more sense," Mr Ryan said.
