White Strawberries: Growing Food for Wellness & Joy

🌱 In this episode, I’m tackling a problem I hear all the time — what to do when your garden isn’t thriving.

Maybe your garden used to be amazing, but now your plants are struggling. Maybe you are hesitant to continue to purchase soil and your plants aren't thriving.  Maybe your potting mix has released all it's fertiliser, or maybe you're starting from scratch!  Leaves are pale, flowers are sparse, and growth is slow...

🌱 In this episode, I explore something that’s been top of mind lately — ground covers.

Ground covers form one of the eight layers of a forest and play a vital role in any thriving garden, orchard, or food forest. They’re not just about filling space — they’re about protecting, nourishing, and bringing life to your soil.

I’ll chat about:
 🌾 Why we need to mulch our soil
 🧹 How to clear the space first
 💚 Why living mul...

🌍 In this episode, I’ve just returned from WWOOFing — and I have a lot of feedback to share!

What exactly is WWOOFing? Is it for you? And how can you make sure you find the right host before you pack your bags and head off to dig, plant, and learn?

I’ll chat about:
 🌾 What WWOOFing really is
 💬 The questions to ask before joining a host
 🧭 How to filter out good hosts
 🪴 Why getting clear on your expectations bef...

🐓 In this episode, I share my lived experience with chicken tractors and the mandala garden system — the joys, the frustrations, and the lessons five years in.

We explore:
 🪴 How chickens save you work with composting, weeding, and pest control
 🛠️ Design considerations: circular vs. rectangular tractors, PVC vs. wood, mites and materials
 👩‍🌾 What it’s really like moving a dome once your Zone One (Garden Bed) fills...

We’re talking chickens—those fluffy butt, soil-turning, pest eating wonders that can be put to work in your garden. 

🐔 Whether you're dreaming of adding chickens to your permaculture setup or wondering if they're right for your orchard, this episode is packed with practical, real-world insight. I'm joined by Sez the Vet, an experienced life-style vet and educator.

This is a conversation I was looking for 10 years ago!...

🌱 In this episode, I sit down with Steve Fawcett to explore Troppo — an urban tropical food forest in Te Puke. Yes, tropical plants… outdoors… in a place that gets frost and hail!

We dive into:
 🍌 Bananas as mineral accumulators (and why banana lollies taste the way they do)
 🌴 Air layering and how it can trigger early flowering in plants
 ❄️ Frost protection strategies and mulching like crazy
 🌳 Why food forests...

🌱 In this episode, I dive into The Home-Scale Forest Garden by Dani Baker (2022), How to Plan, Plant and Tend a Resilient Edible Landscape.

I share why this book captured my attention, what makes it such a treasure for anyone wanting to create a forest garden, and how I’ve been inspired to rethink my own food forest. From mapping your space with to-scale circles to understanding the roles of nitrogen fixers, mineral accumulators, a...

Looking to make the most of your garden or property without selling your harvest?

 In this episode of White Strawberries, I share five creative side hustles you can start right at home. From hosting garden tours and beehives to earning carbon credits, leasing land, or renting out a minor dwelling, these ideas can help offset costs, invest in your property, and even bring in a little extra cash.

I cover practical tips, real-life examp...

Some fruits and vegetables are heavily sprayed with pesticides—and it’s not just a chemical issue. These plants may also produce fewer natural compounds that make them nutritious, and conventional growing methods can harm the environment. 🌱

Welcome to White Strawberries,  In this episode, we unpack the Dirty Dozen—the 12 fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues—and explore the Clean 15, foods that are generally saf...

In this episode, Sam puts on her educator’s hat, drawing from over 20 years of experience working in schools across New Zealand, Hong Kong, China, and the USA — including roles as Dean, Head of Business Department, sustainable living and outdoor education specialist, and working with at-risk youth.

Sam sits down with Robin Mann, founder of Grow Wild Education, an inspiring nature-based learning initiative. Grow Wild Education runs w...

In this episode of White Strawberries, I dig into the unsung heroes of the vegetable garden: perennials! 

You’ll learn about my three favourite edible roots — yacón, Jerusalem artichokes, and oca (NZ yams) — and the leafy perennials I would grow even if I only had 1m2 of garden bed:  Sorrel, perpetual spinach, Welsh onions, and chives.

These plants are weedy in the best way, nutrient-dense, and perfect for gardeners who want to reduc...

🌱 What is nitrogen actually and when we know what it is why does it matter? 

In this solo episode of White Strawberries, I ditch the edits (full disclosure I took the "um's" out) and go full conversation mode to unpack something that is made overly complicated sometimes: nitrogen. 

🧪 We explore:
 • What nitrogen really is 
• How to tell if a plant is nitrogen-rich—or ready to mulch
• Composting ratios m...

💧 🌦️ If you’ve ever looked at a garden hose like it was made of gold—this one’s for you.

In this episode of White Strawberries, I have a conversation with Sophie, a Zero Waste Educator, about the messy magic of water in the garden. From buckets of bathwater to rainwater you wish you could store, we share what it’s really like managing water—whether you live in a tiny house on a large amount of land, or a suburban backyard, this on...

In this Spark Joy episode, we dive into the wonderful world of hydrangeas — one of New Zealand’s most beloved perennial shrubs, known for their stunning blooms and versatility.

As I recorded this in the height of summer, hydrangeas were truly sparking joy in my garden. Now, as winter sets in, it’s the perfect time to prune your hydrangeas, take cuttings to propagate, plant new hydrangeas, and feed your existing plants. Plus, if you’...

In today’s Q&A-style episode, I chat with Becks, who’s growing food on a small urban section packed with subtropical and Mediterranean microclimates. We talk through her real-life garden dilemmas—from a wayward apple tree branch and overachieving feijoas, to pruning grapevines and getting citrus trees back on track.

We cover:
 🍏 How to prune an espaliered apple tree
 🍇 When and how to cut back grapevines
 🌱 How to...

♻️ Ever wondered if your compost pile is killing weed seeds—or just giving them a warm nap?

In this episode of White Strawberries, I dive into my very first proper hot composting adventure. Spoiler: it involves bamboo stakes, cow poo tea, temperature obsessions, and a whole lot of bindweed I didn’t trust in a cold pile.

🌱 We’ll explore:
 • Why not all weed seeds die in regular compost
• How to build a hot compost heap step ...

Elderberry: Grow it because it’s delicious, beautiful — and scientifically proven to shorten the duration of the flu.

This episode dives into the magic, science, and mischief of elderberries — a plant that blurs the line between medicine and myth.

Learn why it’s a favourite of permaculturists, herbalists, and birds alike — and why it might just belong in your garden too.

We explore:
 – How and why to grow elderberry (even if it&ap...

We’re talking pigs—those chubby, soil-turning wonders that can transform your paddock and garden into a thriving ecosystem.

🐖 Whether you're dreaming of adding pigs to your permaculture setup or wondering if they're right for your orchard, this episode is packed with practical, real-world insight. I'm joined by Sez the Vet, an experienced life-style vet and educator, who breaks down the real benefits of pigs—from til...

What do olives, grapes, figs, and lavender all have in common? They're part of the sun-loving, drought-tolerant crew that thrive in Mediterranean climates—and today we’re designing a whole guild around them.

In this episode, I explore what it means to plant perennials where they want to grow and why matching plants to their ancestral homes creates a thriving, low-input ecosystem. From nitrogen-fixers like tagasaste and Spanish ...