A Journey through Chris' 16 Acres | with @GreenThumbGuru

An interview with Chris from GreenThumbGuru  on Instagram
Instagram: @greenthumbguru @simple.life.on.16acres
YouTube:  simple life on 16 acres

BIO: Chris is a self taught vegetable gardener with over 14 years experience. His philosophy is around gardening naturally without chemicals, using permaculture principles, focusing on supporting a strong foundation for plants, wild life, and the soil biology

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More about this episode:

Our guest, Chris paints a picture of his journey from nostalgic beginnings, inspired by his grandparents, to the lush slopes of the Manning Valley where he and his family now cultivate life without the interference of chemicals. As we stroll through his verdant domain, Chris unveils the fabric of his ethos: teaching his children the cycles of nature, the interplay of composting chickens enriching the soil, and the integration of permaculture principles that shape his gardening philosophy.

Chris shares the seasonal rhythms of his garden, the careful dance with pests, and the collective wisdom within the gardening community that both celebrates and commiserates over nature's curveballs. This episode is a foray into the future too, where Chris's dreams of market gardening take root, hinting at the aspirations that sprout from every well-tended plot of land.

This conversation is as much an exploration of personal growth as it is of gardening. We reflect on the significance of embracing the here and now, the lessons tucked within past trials, and the quiet fulfillment of choosing a path that's uniquely ours. There's a patience required in gardening, mirrored in life's own pace, that Chris's story so vividly illustrates. Our chat winds down with a nod to the importance of community gardens, the initiation of green thumbs, and a gracious note of appreciation for the insights Chris brought to our table. This episode is a tribute to the green-thumbed enthusiasts and the nurturing of a life interwoven with the natural world.

'How I Grow' is produced by The Seed Collection Pty Ltd.
Find out more about us here: www.theseedcollection.com.au

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to how I Grow with the Seed
Collection.
My name is Gemma and today I'llbe speaking with Chris from
Green Thumb Guru at Simple Lifeon 16 Acres on Instagram.
Chris is a self-taughtvegetable gardener with over 14
years experience.
His philosophy is aroundgardening naturally, without
chemicals.
He uses permaculture principlesand focuses on supporting a

(00:21):
strong foundation for plants,wildlife and soil biology.
Hi, chris, and thank you somuch for taking the time to
speak with me today.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Pleasure.
Thanks for having me on yourpodcast, Gemma.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Oh, it's our pleasure .
I'm really keen to learn moreabout how you grow.
I like to start off with askingabout what sparked your
interest in gardening and whyit's become something that's
really important to you.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, certainly.
So I think my interest forgardening stemmed back to my
grandparents, so they owned awholesale nursery and we used to
well, my brothers and I used togo there on our school holidays
and do work in their nursery.
So I think a lot of it startedback then.
When I was younger, and alsowhen my wife and I bought our

(01:10):
first property when we were inour early 20s, we had an
inspiration also to want to growour own food.
Main reason was we wanted toknow where it was coming from
and also we didn't like the ideaof knowing that, you know, the
food that we eat from thesupermarkets potentially is
being, you know, sprayed withchemicals and all the rest of it
.
So we like that idea of growingour own food and eating as

(01:30):
fresh and organic as we can.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Lovely.
I really like to hear aboutwhen people are saying they're
inspired by parents andgrandparents.
I think that really enrichesthe, the journey when someone
near and dear to you has startedyou off on that experience.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, totally, it doesn't take much as well, and I
think a lot of like ourchildhood memories can you know,
really lead us down a pathwayof where we end up in life,
certainly.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
They definitely can.
Do you have any like?
Speaking of childhood memories,are there any specific plants
or things about gardening thatreally take you back there?

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Not really.
It's hard to sort of pinpoint apivotal moment on what actually
sparked it, but, yeah, I thinkit's a collective of everything.
I think it's just being beingoutdoors.
I spent a lot of time outdoors,um, you know, like you know,
around nature and um, yeah, andthat time that I spent with my
grandparents in their nurseryand they would, you know, ramble

(02:34):
on about all the botanicalnames and you and you had to
have a go at trying to pronounce, um, how to say some of them?
And um, yeah, so, yeah, I thinkit's just a collective of
everything.
You know seeing the blossoms,seeing you know that the bees
interact with those flowers, andalso like watching plants grow
throughout their stages.
You know when you might pot upa particular plant or start it

(02:55):
from seed and you actually getto see that plant go through its
journey until you're actuallyputting it into the ground as
well.
I think that's a really goodconnecting point.
That, yeah, really holds a lotof memories back when I was
younger, and even now, you know,like I've got my own kids, so
I've got three of my own kidsand I'm sort of teaching them as
well, and we enjoy our timethat we're spending together

(03:17):
outside when we're plantingseeds and, yeah, spending time
in nature.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
It is.
It's special to spend time innature with the children.
I really think so.
You're in the Manning Valley onthe mid-north coast of New
South Wales.
What kind of climate are you inthere?

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, we're still in that temperament climate so we
still do get.
We've been at our property herefor 12 months.
We've just passed our 12 monthanniversary here.
Winter last year we experienceda handful of frost, but very
mild, and then summer's beenquite brutal.
This summer we experienced somereally intense heat being out

(03:59):
in the country so we're sort ofabout 45 minutes off the coast
so we don't get that coastalbreeze and we were getting some
temperatures hitting like 44.5in the peak of summer.
But the balance in between thespring and autumn they're
beautiful, they're really nice,you know mild weather to work
with.
So, yeah, I found this spring Igot a really good head start on

(04:23):
germinating a lot of seeds andgetting them out into the ground
a lot earlier than what mostother gardeners I think could
that are down further south andthat are experiencing those late
frosts that still come and theneven winter.
I found that growth was stillquite good and strong throughout
the colder months as well.
So yeah, oh, lovely.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
So you're on 16 acres , chris.
That's a lot of land, more thanmost hobby farmers.
Could you give us a bit of anidea for those listening who
haven't yet seen it on Instagram?

Speaker 2 (05:03):
what your land looked like when you started out in
comparison to what it looks likenow?
Yeah, certainly so.
The 16 acres is more of arectangle shaped block and I
would say about 80% of it wouldstill be under native bushland.
And we've got a spring creekthat cuts straight through our
property as well and then aroundthe house site would probably
make up.
Around the house site we'reestablishing flower gardens and

(05:27):
doing a lot of a big clean-upand sort of reclaiming back the
land that was sort of quiteovergrown.
And then we've got a few otherpaddocks that we've got some big
future plans for as well insetting up some market gardening
that we're looking at doing andstarting off our hobby farm
there.
And yeah, so we're looking atdoing and starting off our hobby
farm there.
And um, yeah, so it's a.
Yeah, we're still quite sloped.

(05:48):
Um, I I don't mind working on asloped site rather than a flat.
Um, a flat block, I think a lotof um, a lot of people always
think that to grow vegetablesit's much easier to work on a,
on a on a flat site.
Um, I could probably disagree,because when you get those real
heavy downpours which we're allused to seeing, um, the water's
going to run somewhere and ifit's flat, yeah, you're going to

(06:11):
be swimming.
All your produce is going to beswimming in that um, in that
water, and it can't drain awayproperly.
So that's what I'm learning istrying to manage the water in
where you want it to go.
Um, it's quite important, um in.
You know, I'm starting to addin a lot of swales into my
design as well, into my slopes,to try to capture the water when
it does come, but it also needsto be able to feed into those

(06:32):
garden beds, but it also needsto be able to run away when we
get too much rain.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
So, yeah, Lovely and swales.
They're a huge point inpermaculture, as you would know.
For those listening who mightknow what a swale is, could you
please explain that a little bitfor us?

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah.
So swale is basically changingthe scope of the land, so
changing the form of the land,in trying to create a bit of a
pocket and a divot, kind of likea spoon drain.
It's got like a slight curve toit where the water can then
capture into there.
So if you picture like a reallysloped site, if it didn't have

(07:13):
anything on it at all, it's justwhen you get 50 mil of rain
that's going to come down in,say, half hour.
Instead of it being able towork its way down into the soil,
it's going to run across thattop surface really quickly.
So the idea is trying to slowthe water down to avoid the land
erosion.
You don't want to lose thatimportant top surface of the

(07:34):
soil, that sort of 10 to 15centimetres of soil that we work
so hard on cultivating andimproving by adding compost and
other amendments and manure toit.
To have a big downpour come andwash the majority of it away is
not ideal.
So yes, using the swales intoyour design can be really

(07:54):
beneficial to ourselves inmaintaining that water capture,
Because what it does is it'llsort of capture it like a drain.
It's going to sort of like howa drain would work and it's
going to sort of work its wayinto there and it will head down
.
Gravity is going to feed itsway down, but it's going to slow
that water down.
It's going to be able topenetrate down further into the

(08:14):
water table and slowly work itsway out instead of racing off
down the hill.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
So yeah, yes, and you do mention the soil biology and
how swales help preserve someof that.
Could you describe for us whathealthy soil biology is, what
that looks like?

Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah, so I've never actually looked under a
microscope.
I wouldn't mind looking under amicroscope and seeing how your
soil currently is.
Now you can do soil tests andand and and many other ways of
sort of like looking at yoursoil.
But I think, just likeeverything, having a diverse
range of microbes into into yoursoil, because there's there's

(08:56):
so many different species ofmicrobes and nematodes that we,
that we have in our soil andthey're so microscopic you can't
even see them.
So it's hard to be able tounderstand something that you
can't see.
But it all comes down to thecompost that you're making has
to be.
You know, you've got to have adiverse range of material that's
going into the compost makingprocess as well.

(09:16):
So, like, if you're only justputting horse manure and grass
clippings into your compost,that's still fine.
You're still going to make somepretty rich compost, but
without adding food scraps andyou know, banana peels and
avocados and citrus andeggshells.
You're not increasing yourelements that you're going to be
able to and the nutrients andelements that's going to come

(09:39):
out of the compost.
But the types of microbes thatare going to live, the microbes
and the fungi as well that aregoing to live in that compost is
going to be limited as well.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yes, very true.
And while we're explaining somethings for those who are
listening haven't yet perhapsbeen introduced to some of these
principles like swales andpermaculture, could you tell us
a little bit about whatpermaculture is to you, or just
a basic rundown of the generalidea?

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, definitely so.
The idea of permaculture is tolook at putting principles into
your everyday life, so creatinga design around your day-to-day
life that's going to work A foryou as a family.
It's got to be able to work foryou.
So you've got to be able tolook at making it manageable.
There's no point trying to, youknow, set up some sort of

(10:31):
lifestyle that's not going towork for you.
So starting off by doing smallsteps is probably the best way
to introduce yourself into it.
And you want to look at tryingto support your environment at
the same time.
So it's using principlesexactly like what I mentioned,
just with swales.
So that's, that's one fineexample there in, and it's

(10:52):
benefiting us in being able tomanage and control the water,
but it's beneficial to the soilas well by keeping the soil damp
and moist and and then alsoretaining that important top
layer of soil.
And even, just another idea, asystem that I'm looking at
setting up is tying chickens inwith the whole system as well.
So trying to create this.

(11:13):
We call it a closed loop.
So a closed loop system is likerecycling all your food scraps
and you're getting a product outof it at the end of the day as
well.
So an idea that I want to lookat building is I've got two
large compost bays currently setup at the moment, and not far

(11:34):
from there I've got a chickencoop where we've got 19 chickens
that we've recently sort ofhatched from the eggs, and I
want to look at building wherethey ro roost over, um, over the
top of the compost bays atnight time, so they're adding
their manure straight on top ofmy compost pile instead of me
having to then further move itaround.

(11:54):
So you know, permaculture isalso it's going to be time
efficient.
It's got to be, you know,minimizing the processes of what
you do.
So, um, it's quite importantfor me as well.
Being on a large property.
Now, being on 16 acres, I'vegot a lot more that I need to
upkeep compared to my lastproperty, where I was only on a
small block of 300 square meters.

(12:15):
There's a lot more lawn thatI've got to mow and edging and
weeding, so I've got to try tobe more efficient with my time
each day.
So so, putting putting systemsdown in place, that's going to
save on time, but they're alsoit's got a benefit that's coming
out of it.
That's basically that for me.
That sums up permaculture yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
That's very clever, the idea about the chickens over
the compost.
I really like that.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, I haven't seen.
I've sort of seen a couple ofstyles like um in, I think jeff
lawton, uh, he he done a style,uh, where he was setting up um
big rings inside a chicken coopand he would have three or four
of them on the go, so one ofthem would be one week ahead of
each other, so when, when, whenall those um material is

(13:02):
starting to break down, he wouldthen lift the ring and then the
chooks would then go at it andscratch it all up and they would
get a free feed in there, youknow, with black soldier, fly
larvae and a bit of worms andall the rest of it.
So they're getting a bit ofprotein.
But yeah, the idea of gettingmanure straight into the compost
without me even having to getmy hands dirty, I just thought,
yeah, let's try to buildsomething like that and get it
happening.
So, yeah, let's try to buildsomething like that and get it

(13:24):
happening.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
So yeah, yeah, very crafty, I like it.
And what you were saying aboutmore than one use, that closed
loop, sorry.
I find that really valuable aswell Everything having more than
one use, so you know thechickens are going to do their
thing anyway.
How can you utilize that, thatsort of thing?
And what you touched on beforeabout the small solutions moving

(13:47):
slowly, when you know doingsomething slowly, properly and
slowly, that's actually one ofthe permaculture principles of
use small, slow solutions.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Because if you look at tryingto achieve everything into a
change of lifestyle, in goingdown into a permaculture style
of life, if you try to do it allat once, you're just going to
overwhelm yourself.
So I think that's how my wifeand I, over the 14 years that
we've been living out of home,for that's how we've sort of

(14:21):
done it.
We've just sort of like youchange your toilet paper and
then you change your toiletries,and then you try to start
cutting out all the plastics,and then you're growing a bit of
your own food and then you adda worm farm in and then, before
you know it, you've got bees andthen it just all grows from
there and then, before you knowit, you're looking at the whole
setup of what you've set up andthey all start to connect with

(14:42):
each other.
So it's like this spider webwhere everything's all linked.
And that's when you can really.
You know, you look back at itin the end of the day and you go
I've got a system that'sworking and you will have
hiccups, but you're going tohave weather hiccups, you're
going to have pests, you'regoing to have diseases, and
that's just the world we live in.
We can't control.
We can't control it all, um,and and what I'm teaching myself

(15:04):
and trying to learn at themoment is to try to take a step
back and and try to um, try totake away, try to try to not be
in control as much and try towork with the flow.
So try to work with what'shappening around nature and the
seasons and all the weatherpatterns and all the rest of it,
and just sort of step back andjust observe.

(15:26):
Especially with pests, I'll usethe white cabbage moth, for
example.
You've got your grubs and theycan lay so many eggs under those
leaves and they're like little,tiny, little yellow eggs.
Unless you've got the time andyou want to garden organic,
unless you've got the time to goup there and be squishing those
eggs daily, day in, day out.

(15:47):
They're going to defeat you.
It's either that or netting.
You've got to net your producestraight from the get go.
I don't, I don't, I don't reallynet, I don't spray, I don't
squish the bugs and and veryrarely do I get out there and
pick the pick the green grubsoff.
Um, I generally will let thechooks at it and they're going
to make a bit of a mess of yourplants and the rest of it, um

(16:08):
but?
But they're still keeping thepests at bay.
And then there's also the.
There there's a tiny blackparasitic wasp.
I can't quite remember the nameof it.
It takes time for nature to thegood bugs to get in and do what
they need to do.
But if we're so focused onbeing in control and taking

(16:29):
charge and spraying the producedown, we're not giving nature a
chance to actually do what it'shere to do to keep that balance
and keep it in order.

Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yeah, that's very true, very true indeed.
That, and I think to gettingthe chickens involved, that's
great.
I do have to ask, though, whenyou say they make a bit of a
mess of the plants, do they eatmuch of the produce that you
have out there?

Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, they do.
Look, you've got to beobviously wise with what you've
just put down.
If you've just put a whole newrun of lettuce and spinach down
or something like that, you'renot going to let them just go
have free room to your wholegarden.
You're going to want to put abit of protection down for those
crops.
But, for example, I've got mymarket garden area which is

(17:17):
roughly about 300 square metres.
That's the first area I've sortof set up and there's a chicken
coop right next to them.
So often I'll just be in therepottering around myself doing a
bit of a tidy up and I'll justlet the hens and the roosters in
there and they'll just get inthere and just have a jolly good
old time just scratching around.
And there's no crops in thereat the moment currently that

(17:39):
they're doing any damage to, ifanything.
They're scratching around thetop surface of the soil so
they're aerating the soil andthey're picking up any sort of
tomatoes that have gone a bitbad, that are lower down, and
then they obviously can't accessthe good tomatoes that are up,
higher up, that I've got bad.
So yeah, using them just tosort of you know, yeah, there

(18:02):
could be like diseases and pestsand stuff like that.
There could be like larvae downin the soil from different
grubs that they're getting thereand they're having a bit of a
feed and cleaning things up andkeeping it all in balance and
keeping it healthy.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
They're quite good on the team Chooks.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yes, yeah, but they can be very destructive if you
haven't got them netted.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
Oh, they can be.
They are a descendant of thedinosaur.
So could you tell us a littlebit about what's currently on
your property, what you'recurrently growing right now?

Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yeah, so we've got a bit of everything.
I've got pumpkins still in.
They're coming towards theirend and just ripening on the
vine there at the moment.
So, yeah, my youngest and Ihave been out picking lots of
pumpkins at the moment.
I've got some corn that's nottoo far off, getting ready to
pick that as well.
And speaking of grubs, I'vebeen monitoring the grubs and

(18:57):
they've been getting in the toppart of the silks.
So, yeah, I've been watchingthose.
I remember watching I think itmight have been on Gardening
Australia a few years ago whenthe corn is actually developing
to go around and actuallysqueeze that top part of where
the corn is, where the silk is,because when the grubs are in
there at a young stage, you'rekind of squishing them before

(19:19):
they get a chance to tunnel intoyour corn.
I've still got a lot of tomatoesin basil and eggplant, capsicum
chillies a bit of a mixture ofall that summer produce that's
still around, but we are in ourchangeover in our seasons at the
moment.
So I've got a lot of seed thatI produce.
That's still around, but we arein our changeover in our
seasons at the moment, so I'vegot a lot of seed that I've
already put down a few weeks ago, prepping for all our brassicas

(19:41):
and leeks and onions, morelettuce, and doing that
changeover of the cycle.
I think a lot of gardeners knowthat you can't have produce all
year round.
There's going to be gaps inbetween.
But it's just all about thatcontinuation of sowing seed.
If you're not sowing seed,you're going to have a gap.
You're going to have a gap inthree months time, so yeah, yes,

(20:03):
that's true.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
And when you mentioned that you've been
harvesting some pumpkins withyour young son, I think we can
learn a lot from our children,watching how they interact with
and respond to nature.
What kind of other activitiesdo you get involved with with
the kids when you're out in thegarden?
Do they contribute?

Speaker 2 (20:23):
I've got my two eldest, 11 and 9, xavier and
Indy, so they had their timewhen they were much younger.
I think kids, they're reallyinto it when they're young and
they can see if you're gettingenthusiastic about it, then they
kind of follow suit as well andI think they sort of inspire us
as well to have a bit of funwith it as well.
Get your hands dirty, and theolder kids don't get as much

(20:48):
involved in it as what they didwhen they were younger.
But yeah, look, we had a lot ofgood days, especially pulling
up carrots.
Pulling up carrots with kids,yeah, it's quite enjoyable.
The thing is you don't go outthere just to pick a handful of
carrots for dinner.
They end up pulling up thewhole bed of carrots that you've
got, regardless of the size.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
Enthusiastic helpers, aren't they?

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Yeah, very much so, very much, so much so.
But yeah, my youngest, um angus, he's three and a half and um,
yeah, we, he loves um thewheelbarrow, ride down to the
bottom of the paddock to go downand pick some pumpkins and um,
yeah, he was a little bitheavy-handed to begin with.
He was sort of hoiking thesequeensland blue pumpkins into
the uh into the uh wheelbarrowand you know, snapping off the

(21:35):
stalks.
And yeah, it's quite importantto try to leave as much stalk on
as you can so they ripen offproperly and it stops it from
rotting down into just basically, just so they last longer over
winter.
So he was sort of hoiking thesefour kilo.
I don't know how he was liftingthem, to be honest with you,
but yeah, he was damaging a fewstalks.
So the second pick, he was muchmore gentle, a few.

(21:55):
But yeah, he was damaging a fewstalks.
So the second pick, he was muchmore gentle.
Once I sort of showed him to bemore careful with them.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
So yeah, yeah, and that's how we learn.
It's great, fantastic that he'sgetting out there and helping
you.
I did see that clip on yourInstagram.
It's absolutely adorable, andsomething else I've seen on your
Insta is that you've beengrowing some giant pumpkins.
Can you tell us a bit about howyou went?

Speaker 2 (22:16):
Yeah, I went, okay.
So the Atlantic giant pumpkins.
So, yeah, like, I got some seedonline and, yeah, gave it a red
hot crack and tried to grow thebiggest that I could.
There was a handful of usgrowers.
Yeah, there was Penny, justinand Mark and Steve.
They're all mainly down thatSydney and Victoria area.

(22:40):
Penny actually grew.
She won an award, she got firstplace, I think, at the Sydney
Royal Easter Show last year andI think she grew one up around
380 kilos.
It was a monster.
So I think she sort of put usall into gear to try to try to
grow and it was a bit of a, youknow, a bit of a competition it
was.
It was all for fun anyway.

(23:01):
But a lot of us didn't do toogood, except for Steve growing
in Camden, if you, if you checkout his profile, he, he grew.
He grew a handful of reallygood sized ones, I think nearly
I don't know how many kilo.
I don't think he's put up howmany, how many kilo they got to.
But a lot of us other growers,yeah, the vines didn't do too
well this season.
I think it was something to dowith, um, pumpkins and zucchinis

(23:24):
, um, yeah, the season must havejust been too hot, um, the the
rain and humidity kind of got inand set a lot of powdery mildew
in and a bit of fungus as well,that kind of mucked with a lot
of the vines.
So yeah, I ended up getting twodecent sized ones, but they
were only like you know.
They look big but they're onlyabout sort of 10 to 15 kilos.

(23:45):
So nothing to go entering intoa show this year, so maybe next
year.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
Always next year.
I also saw that you were havinga bit of friendly competition
with some zucchini growingefforts.
Are there any secrets you'rewilling to share there?

Speaker 2 (24:01):
You just forget to pick them and they just grow
massive overnight.
Yeah, that was the same sort ofthing online.
There was a lot of growers onthe Instagram community that
were just growing these hugezucchinis and a few of us just
started yeah, let's just start agiant zucchini challenge, I
think was the hashtag.
So, yeah, I didn't grow thebiggest.

(24:23):
I grew a few that are around 46centimetres and I seen some
that were getting some around 53, 54 centimetres and weighing
like three and a half to fourkilos.
So, yeah, it was good fun, goodfun.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
A bit of friendly competition is always nice,
especially when it's encouragingus all to get out there and get
our hands dirty.
I'd say that's a good thing.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
It certainly is, certainly is.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah, so are there any plans for your garden for
the future, something that you'dlike to try, perhaps?

Speaker 2 (25:05):
This journey that I'm on now in setting up a hobby
farm is a whole new ballgame.
So I've come from a small blockliving in Newcastle of 300
square metres was our wholetotal site, including the house,
so our backyard was probablyless than 100 square metres.
So having a space restraint, asopposed to having so much space
to garden that I can barelyeven keep up with all the

(25:25):
weeding and mowing at the momentis it's gone from one world to
the other.
So I'm just trying to teachmyself just to grow what I can,
what I can manage at the moment.
But our goal is to look atsetting up, you know, a hobby
farm where we're going to begrowing totally organic and
we're going to be growingseasonal produce to bring to

(25:46):
market.
So we intend on trying to go tofarmers markets around our area.
We've already been connectingwith a lot of locals around the
area, starting to sell some ofour produce as well and sharing
that out with family and friendsand just grow it from there.
So we're not going to befocusing on growing like just
one particular type of vegetable.

(26:07):
We want to be trying to offer,you know, fruit as well.
We've put a lot of fruit treesin and like eggs.
We've got a couple of beehives,so we want to include in honey
and just a mixed range of alldifferent types of goods that we
can offer.
So yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
Oh, that sounds really amazing.
Do you just it's just stickingwith the fresh produce, or do
you do any preserving and planon taking them along as well?
Or?

Speaker 2 (26:36):
Yeah, we do.
My wife's really good in thekitchen in utilising produce
that's coming in.
We all get that glut at timesin the season when you might
plant too many zucchinis.
We definitely experience thatat the start of spring and into
summer.
Yeah, my wife's great atpreserving.
So, just looking up, you know,like a lot of different recipes
online and having the gear,you've got to have a lot of jars

(26:59):
to be able to store all thisproduce.
So whether we'll bring that tothe markets or not, I think
you've got to go through a fewother licensing with all the
health sort of checks thatyou've got to do.
So look, we never know, thatmight be something that might be
on the horizon as well.
Yeah, at the moment we're justdoing it for just our own

(27:21):
household sort of use, but we'llsee how we go.
We might chat with a few otherpeople at markets and stuff and
see what's involved and the costin setting up a kitchen,
because I think you've got tohave a dedicated kitchen to be
able to bring that sort ofproduce to market.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, you mentioned the zucchini glut.
Do you have a favorite go-to?
Because I I think that issue issomething many gardeners
actually come across.
Is there a favorite recipe oruh?

Speaker 2 (27:49):
the wife.
The wife had to get really,really creative.
Uh, the kids got over it by theend.
They were like, oh, zucchiniagain, like we were having
zucchini for breakfast, lunchand dinner.
Almost she was making cakeswith it, believe it or not.
So, yeah, there was some reallynice cake recipes and you can
do zucchini muffins.

(28:10):
She was using it in pastazucchini slice.
The list goes on.
There's so many uses there.
So, yeah, I'm sure if any, ifany, um, if any listeners out
there, they do want to know thatthey're more than happy to,
yeah, send me over a message oninstagram and I can ask the wife
and we can put together a listof maybe some recipes that we've

(28:30):
got and some some ways of usingit.
Um, because that is the problemin is having, yeah, a glut of
one particular, uh, vegetable orfruit that comes through, and
and what do you do with it all?
Um, you know, besides sharingit with friends and and the
community, I think it's anothergreat way of sort of you know,
sharing, sharing your producearound, because you know it's

(28:50):
it's that good karma.
You know, if you're connectingwith others and you're and
you're giving, you're givingproduce away and you're not
expecting any anything for it.
You will get that back and youwill reap the rewards.
Other people are going to dothe same thing, and I think
that's really important forsociety is to continue to
connect with people and juststop thinking about our own
individual selves, but try toconnect with others and, yeah,

(29:14):
it brings us all together.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, I agree with that, Chris.
I think that's really important, and not only does that produce
swap allow us to connect withthe community and the people
around us, but it also teachesus a little bit more about food
security.
You know, if we can grow ourown food and we can share with
our neighbours and family andfriends, we're less likely to
run into food security issues ifwe have the skills and the

(29:40):
community to support it.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
Oh, totally, totally.
When you look at the food miles, like how far you know a
certain produce has to come fromthat farm land on the shelves
or it has to go to a warehousefirst and then it's further than
transported to the supermarket,the food miles is ridiculous.
The amount of like energy andfuel that goes into producing

(30:05):
this food.
And then you hear stories Ithink, grace, recently that you
said that you interviewed sheshared a really important topic
on her social media page aboutthe amount of food waste that
got chucked out from one ofthese recent storms and it was
perfectly fine.
It was just because theirrefrigerators went off and um,

(30:25):
and yeah, and all this, all thisperfectly fine produce that's
taken up so much resources togrow, it has just been turfed
where it could have gone tocharities to be able to put it
to use.
You know so.
Or or just yeah, give it away,like just yeah, but I don't know
.
It's a big problem that we'refacing here, nationally and

(30:46):
globally.
Like I said, food waste ismassive.
I think it's one of our biggesttopics that we need to
definitely try to bring to thesurface and get that problem
solved.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
I couldn't agree more .
It is quite confronting when welook at the statistics and the
information around that, it'squite eye-opening.
So back to your garden.
Could you share with us some ofyour biggest triumphs?
What's something that you'remost proud of about your garden
at the moment?

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Triumphs at the moment, yeah, trying to just
trying to think of the biggesttriumph not having bandicoots
ruin and scratch up all yourgardens.
That was a challenge, fencingthese little critters, because
you don't experience them whenyou're living in the city.
But yeah, as soon as we got outout here, I was so naive and

(31:46):
gullible to like start gardenbeds without even having them
fenced, and then, and then Icome out and there's like holes
everywhere and all my seedlingsare all turned over and they're
all uprooted and you're like, ohmy god, what are we dealing
with here?
I thought it was, was likerabbits, and then I started and
I was going out at night timeseeing the bandicoots running
around.
So, yeah, so to get a win overthem and actually to be getting

(32:07):
some produce coming in thathasn't been destroyed before you
had a chance to pick it, that'sa bit of a triumph, yeah.
But yeah, look, I think justfor most gardeners is picking
that fresh, ripe tomato thathasn't been the same thing
that's been destroyed, or eatenby a bird, or a grub's gotten
into it, or blossom, end, rot,the list goes on.

(32:30):
You know like tomatoes can bereally tricky to perfect and you
know exactly the right growingconditions that they need and
then you put them under your netor your bag.
The fruit you can start to pullin some really good, really

(32:50):
good tomatoes and that's a goodwin, I think for most gardeners?

Speaker 1 (32:52):
yeah, I agree, I think everybody loves growing
their own tomatoes.
Do you have any secrets aroundgrowing tomatoes that you'd like
to share, or something thatyou've found really helpful, any
secrets around growing?

Speaker 2 (33:02):
tomatoes that you'd like to share or something that
you've found really helpful.
One thing I struggled with thisgrowing season was airflow.
I was growing them out in fullsun.
They do need to be out in fullsun.
If you're trying to grow themin shade, it's not going to work
.
They're a crop that needs fullsun, but airflow is really
important.
So I had them probably spaced alittle bit close to each other.

(33:23):
I was trying to pack as muchinto the particular garden bed
where I had them grown and I wastrialing a different method.
So I was trialing them up likesome string line, but instead of
getting them to grow right upto the top, I was kind of like
leaving the leaders down a bitlower and I think I left them

(33:44):
too low to the ground for toolong.
So when we had some real big,heavy rain, I think a lot of
that rain was then splashingdown onto the soil.
The soil then might have hadsome fungal spores in there and
then all of a sudden, I startedgetting black spot and a lot of
those fungal issues thattomatoes can experience, start
getting black spot and a lot ofthose fungal issues that
tomatoes can experience, and theplants are still in the ground,
but I haven't been able tocombat the fungal diseases.

(34:07):
That's gone straight through.
So yeah, diseases are tricky tomanage.
You've just got to basicallyjust keep picking, like pulling
off all those affected leavesand you've got to bag them and
actually get them off site.
You need to put them in the bin.
A lot of people say that youcan't compost it as well,
because the spores are stillgoing to be able to survive

(34:28):
through the compost process andthen just protecting the fruit.
Pretty much You've got fruitfly are probably the biggest
pest for tomatoes, and the grubsthat can get inside them, the
caterpillars that can get insidethem as well.
So, yeah, just those exclusionbags are going to be your best

(34:48):
friend pretty much.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
So yeah, they are handy and I like how you pointed
out that removal of thoseplants that are affected by
fungal diseases is the best key,because it does it spreads.
You know, a strong wind blowsthrough, it can easily spread
from one plant to another, so Ithink that's really vital
information for people to beaware of as well.

(35:10):
It's not uncommon with tomatoeseither, unfortunately.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
Exactly Like I was almost ready to give up on the
whole lot of the tomato, likethe whole garden bed.
All the plants went downhill,they stopped flowering, they
stopped all the growing tips,really were struggling, and I
was just just about ready tosnip the whole lot out and pull
them all out.
But I started treating theproblem.
First I was being beingobservant, going out there and

(35:35):
observing what's going on.
You're then able to then readthe plant, that the plant will
tell you what what it needs,basically if it's deficient in
something or if it needs somemore water or if there's a
certain disease that's affectingit.
So I was able to identify thatit was the fungus straight away.
So I just spent a good coupleof days just going through every
day, going out there, pickingall the leaves off, and as soon

(35:57):
as I'd done that, I gave them agood feed and a liquid feed and
they came back and they're nowproducing a second flush of
tomatoes.
So yeah, had I not persevered,I wouldn't be still getting
tomatoes now, I would have justbeen left short.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
So yeah, Perseverance is key, and could you please
explain for us just for anybodywho might not be so sure of
identifying fungal disease whatthat actually looked like in
your tomatoes, how youidentified it?

Speaker 2 (36:25):
Certainly, yeah, so it's always going to start lower
down, the lower leaves that areclosest to the ground level,
and I think there is a couple ofdifferent types.
You've got like there's theblack spot which I was
experiencing, but you've alsogot early blight and a lot of
them can kind of look the same.
They're all going to do thesame kind of damage.
They got.

(36:46):
They're all there.
They're there to attack theplants and they're going to shut
them down and feed off theplants.
So you've got it.
You've got to remove thoseleaves.
So you've got to lookunderneath the leaves as well.
Sometimes the top surface ofyour leaves can look nice and
green and healthy, butunderneath they might be having
those little spores.
So your best just to basicallystrip the leaves right down

(37:07):
before it continues to spread.
So you may not be able tocontrol it completely, but
removing majority of those worseaffected leaves is going to
help the plant to be able torebounce back.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
Excellent, thank you.
So, while you're out in thegarden and you're applying these
things, is there anything thatyou have found absolutely
indispensable?
That could be a garden tool ora certain method that you
weren't using previously andhave now employed?

Speaker 2 (37:38):
The method of gardening is definitely mulch.
Uh, the method of gardening isdefinitely mulch.
I, I'm I'm a big advocate forhaving mulch um over across your
top surface of your soil ratherthan leaving soil exposed.
Uh, I think that it just itjust kills off that the life in
your, in your soil you've workedso hard to to get the microbes
and and your soil ecology sohealthy.

(38:00):
And to leave it bare andexposed and have it completely
cooked in summer, it justdoesn't make sense to me.
But it can be a catch-22.
You know that's where it canharbour, yeah, excess moisture
and you can have disease andfungal issues that can come from
your mulch as well.
So trying to apply the rightlayer of top dressing as well is

(38:25):
quite tricky, and some cropsdon't benefit from being mulched
.
Like when you think aboutcarrots.
You can plant them that closelytogether that you can avoid the
need to mulch.
But a tool, as you said before,like what piece of equipment?
Pretty much your hands, yourhands, are tools, right.
Like, sometimes, instead ofgoing and getting a trowel and

(38:48):
you're putting like seedlings inthe ground, I just get my hands
and you just use your hands andyour fingers and you just dig a
hole with your hands, likethey're our best tool, I think,
in getting the job done.
But if I had to pick anotherpiece of equipment, a nice, good
, sharp pair of secateurs isdefinitely probably my go-to.

(39:09):
You can spend hours of fungoing out there and you just put
your secateurs in your holderand you go out there and you can
do so much pruning andneatening up, improving airflow
and light as well.
To come through for certaincrops with a pair of secateurs,
yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
You can get quite in the zone doing that too.
It can be quite meditative onceyou start snipping away and
seeing it take form.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
I do.
I find it very meditative goingout into the garden and in that
right time of the morning, andit's your own time, to have that
, your peace of mind and quiet,and listen to the birds.
And you're right, you can getcarried away for hours.
You go out there just with theintention, just to pick a couple
of fresh herbs for dinner andall of a sudden you find that
you've been out there for likean hour weeding and you're like

(39:57):
well, what did I come out herefor?

Speaker 1 (40:00):
I get that, I do.
I like what you said about yourhands as well, because there's
a whole world of benefitsgetting your hands in the soil,
all those microbes and just goodfor the soul.
I find I really like thatanswer to that as your favorite
garden tool and I'm going to useit.

Speaker 2 (40:18):
Definitely, definitely, and I think you know
definitely when you're usingyour hands.
Look, some gardeners like theidea of using gloves and others
prefer to go, you know, bareback.
I'm not really a glove person,but I can see the reasons why
people do wear them.
You've got to be wary thatwe've got a lot of like spiders

(40:38):
as well that can be living undermulch, and I did see last year,
I think, a gardener on onInstagram.
She got bitten by a spider notwearing gloves and and she must
have had an allergic reaction toit and she was in hospital for
a few weeks.
So, yeah, you know, you've gotto be, you've got to be, you've
got to be wary.
You've just got to be verycautious of your, of your
surroundings.

(40:59):
But now I like to, I like togarden without gloves.
I think the connection, uh, thatwe have with healthy soil um,
it plays a a big role in ourmental health, um that there has
been some books that I've read.
There was a guy over in americawho wrote a book, um, I think
it was something to do with,yeah, getting your hands dirty

(41:20):
or something like that and uh,and his that and his book
basically summed up that themicrobes, the connection that we
have with our microbes.
It can come through and it canimprove our gut health by that
connection that we have withgood, healthy soil.
So, yeah, that's the importancethat I think of.
You know, not using glovesbasically is to sort of.

(41:43):
You know, you still wash yourhands when you come in.
You get a bit of dirt underyour fingernails, as we all do.
We always get a bit of dirt onour hands when you're gardening.
But I think that connectionwith the soil really brings us
back to our ancestral roots ofhow we used to live off the land
.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
Yeah, Very well said and it plays a role as well in
the differences between buying,you know, large supermarket
chain food and growing your own.
We don't get as much of thatconnection with the soil with
the supermarket food, do we Not,as much as growing our own and
getting out there and eating thefood from our own garden.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
Oh, totally, you know you would think about the types
of soil that is produced on amass, on the mass scale on those
big farms.
I don't think there'd be a lotof life in that soil whatsoever.
It's all synthetic fertilisersthat keep those crops going and
then we're consuming the foodthat's being grown in that

(42:40):
inorganic fertilizer.
So, yeah, I think definitelydoing it how nature intended is
the way.
How more of us should bethinking and the more of us that
are out there growing our ownfood at home and sharing it,
sharing that bountiful ofproduce.
When you do get a gluck withothers as well, it just further

(43:02):
grows.
That grows that web and thatconnection between us all, I
think yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Beautiful.
I certainly agree with that.
So, beyond more peopleconnecting with each other and
the produce swap and things likethat, is there anything that
you'd like to see more of in thegardening realm?

Speaker 2 (43:21):
Is there anything that you'd like to see more of
in the gardening realm?
I think community gardens are abig, important asset to city
life when you've got people youknow a huge amount of our
population that live in citiesnow and you know they're growing
and you've got apartments andvillas and townhouses that don't
offer the growing space likewhat a normal suburban backyard

(43:43):
can.
So I think a community gardenis a really good way to get out
there and get started, evenbefore you want to waste the
time in, you know going out andbuying the pots and then all the
soil and then trying to growthese seedlings.
And if you go to a communitygarden, you can learn from
others that have already.
You know a few steps ahead, canlearn from others that have
already.
You know a few steps ahead ofyou and you're connecting with
other people around your area.

(44:05):
Um, and and yeah, I think that'sa great way.
I think that's a great way toget started, um and yeah, so I
think councils, the councilshires that are backing to
support community gardens, whicha lot of them are, I know.
I know newcastle um was wasquite strong in setting up a lot
of community gardens, which alot of them are.
I know Newcastle was quitestrong in setting up a lot of
community gardens.
There's quite a number of themall around the city really, so

(44:29):
you can find them and they justneed more members.
One of the community gardensthat I was working at for you
know, volunteering at for nearlya decade we just we struggled
to get good, consistent numbersto come along each working bee.
So yeah, Yep.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
Oh, so that's fantastic.
If you've been thinking aboutgetting involved with a
community garden to anyonelistening, have a Google, just
search community garden near meand see what comes up and get
involved, lend a hand and maybelearn some things as well.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
That's it.
And if you are in an area andyou don't have one, contact your
local council and find a parcelof land that's just sitting
there that they just mow everyfortnight, and take the
initiative.
Let's set one up.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
Make some noise.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
Make some noise.
Make some noise.
You can't do it solo, but get agroup of locals that might live
in your street or some otherpeople, and if you get together
and you've got a small crew totake it on, yeah, approach your
local council and put in theapplication to set one up and
you find a lot of councils willback it.

(45:36):
If you can show that there'scommunity.
They want to see if there'sgoing to be support to keep it
going.
They'll supply you with thematerials.
They'll supply you with mulchand soil and the materials to
build the garden beds.
They just need the people.
They need the interest therefor people to want to do it.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
That's it and, like you say before, when people get
involved with these things andthere are often others there a
few steps ahead we've also gotthat wealth of knowledge being
shared as well, which is reallyreally precious, especially when
it comes to gardening andthings like you know heirloom
varieties and traditionalmethods, new methods, odd tips
and tricks.
You know, I hear a lot ofreally interesting things from

(46:16):
the people I connect with in thegarden community about you know
what they put under theirtomatoes or how they're growing
zucchini vertically, for example.
It's just fascinating to getout there and learn.
So if you haven't started, itis a fantastic starting point.
I really love that you havementioned this, chris.
I think it's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
Yeah, thanks, gemma.
No, I think it's very important.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
And that's you know, even usexperienced gardeners that have
been gardening for like half ourlife you still, you never stop
learning.
You know you're learning morethings when you've got your mind
open to it and you're open towanting to learn new ways.
If you're stuck and you'restubborn in your own ways, then

(47:00):
probably, yeah, look, if you hadthat attitude and you brought
that to a community garden.
It's probably not the best wayto go into a community garden,
but I think, yeah, definitely,having some good mentors and
leadership at a community garden, structured in the right way,
can work really well, can workreally well.
But sometimes you can getpeople that personalities might

(47:24):
butt heads if they're notwilling to.
You know, listen to anotherperson and take on some other
advice from another gardener.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
yeah, so go ready with your conflict resolution
skills.
Perhaps Hopefully they won't beneeded.
So, speaking of the gardeningjourney from beginning to end
and people in the beginning oftheir gardening journey, what
advice would you give them?

(47:50):
So perhaps it could besomething you wish you could
tell yourself back in thebeginning of your journey.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
Yeah, yeah, look, one good point of advice that I
share with people starting outis just plant that seed.
So planting a seed, it allstarts from that.
When you think about it, youknow we've all come from as well
when we're born.
We've all sort of started froma seed as well when you think

(48:16):
about it.
So you know when you go and getthat new packet of seeds, or if
you order one online, or ifsomeone's shared a packet of
seeds with you that they'vegrown through generations, it
all starts from that.
And I think that's where thegardening journey and that bug
sort of starts from, and youstart from there.

(48:36):
If I was to tell myself a pieceof advice from when I was first
starting out, hmm, that's agood one.
If I went back sort of 14 yearsto tell Chris, I don't know, I
can't think of something rightnow, but I'm sure it will come
to me once we're finished on thecall.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
Oh, it's always the way.

Speaker 2 (49:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know, I don't really like
to look back at the past or toofar in the call.
Oh, it's always the way.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know,I don't really like to look
back at the past or too far inthe future.
I'm living life at the momentand try to live life in the
present, and I think, beingpresent right now, we're more
focused and in tune of what'sgoing on.
You definitely have to rememberthings that happened in the
past and remember failures.

(49:23):
When you're gardening or justin general life, you still need
to look back at where you'vecome, where you've come from as
well, but don't plan too far inthe future as well, because then
you become fixated on thefuture.
So, yeah, that's my philosophyat the moment is just live day
in, day out, be present, bepresent with your kids, be

(49:44):
present with your garden,observe.
You know what's going on aroundyou and you're more in tune,
that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
I really like that to be present, and not just with
the garden, but in all themoments in your life.
I think that's a reallybeautiful philosophy.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
Yeah, definitely, I think you start a really
beautiful philosophy.
Yeah, definitely, I think youstart to really appreciate life
a lot more.
You know when you actually,when you stop and you're present
and you're looking around you,just you appreciate those
special little moments.
You know, like I'm just sittinghere looking outside at the
moment, I'm just seeingbutterflies, you know, bouncing
and hopping all around and birdsjumping all through the trees

(50:23):
and it's like, yeah, it's justsimple things like that, but
it's life.
Well, I'm here and I'm seeingother life around you and that's
where I found that it was hardto get that living in the city,
some places start to become sosterile and depleted of life
other than our own life.

(50:43):
So, yeah, being out in thecountry has been a good change
in our lifestyle and gettingsome fresh air and, yeah, it
really connects you.
It connects you to yourenvironment and I feel very much
a part of the land.
The more I'm out here and I'mwalking barefoot and I'm
gardening bare hands yeah, Ifeel connected as one with the
whole land.
The more I'm out here and I'mwalking barefoot and I'm

(51:04):
gardening bare hands, yeah, Ifeel connected as one with the
whole land and I'm kind of thatcustodian of our parcel of land
here now to care for it andbring it into the next journey
and chapter of what's ahead.
I don't know where it's goingto lead to from here in the next
few years, the next 10 years.
It'd be interesting to lookback at photos of what the land

(51:25):
was like when we first startedhere.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
I have seen one video on your Instagram that
demonstrated what it was likeearly on in comparison to what
it's like now.
So when you mention that theyare fantastic to get before and
after photos, that's a great bitof advice as well for other
gardeners out there.
Don't forget your before andafter photos.
That's a great bit of advice aswell for other gardeners out
there.
Don't forget your before andafter pictures.

Speaker 2 (51:47):
Exactly exactly.
That's a piece of advice that Iwould give to someone starting
out.
If you've got a new blankcanvas or you're looking at
starting on, you know,reconverting like changing over
an overgrown garden space andyou want to do something a bit
different, take a couple ofphotos of what it currently
looks like and then it gives yousomething to look back on and

(52:09):
it's also a good reminder thenin time that you shouldn't beat
yourself down and feel bad thatyou haven't achieved anything or
it hasn't turned out and lookedthe way how you wanted it to
look, or you feel defeatedbecause the crops didn't grow
right.
When you, when you take thatstep back in time, you go back
and look at like how it was whenyou first started, then you can

(52:31):
you should be able to giveyourself a pat on the back and
go, hey, look at what I haveachieved, look at it.
Has take things.
Things take time to mature, youknow so, um, yeah, you know
you're not going to achieve whatyou want overnight.
It's going to take time.
Sometimes it takes like a gooddecade, like our last place that
we're at.
Uh, it was a good decade untilour garden was like really in

(52:53):
churn and and and all the insectlife and the beneficial um
insects that were coming inthere were really insured by 10
years in.
The whole system was takingcare of itself almost
organically without having touse no sprays like right from
the beginning.
We started right at thebeginning not using any harmful

(53:14):
chemicals and yeah, and we'veseen that evidence looking back
at it on time.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
So yeah, oh, that's excellent.
And again it ties into thatprinciple we spoke about earlier
using small, slow solutions.
It's about patience andlearning and not having that
expectation, letting go of thatneed for control and just
enjoying the journey.

Speaker 2 (53:37):
Yes, enjoy the journey.
I like that.
Yeah, definitely enjoy it,because we're only here to live
once, right?
So why try to replicate and dosomething just because someone
else is doing it and try to dosomething the same way?
That may suit that other person, but it may not suit you.
So choose your style of how youwant to garden.
Some like it really nice andneat and up in raised beds and

(54:02):
being in control, and then otherpeople like that style of doing
the whole food.
For us like pick and choosewhat you like to do and what
works for your lifestyle,because we don't all have the
same amount of hours each day togive.
So, yeah, you've got to makesure that it fits in with your
schedule, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
That's very true, Chris.
Is there anything that youwould have liked to discuss or
mention today that I haven'tasked you about?

Speaker 2 (54:30):
Oh, another good question.
I'm just trying to think MaybeI'll throw a question back to
you, maybe if you want to ask mea question on something that
you would like to know about mylifestyle here, or something
just in general may not even begardening related, or something
that you may not have even seenon my social media, that might

(54:52):
be interested to know.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
Yeah, yes, actually you mentioned how everybody has
different amounts of time forthe garden.
I am curious how much timeroughly would you say you spend
per week on average in yourgarden.

Speaker 2 (55:09):
That's a good one.
It definitely outbalances howmany hours I'm working a week at
the moment.
So my sort of working weekbefore we moved here I was
working roughly about sort of 42, 43 hours a week and I've cut
down my work hours to about sortof 16 to 18 hours a week
roughly Working out on theproperty.

(55:30):
I reckon I'd be doing like a 60to 70, maybe 80 hour work weeks
, like I work seven days a weekbecause it's just what I love
doing.
It's like I'm up like sixo'clock in the morning and I do
a few hours outdoors before evenstarting my actual sort of work
that I'm doing, and then onceI've finished that and sometimes

(55:50):
during summer I'm out stilloutside like 7, 30, 8 o'clock,
you know still watering orweeding or planting something or
putting a new fruit tree in theground and yeah.
So the hours, just they justrack up and I think you lose
track of how many hours you'veactually put into the whole
project.
It's just that labor of love.
I'm sure one day I'll all burnout.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
Hopefully not, but it doesn't feel like work when
you're doing what you love, doesit?

Speaker 2 (56:17):
It sure doesn't.
No, no, when you're doing it,you've got the sun on your back
and you're sweaty, but you getto the end of each day and you
just still wake up the nextmorning.
You just still want to wake upand do it again.
It's something that gets me outof bed and I think that's very
important for me is I've gotsomething that I need to do

(56:38):
outside and that's kind of whatgives me that initiative to get
up and to keep going each day.
Yeah, yeah, I think that's whatwe all need a driver that's
going to drive us, to get us outof bed.
And, yeah, keep us going, havethat fuel to keep us going.

Speaker 1 (56:56):
Yeah, and it's a great motivation.
So, Chris, for any of ourlisteners that want to find out
more about you or what you do,well, have a look at some of
these things on your Instagramthat we've discussed.
There's some lovely photographs.
There's lots of information upthere.
Where can they find you or findout a bit more about you?

Speaker 2 (57:15):
Yes, I'm most active on Instagram Page.
Name is Green Thumb Guru andwe've set up a like a farm page
here as well, which is SimpleLife on 16 Acres, and we've also
got a YouTube channel set up aswell, connected with the Simple
Life on 16 Acres as well, butnot on Facebook.
I haven't got a Facebook pageset up for those as well.

(57:36):
So, pretty much Instagram orYouTube.
You'll be able to find me and,yeah, love you if you want to
follow along, and I'll probablyfollow along back as well and
send me a message if you wantand look forward to catching up
with any new followers thatmight be listening.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:51):
Fantastic, and not to forget those recipes you
mentioned earlier either.

Speaker 2 (57:56):
Definitely so.
Yeah, if you want thosezucchini recipes, send me over a
message and I'll get the wifeto put a list together.
And yeah, so that way we canall combat that zucchini glut
that we get.

Speaker 1 (58:07):
Fantastic, great on the team.
You and your wife Wonderful.
Thank you so much for your timetoday.
Chris Really appreciate it.
You've been wonderful to chatwith, very interesting, and I
look forward to continuing tofollow you on your socials.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
Yeah, thanks, Gemma.
Thanks for your time.

Speaker 1 (58:24):
If you haven't already been following Chris's
journey, jump onto Instagram orYouTube and check out what he's
doing.
Those accounts again.
A green thumb guru on Instagram, or simple life on 16 acres on
YouTube.
You've been listening to how IGrow, produced by the Seed in
melbourne, victoria.
It's our aim to make gardeningmore accessible to more people

(58:48):
and this podcast is one of themany ways we're doing that.
If you don't already know whowe are, jump online and visit
wwwtheseedcollectioncomau.
That address againwwwtheseedcollectioncomau.
Thanks for listening.