Though I work as an editor, and I love my work, permaculture is my passion.
Permaculture is a design system inspired by nature.
Formulated in the 1970s by David Holmgren and Bill Mollison, based on ancient traditions and nature’s systems, permaculture has now spread across the world.
It has been described as a revolution disguised as gardening.
Though I love to design gardens using permaculture, I also apply it to so many parts of my life and work. I’ve even applied it to my course, Story Editing Masterclass, The Ecology of Novels.
Recently I had the great privilege of working with David Holmgren on his retrofitting the suburbs book, Retrosuburbia.
I also took part in the editing and writing of Milkwood’s ‘Permaculture Living’ course, a 12-week course transforming the lives of people across the globe, and as a scriptwriter for Milkwood’s, ‘Organic Vegetable Gardening’ course.
Over several years I worked with the legendary Rosemary Morrow on her Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture, which has been endorsed by the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
I earned my Permaculture Design Certificate via Milkwood in 2010 and Certificate IV and Diploma through TAFE NSW from 2011–2013.
I teach, facilitate courses and run working bees at my local community garden and am a regular Farm Hand at Sydney City Farm.
In the past, I’ve designed and run gardens and programs for vulnerable communities, including asylum seekers.
My projects on the boil include envisioning more circular economy Precious Plastics hubs in the suburbs (and hopefully across the globe, this is coming to pass in the form of Waste Free in ’23) and helping sustainability groups in Australia and Africa with online media strategies.
Though I struggle to cram any more gardening into my life, I am keen to spread the message about permaculture and its benefits.
I love to facilitate online learning about permaculture. I have appeared as a Renew Expert in Sustainability and run #TheGreatPause zoom series. #TheGreatPause sought to keep communities connected during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recently my story was featured in the Sydney Food Innovator program, along with the stories of many other food innovators, led by Dr Sarina Kilham of Charles Sturt University, with creative and intellectual collaboration with Dr Tania Leimbach and Dr Tanja Rosenqvist.
So if you have a project that requires online training, ecological thinking and/or writing/editing skills, I’d love to help!
With thanks to olena ivanova on Unsplash for the free use of the photo above.
2023 projects
- January–December: Remote workshops with 10 groups in Introduction to Permaculture, 8 Forms of Wealth, Black Soldier Fly Larvae Farming, Integrated Pest Management. Participants: Kakuma (Kenya), Nakivale (Uganda), Australia, Europe and North America.
- January–Helped establish the Nakivale Permaculture Refugee Network and sponsored training of over 100 people in the following areas: Introduction to Permaculture, Eco Cooking (with recycled briquettes), Seed Saving, Food Forests, and Soil Building.
- Co-hosted Introduction to Mushroom Cultivation with Milkwood and Biogreen (based in Nakivale). Milkwood subsequently offered 20 free places in their Home Mushroom Cultivation course to refugees and others in refugee camps and host communities across Kenya and Uganda. Profits went to sending Biogreen’s founder to an apprenticeship in mushroom growing.
- Supported ABCC Organization (Nakivale), a refugee-led school of 170 students to stay open, and plan towards a sustainable future
- this included mentorship in permaculture principles, syntropic agroforestry, we sent the principal to Kenya to link up with permaculture group, Seeds of Freedom,
- organising funding for skills development and garden program
- website development
- fundraising and sponsorship training, and
- the purchase of land
- Earth Day events and tree planting
- mentorship in grant writing, and support to apply for 4 grants in sustainability and capacity building.
- Supported ABCC Nakivale and Skills Change Lives to run a workshop for 50 women teaching entrepreneurship and soap making skills
- Supported the travel of two refugees to participate in permaculture principles, syntropic agroforestry training with Seeds of Freedom in Kenya.
- Supported the concept development and establishment of the Nakivale Arts Collective, a collective of artists and creators in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement. We aim to help them establish a website and a formal group to sell their work via Fair Trade organisations.
- Supported the development of Skills Change Lives, and Art for Success (Nakivale) by providing training and linking the group with experts in their field and benefactors:
- artworks of environmental leaders sold to a private collector in the US
- artworks commissioned for a book on combatting corruption
- funds earned purchased land and build a food forest to improve food security
- Supported ABCC Nakivale (Uganda) and VAMY (Kenya) to connect with Waste Free in ’23, which offers innovative ways to utilise solar to upcycle plastics. Both sites now have recycling machines.
- Grants written for recycling centre to be built on ABCC’s land.
2024 projects
January – Eco building with Jonathan Fell, earthbag workshop (Wales/Australia/Uganda/Online)
January – Plan your Restoration Year 2024 – group get-together and planning (Australia/Online)
February – ABCC Nakivale – Buy more land and build a temporary school and workshop space for capacity-building workshops. Donor found. Start planning for the school food garden. (Uganda)
Ongoing – ABCC soap workshops, hairdressing, carpentry, and WASH menstruation training
Ongoing – Permaculture and mushroom institute Nakivale.
Ongoing – Skills Change Lives – Earth Care zones throughout Nakivale
Ongoing – Waste Free in ’23 applying for grants to build clean cooking facilities based on biogas model
Ongoing – Website build for Nakivale Arts Collective, with connections to Fair Trade
Ongoing – Music club with VAMY, instruments for children, championed by Australian composer Keyna Wilkins.
And many more …