Today, those nutrients are tapped by flora and delivered to diners across Brisbane in the most Instagram-worthy way thanks to the green-thumbed Simone Jelley.

Her business, Pretty Produce, germinated in a unique patch of sun-drenched Lamb Island, neighbouring McCleay Island where she lives with husband David. Islands Russell and Karragarra make up the Bay Islands quartet in southern Moreton Bay between North Stradbroke and the mainland. All four are serviced by half-hourly ferries from Redland Bay Ferry Terminal.

And after a year of battling the elements and finding her groove as a producer, the former advertising photographer is supplying restaurants and cafes with fresh flowers and herbs and foraged things from her island paradise.

It's a niche market that has emerged at a time when social media has taken the notion of eating first with our eyes to new heights. Diners like to share dishes with their followers and anyone in the hospitality industry knows the difference some beautiful images on a Facebook account can make.

But of course, it's all about a lot more than looks, as a stroll around the beautiful garden rows with Simone reveals.

She had simply wanted to grow some corn and tomatoes for her hubby but found gardening a whole lot more challenging than expected, which prompted her to start delving more into what she could grow on the islands and where exactly to grow it.

"The little 'aha' moment that started my journey ??? was gotu cola, which is all over these islands," she says.

"One day I was researching edibles on the computer and I found someone selling it and I was in shock that I was having this war with it and here was someone wanting to charge me to buy it. "

She learned gotu cola was an essential herb in ayurvedic medicine, and was known to be beneficial to memory and nerve function.

"That was the beginning when I went 'OK, well, what else is there?'

"So I've tracked almost everything on all of these islands in terms of edible weeds."

Being in the business of supplying food, she also meticulously researches potential side effects of any plant. Gotu kola, for example, is said to potentially induce termination in pregnancy in high enough dosage.

Simone has filled her days with learning as much as she can from locals and online about what plants are edible.

It follows in the footsteps of the noted Queensland "nibble and spit" explorers AB and JW Cribb, a Brisbane couple whose many books included Wild Food in 1974.

"They were into that exploration but also took responsibility and did a fair amount of data research, as much as they could do because a lot of it was still cultural," Simone said.

And while all of this was happening, the budding gardener began to realise "that people really enjoyed eating all of these really weird creations I was putting together."

A Pretty Produce "sour mix", for example, contains seasonal leaves paired for their sharp notes. In many cases a single frond or leaf can impart a stunning nuance to a dish.

Simone says Instagram was pivotal in getting her produce to the people who needed it, mostly chefs in Brisbane restaurants so far but she hopes to broaden her reach.

"In terms of marketing, Instragram has been a driving force," she said.

"It's the images but also being able to make connections very quickly."

Within a day of launching her Instagram account she was receiving orders.

The garden rows around Simone are alive with native bees and butterflies as we stroll - hubby David on his tractor tilling rows of rich red soil across the way, business manager Chris obscured by tall rows of zinnias and Dan, with a permaculture background, pondering the soil and potential pests.

Everything is grown without sprays and pesticides and there is continual work going on bringing the soil back to optimal condition after years of various crops each leaving their own mark.

Simone hands me a cranberry hibiscus leaf - the citrus intensity is a surprise - and tells me it takes on a blackberry note in spring when the growth is more vigorous.

Then an endemic wild legume, its leaf imparting an oak flavour, that goes into a savoury mix.

Butterfly pea flowers, she explains, will turn a dessert or a herb tea blue - it's the element that gives Byron Bay's famed Ink Gin its hue.

Simone says she's delighted to think of Lamb Island - home to just 1000 people - becoming known as "that island where the wild herbs grow".

"We're trying to get food growing back in the Redlands because a lot of it has been developed over."

Back on the mainland at Clayfield's Wooden Horse restaurant, chef brothers Hoey - Dane and Morgan - send out interesting, produce-driven dishes with fresh herbs and flowers earning a place on some of their dishes. A marinated Fremantle octopus dish with earthy dehydrated olives and pickled fennel and daubs of buttery mash is finished with micro herbs and viola flowers. A cucumber side is dotted with petals and leaves.

"The freshness of the product and the colours that the flowers bring to a dish ??? we tend to use flowers on a dish where we want to bring flavours from the earth."

"And it's seasonal - we're hanging out for the elderflower at the moment - it should be ready soon from Lamb Island."