May 8, 2024 • 45 mins
An interview Alysse Gallagher
Instagram: @one_fine_farm @practical_permaculture
BIO: Our family Oscar/Hubbie & kids (Addie & Gus) are embarking on creating a Permaculture inspired homestead. After travelling Australia for 18 months, we are starting from scratch. We are documenting our journey to help show others what is possible.
Location: Northern NSW -Clarence Valley, Yaegl Country
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More about this episode:
Have you ever dreamed of transforming a simple plot of land into a thriving, self-sufficient homestead? Our latest conversation with Elise from One Fine Farm is an intimate look into the realities of permaculture living, where she shares her family's journey in northern New South Wales. From the careful observation of rain patterns to the ambitious plans for crop cultivation, Elise's story is a compelling tapestry of hard-won wisdom, community spirit, and a profound connection to nature.
'How I Grow' is produced by The Seed Collection Pty Ltd.
Find out more about us here: www.theseedcollection.com.au
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to how I Grow with the Seed
Collection.
My name is Gemma and today I'llbe speaking with Elise from One
Fine Farm on Instagram and thePractical Permaculture podcast.
Elise, along with her hubby andtwo children, is embarking on
creating a permaculture-inspiredhomestead.
After travelling Australia for18 months, they're starting from
scratch and documenting theirjourney to show others what's
(00:29):
possible.
Elise and her family are livingon Yagal country in a
subtropical region in northernNew South Wales.
Hi Elise, thank you so much fortaking the time to speak with
us today.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
My pleasure.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Well, thank you.
I'm really excited to bespeaking with you today and I
can't wait to learn more abouthow you grow.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah, very excited.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So, to give everyone a bit of an idea of the space
that you're starting with, elise, could you describe your canvas
, the land you're working withand why it's important to you
that you're doing this?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, sure.
So initially we were lookingfor a lot of land but we wanted
to be close to the beach.
So we're about seven, 10minutes to our local beach and
we ended up on just under anacre and a half.
So it was kind of different towhat we had in our minds, that
we first wanted to purchase, andwe did a permaculture course in
(01:27):
the back of our head thinkingwe'd have you know, 20, 30, 100
acres kind of thing.
So it's been a bit of a youknow 180 flip from what we were
first looking at.
It was all bush and they'vesubdivided the land so it has
been partially cleared, withsome big gums at the back, and
(01:49):
we've got houses or land eitherside of us where people, some of
them are vacant blocks, some ofthem are purchased and
everyone's slowly building veryheavy clay soil.
It's been raining non-stop inthe Northern Rivers area so
we've literally got just amudslide through our block
(02:10):
currently.
And besides that,infrastructure-wise, we've
connected to mains water and wehave a fence around our block so
that our puppy dogs could joinus, and we're living off-grid
pretty much in our caravan untilwe can build and set up our
gardens oh, it sounds veryexciting, genuinely a fresh
(02:32):
start.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
You have a completely clean slate to work with yes,
pretty much lots of kangaroos.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
So we're trying to, yeah, take stock of the land and
figure out, um, what some ofthe things that will be
affecting the block and what'salready there, and how that kind
of works with what we want todo.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
That observation principle of, yeah, watching a
full season cycle and seeing howit all works together with your
land.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, when we were looking at purchasing it, we
actually were camping at thelocal national park and I said
to my husband, we must look likecrazy people because it was
belting down rain one day and Iwas like, quick, get the kids,
get in the car.
And we all went to the blockbefore we even had purchased it
and sat on the block at thefront drinking coffee, watching
where the rain went and where itpulled.
(03:19):
So, yeah, definitely lots ofobservation going on and even
prior to us buying it, yeah,doing site sectors and things
like that to make sure it wasappropriate for what we wanted
to do on there.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Yeah, that might sound crazy, but it's very, very
clever.
Yeah, it's great advice too foranyone with some land looking
to do.
What you're doing is to yeah,rain, hail and shine.
Get out there and check outwhat's going on.
So you'd like to create apermaculture inspired farmstead
there.
Can you tell us what this lookslike for you?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
yeah, so we're quite new to permaculture.
I completed my PDC at Limestonein the Hunter only last year.
Permaculture has been somethingthat we've, you know, been very
interested in the last coupleof years, but we've only done
our formal training quiterecently, so it's a big journey
(04:13):
for us really, like we are noexperts and we're definitely
fumbling and learning along theway.
But I think the big thing thatI got out of our permaculture
course was to start with ourvision and our why that was
really important.
Um Brett, who does the coursewith us or who, sorry, teaches
the course um, yeah, he reallydrummed that into us.
(04:34):
So, really taking stock of whywe want to be there, what our
values are as a family, um, whatwe want the block to provide
for us, how we want to work withthe land, those kind of things
really dictated the type ofblock that we were looking at.
So we wanted something.
We ideally wanted somethingwith a bit more of a slope than
(04:58):
what we had, but we picked itbecause of the aspect.
We picked it because of theaspect.
We picked it because of itsclimate.
So, yeah, our vision reallykind of revolves around growing
enough food for us andsustaining our family.
We don't really want to beself-sufficient or self-reliant
(05:18):
necessarily.
We've kind of we had that inmind to start with, but as we
learnt more we realized thatcommunity sufficiency was
something that we were moreinterested in, and obviously
there's things that we won't beable to get in our community as
well.
So, understanding thelimitations and kind of not
beating ourselves up eitherabout the fact that you can't be
totally self-reliant orself-sufficient, but, yeah, as
(05:42):
much as possible, providingmajority of our vegetables and
some fruits for ourselves, ourfamily and we like the block to
be an income for us.
So we're looking at doing amicro farm, I guess, because
it's quite small and the back ofour block we can't actually
build on, it's all anenvironmental, environmental
(06:04):
zone.
So that'll be our zone five,where it's kind of untouched.
Um, and, yeah, looking at goinginto specific garlic varieties
that suit our climate and doinga flower farm oh lovely.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
And when you say zone five release, I understand
these uh sections of the theproperty are counted in in terms
of permaculture, so you havezone one through to zone five.
Could you explain what some ofthe zones are for those
listening who might notunderstand this?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
yeah, so it kind of starts with um, zone zero.
So zone zero is the house, um,and your homestead.
But we also talk about zonezero, zero, which is yourself,
and starting with zone zero,zero.
So you know what your needs areand your values, which is kind
of what we're talking aboutbefore, and then zone zero is
(06:56):
your homestead, so the houseitself and how you can make that
sit within the environment andyou can think about things like
aspect and wind and, you know,capturing water, those kinds of
things.
Zone one is a section closest tothe house, so they're things
that you'll visit frequently orare high needs.
(07:17):
So you know you might put yourchickens in your zone one
because you need to visit themevery single day to collect eggs
or quick pick vegetables.
You know, cut and come again,greens, your herbs, things that
you will be visiting frequently.
Zone two is kind of the nextstage out, so if you kind of
think of it like a concentriccircle, things that lead, need
(07:41):
less maintenance, but you stilldo visit them quite often.
Zone three is going into cropsand things that are almost more
commercial use or larger scalecrops.
Zone four is a semi wild area,so things in between, that kind
(08:01):
of homestead and then your bushor natural environment and then
five is that natural environmentand wilderness kind of area,
bush things that we don'tintervene in and it's part of
the natural ecosystem?
Speaker 1 (08:16):
That sounds fantastic .
It sounds like a really goodaid in helping you plan what to
put where, I should say, andespecially given that you're on
that clean slate, that's goingto come in very handy.
Yeah, excellent.
So I saw on Instagram thatyou've been getting the kids
involved with making somelasagna beds.
Could you tell our listenerswhat lasagna beds are and what's
(08:36):
required to create them?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, so we've chosen lasagna beds because we are on
clay soil so we don't want todig down and just create a big
water bowl, so we've chosen tobuild up for all of our beds.
For our lasagna beds it'spretty much just like a
long-term, slow, cold compost.
So you layer just like youwould in a compost system and we
(09:01):
try and get as much diversityas we can in our lasagna layers.
There's more traditional waysof doing it, I guess where you
do you know browns, greens,manure, those kinds of things.
But we're just doing as muchdiversity as possible.
So our greens we're looking atdoing things like green leaves,
grass clippings, any greenmaterial we can get our hands on
(09:25):
, which is kind of tricky for usbecause we don't have any
plants to be able to provide uswith our grains.
You know we don't have weeds,we don't have, you know,
pumpkins that were the pumpkinvines that we're pulling out or
comfrey or anything like that.
But those kinds of things areall things that you could put in
as your greens layer.
And then your browns are thingslike brown leaves, any straw.
(09:50):
We've got lots of mulch becausewe did take a few trees down.
So mulch, both new mulch andaged mulch that might have been
sitting there for a while.
We've got mills, timber mills,near where we are, so shavings
from the timber mill worksreally well in our context.
And then you have other thingslike seaweed, manure, coffee
(10:11):
grounds.
You know mushrooms, spentmushroom waste from when they're
making mushrooms all thosekinds of things are things that
you could layer in a lasagna bed.
And then what we do after thatis pocket plant.
So we just open up the top ofit and we put in some good
quality either topsoil or youknow well composted compost and
(10:31):
we plant into that.
So it saves us money as well,because we're not having to buy
truckloads of soil or createtruckloads of compost.
So it kind of speeds theprocess up and it is a lot
cheaper to do it that way.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I like as well that you're reaching out to the
community, looking outside thebox and you know, for example,
the shavings from the timbermill.
I think that's very resourcefuland it's a great idea just to
plant that seed for listeners.
That doesn't have to be justabout what's you know at your
feet.
You can look around.
You go and have a chat topeople in your community.
(11:04):
You'll find things like thisavailable.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Well, we've done a lot of our kind of hedge
planting and so far I've onlyspent nine dollars on some
manure that I found on the sideof the road that was pre-bagged.
Everything else we've done hasbeen free or found or foraged.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Fantastic.
So what kind of things are theythat you've done there?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, well, we were joking about on our podcast the
other day that I need to get at-shirt that says crazy seaweed
lady, because I just go to thebeach and pick up buckets and
buckets of seaweed.
So that's something that'ssuper available to us.
Definitely, check your localcouncil because there are limits
and some places you can't takeseaweed from your local beaches.
But we have a bit of a seaweedproblem at our local beach so
(11:51):
they're more than happy for usto go and collect all the washed
up seaweed.
And, like you were saying,things like going to the mills
getting timber shavings theblocks across the road from us
get slashed frequently becausenobody's built any houses there
yet.
So we get our trailer and we goacross, we pick up all the
straw, our local cafe gives usthe coffee grounds, so just
(12:15):
things like that.
Really that we're kind ofkeeping our eyes open and I
think when you start looking forthese resources you notice them
more and more.
Marketplace is a really good one.
Like we got all of our mulchbefore our trees got chopped
down from someone who was justgiving it away.
That was happy to and it hadbeen sitting there for ages, so
it was really broken down.
(12:35):
You could see all the fungiinside it.
It was, you know, all the goodstuff.
So, yeah, definitely check outMarketplace too.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Excellent, and it's a marketplace on Facebook that
you're referring to.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yes, yeah, that is good there.
I do like a browse.
So you mentioned that you weretraveling Australia for 18
months.
Was there anything along yourtravels that made you think, oh,
that's on the list for thefarmstead.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yeah for sure.
So I guess, like kind of takinga step back, the whole reason
we traveled around Australia isbecause we weren't really happy
with the life that we'd kind ofset up for ourselves in suburbia
.
We were really stressed.
We had a really big mortgage,um, yeah, it just wasn't the
kind of lifestyle that we werewanting to live, and that's kind
(13:26):
of how we went down thatpermaculture path and
discovering that.
But the whole trip was aboutfiguring out where we wanted to
live and what we wanted to doand what we envisioned for our
farmstead or homestead really.
So I mean, back when we werelooking at lots of acreage, we
were really keen to host campers, because that's something that
we were super interested in, andwe got lots of acreage.
We were really keen to hostcampers, because that's
(13:47):
something that we were superinterested in, and we got lots
of inspiration for outdoorkitchens from a lot of the hip
camps that we stayed at.
There were some epic outdoorkitchen setups and fire pit
areas.
That's definitely something inour garden that we want to
incorporate, yeah, yeah, andjust lots of people who were
(14:09):
already doing what we wanted tobe doing.
So it was cool to see howthey'd set up their garden beds,
how they'd set up, you know,vegetable washing stations, and
how they were utilizing waterand integrating different
systems on their farms, um, eventhings like, you know, feeding
and watering systems forchickens.
Like, just traveling around, wesaw so many things on different
(14:31):
properties and through meetingpeople.
So, yeah, plenty of things thatwe kind of collected ideas
along the way.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
It's a fantastic way to learn, too, through people
who have done it, and you canhopefully avoid making any
mistakes that they have so thatyou can learn from theirs.
It really is nice, yeah,excellent.
So was there anything out ofany of those that stood out the
most really inspired you themost?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I think just having access to vegetables that was
one thing that I really, reallywanted, and whenever we stayed
somewhere that had a veggiegarden, um, it just really
inspired me, uh, to want to dothat and to think about how to
do it in a way that I couldcreate the most diversity in our
(15:22):
garden, like I don't want rowsand rows of the same veggie.
We really want to have as muchpolyculture and diversity in our
veggie beds.
And after talking to peopleabout it, you know it was so
good for pest management andafter doing our permaculture
course, obviously thatreinforced all of those things
as well yeah, yeah, definitelythat companion planting and, and
(15:43):
yeah, the, like you say, thepoly crop, it's um, it's just
full of benefits you can't lose.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
So what is it that you're going to plant?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
first, speaking of planting, Well, we've actually
planted our first thing in theground, which was a mulberry
tree oh lovely, yeah, it was agift from a family member.
So we've popped that in theground and I've got a few things
potted up, some herbs.
But just before we left we'vecome on holidays.
(16:13):
This week we planted a wholeheap of or sorry, not planted.
We sowed a whole heap of seeds.
So I've got all of my seedsgerminating currently and we've
just built some garden beds, sohopefully our winter beds will
be cranking in a couple of weekstime.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Oh, fantastic.
What kind of garden beds haveyou built there?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
There's really bad termites here.
Like I love the look of thosebeautiful sleepers and stacking
them up with raised beds, but itjust wasn't a smart idea to do
that close to the house with thetermites, so we've just gotten
some recycled corrugated ironand just made the beds from
those ourselves.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Oh lovely, and they can have a beautiful rustic look
too.
I quite like how they look.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah, they're pretty.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yeah, definitely.
And again, you know recyclingthings.
It's fantastic.
Yeah, excellent.
So you've planted the mulberrytree.
Hopefully that serves you wellfor many moons to come.
But what are you most lookingforward to growing?
You mentioned on your travelsit was access to veggies, but is
there anything in particularthat you just?
(17:22):
You can't wait to get in theground and to harvest.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Well, I'm actually a sucker for natives, so not in
terms of harvesting, but I justcannot wait to get in the ground
and to harvest Well, I'mactually a sucker for natives,
so not in terms of harvesting,but I just cannot wait to have
lots of natives all around me,like acacia, and having some,
you know, grevillea and theprostrating one, that kind of
will cover all of our ground andI can't wait to just have all
of that around us.
And, you know, seeing thatencourage all the birds and the
(17:46):
wildlife.
I'm really excited for that.
But I really also want to getour cut flowers in the ground
because, you know, I just don'tthink you can have a bad day
when you can walk out and walkamongst your flowers and cut
some and bring them inside andit just makes me feel so happy.
So, besides our veggies, I'mdefinitely looking forward to
having lots of flowers around,whether it's natives or yeah,
(18:08):
our cut flowers.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Oh, that sounds lovely.
Do you have a favorite cutflower?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
um.
I love peonies, but they won'tgrow in our area oh, okay um,
but yeah, dahlias, I love those.
I just love the diversity youcan get from them.
They, they're beautiful.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
They are, yeah, quite striking, aren't they?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
And there's another sunflower that I really love.
It's like a I think it's calleda teddy bear sunflower.
You don't actually see theseeds in the middle.
I think I got it from you guysactually.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Oh, the little fuzzy ones.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yes, they're so beautiful, I love them.
So I bought a big packet ofthose, which I'm going to try
and plant a couple actually whenwe get home, to see if I can
sneak them in our climate duringwinter.
But I don't know how I'll goFingers crossed yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
So did you have much of a garden prior to setting off
on your travels when you wereliving in suburbia?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Not, really, actually I've done garden beds, raised
garden beds you know just thebirdies ones you buy from
Bunnings kind of thing butalways struggled with pest
management, you know gettingmoths and caterpillars and all
those kinds of things and aphids, and I think because I wasn't
(19:24):
really understanding you knowhow the whole thing worked
together I never really had anygreat success.
I grew up.
My grandparents all moved herefrom Croatia.
They're all immigrants, so Imean I've had a lot of
experience through themgardening and that's kind of
where I got a lot of mygardening knowledge from,
(19:45):
because you know they were beingvery frugal when they first
came and growing up they alwayshad veggie patches in garden
beds and my grandmother lovedflowers so she planted a lot of
flowers around.
But yeah, myself, no, notreally, to be honest just some
little tiny patches in oursuburban backyard, patches in
(20:06):
our suburban backyard.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Okay, so is there anything that takes you back,
like a flower or a particularplant, that takes you back to
being in the garden with yourgrandparents?
I just love hearing thesestories from people.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, my mum's mum.
We had some acreage when wekind of semi-lived with them on
and off when I was little and Ijust loved sitting in her patch
and you'd feel like as a kid youknow it's covering you entirely
, even though it probably wasn'tas big as it felt in my head
and playing with snapdragons.
(20:39):
That was one of my favoritethings to do and making them
talk and having my own littleimaginary world playing with
snapdragons.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Oh, that's really sweet.
I think those yeah suchprecious moments, and would you
say that those are the momentsthat first inspired your love of
gardening, or did that come abit later?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Yeah, definitely, especially my dad's parents.
You know they always had theveggie patch.
You know eating a beautifulripe fig straight from the tree
and having tomatoes off the vine, those kinds of things are such
core memories.
And then when you start, Ithink, becoming an adult and
(21:18):
you're buying produce yourself,especially when you have your
own children as well, you know,you kind of unlock those core
memories again.
But you also kind of question,you know, is this the best
decision health-wise for myfamily?
Can I get fresher food andhealthier food?
And when you start kind ofreassessing that once you become
(21:38):
a parent, I think it kind ofbrings you back.
And I've done that full loop asan adult now with my family
because I've wanted that and Iwant those memories for my kids
and I want those health benefitsfor my children.
So, yeah, I think our kids havebeen a massive inspiration for
us to go back down that path andkind of revisit gardening and,
(22:03):
yeah, wanting that for ourfamily.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
They're great little teachers, children and, yeah,
often inspiring us.
What are you hoping to teachthem or demonstrate to your
children through embarking onthis journey?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah, so we're actually homeschooling our kids
as well.
So I mean, they're just mylittle shadows, they're
following me around every dayand I just think that in context
, context learning is so goodfor them and they really grasp
the concepts so well and they'relearning about things that
interest them.
So pretty much anything thatthey're interested in we dive
(22:40):
into, whether it's you know howa seed starts to come up, or you
know why you treat differentseeds differently.
You know having to boil a seedor smoke to germinate a seed,
those kinds of things.
My eldest, who's five, she'sreally interested in all those
kinds of things.
And then my younger one, who'sthree.
(23:01):
A lot of our gardening stufffor him is about responsibility.
He really likes the fact thathe gets to water them and the
consequence if you don't lookafter something, and, yeah,
those kind of concepts he'sreally enjoying.
But I just think the gardenprovides them with so much
learning opportunities.
You know whether it's noticingthe bugs and talking about those
(23:25):
and life cycle, and I justthink the garden's going to be
some of the best educationthey're going to get from our
homeschooling journey.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yes, I think there is lots to learn in that and I
like how you say that yourlittle one's journey is about
responsibility, what happens ifyou don't water the plant, and
things like that.
It's the best way for them tolearn getting out there and
getting their hands in the soil.
And those memories, thoselessons, I should say they tend
to stick a lot quicker than justbeing told.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, and I mean, you know the garden provides
science for them, it providesmath.
You know we're learning aboutconservation, we're learning
about all kinds of things.
So it's not just learning aboutflowers and plants, they're
learning about all kinds ofthings.
So it's not just learning aboutflowers and plants, they're
learning about so much.
You know, we take it as anopportunity to talk about mass
and to talk about numbers and totalk about, you know so, so, so
(24:16):
many concepts.
So, yeah, it's pretty much mywhole curriculum at the moment.
Yeah, that's fantastic.
And they can't get bored.
You know they might get sick ofdoing something and they'll go
find a stick and they'll startpoking at a tree or looking at
an ant's nest or whatever it is.
So there's just so much forthem to discover.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yeah, and you can get them out there with measuring
tape as well, when it's time tomake those garden beds and plan
everything out.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Yeah, we've been measuring out our house and
pegging out the corners.
So, yeah, we've been measuringout our house and pegging out
the corners and so, yeah,they've each got their own tape
measure and they've got a littlenotepad and they write down,
you know, in their little randomlanguage that they have with
mark makings, what they'reseeing and noticing.
And they've also been, you know, getting Addie wants her own
patch.
So every time we go to thegarden centre or nursery or
(25:05):
wherever, or Bunnings, she'llfind the seeds and the the
garden aisle and she's like,okay, I want a rose in my patch.
And you know, for a five yearold, she knows so many different
plants, um, and their names.
And, yeah, she blows me awaywith the knowledge that she's
accumulated oh, that's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
That, that is really wonderful.
I hope she gets her roses inher patch.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah, it's going to be the most random patch in our
garden, but you know, go for it.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Why not?
Why not?
It's good to be creative.
So you mentioned teaching yourdaughter why you might boil or
smoke some seeds.
Could you explain that a littlebit further for our listeners,
who might be a bit curious?
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Yeah, sure.
So seeds all need differentthings to germinate.
Really, I mean, most of theseeds that we're used to you pop
in the ground and you know.
Sure, there might be adifferent depth that you might
plant it to, but for the mostpart you can plant them and
they'll pop up.
But yeah, some seeds are veryparticular, so you know you
(26:10):
might need to scratch thesurface of the seed to encourage
it to germinate.
Some seeds like being soaked inwater or put in boiling water,
some, like I said you know,smoke, heat, and these are all
things that naturally occur innature.
So we're not doing it justbecause we feel like it.
(26:30):
We're doing it because we'retrying to mimic what happens in
nature.
So, like a banksia pod, thoseneed the smoke to open up and to
be able to germinate.
There's a lot of seeds that canactually just sit in the ground
.
There was a story I can'tremember where I was watching or
listening to it but theythought this particular native
(26:52):
flower in the Blue Mountains hadgone, like they thought it was
extinct.
They hadn't seen it for 20, 30years, something like that.
And then those bushfires camethrough and someone was walking
a horticulturalist and noticedthat this plant had popped back
up, so it was just sitting therewaiting for the right
conditions essentially and thatwas the bushfires so that it
(27:13):
could pop back up and germinate.
So yeah, seeds and plants areamazing and some of them are
very fussy, needy little things,but definitely amazing to see
nature in action.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
It is.
It's incredible, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
There's many different methods too.
They all need, as you say,different things, some things,
but particularly Australiannatives.
They're a finicky bunchsometimes.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
And I find the plants that you can't necessarily
propagate from easily, likenatives, you know.
Not all of them you cantransplant or, you know, take a
hardwood cutting.
They seem to be the ones withvery particular needs when it
comes to their seed germination.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yeah, I would agree with that.
So, elise, what's somethingthat you would like to see more
of in the gardening realm?
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Oh, that's a good question.
I think people are just havinga go.
I think sometimes people getvery disheartened when a plant
dies or they're not successfulin a certain crop or it gets
smashed by bugs or somethinglike that.
But I think it's a way for usto really learn and instead of
(28:28):
just being like, oh you know,I've got a black thumb and I
can't garden, it's just kind ofpushing past that barrier and
understanding that you knowyou're getting feedback from the
garden and the environment andtaking that on, maybe just doing
a bit more research.
You know we do a lot ofresearch as to what things need
before we put it in the ground.
(28:49):
It helps us be more successful,but we're still going to have
failures.
Um, you know, I, like I saidbefore, I was trying to
transplant some natives thatwere growing in our back area.
I thought, oh yes, I'll digthese up.
There were little pups that hadcome up of some acacias.
I thought I'll just dig them up, put them them in a pot, like
it cost me nothing, it's just abit of my time and they all died
(29:10):
.
There was about 20 of them.
They all died.
None of them liked beingtransplanted.
So that's not going to go in ourhedge from our block, but you
know, it was worth a go and eventhough I failed, it's Maybe I
could do a different method, ormaybe it's just not a plant that
doesn't like being transplanted.
So, yeah, I think that'ssomething that we really need to
(29:33):
remember, especially when we'reat the beginning of our
gardening journey that you'regoing to have a lot of failures
and it's not a good reason.
Well, I don't think it's a goodreason to give up, that you
could kind of keep trying andtry different things and learn.
And, especially, it's a goodopportunity to connect, like,
either with local gardeninggroups or your neighbor or your
local nursery, um, because, yeah, I think gardening requires
(29:58):
connection with other people,like that's a massive part for
me of how we learn, um.
So, yeah, very true.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
I think that's a very valid point.
We we tend also to learn a lotmore from our losses in some
instances than we than we dofrom our successes.
So it's not a bad thing to tohave a failure, of loss of a
plant or something like that,because you've learned from it.
So it actually it makes you abetter gardener, so so keep at
it.
For sure.
Yeah, so is there.
(30:28):
You mentioned that you had afew little garden beds before
you set off around Australia.
Is there something that you'vegrown before that really
challenged you?
Speaker 2 (30:41):
I've always struggled with carrots Isn't that a
random thing?
But I'm so bad at growingcarrots, I don't know why.
I've tried to make the soilmore loose and sandy.
I've tried.
You know, you can get thecarrots now in the strip packets
from Bunnings, where they'reall, like you know, separate.
I just I can't.
(31:02):
I can't grow carrots.
I'm going to give it a red hotgo this season, but so far I
have had zero success at growingcarrots.
They're like the size of mypinky nail and have all this
greenery.
They have all this greenery andI pull them out and they're
just not.
They're not even.
They're nothing.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Oh goodness, so that's unlucky.
Perhaps some yeah checking thesoils, perhaps, and perhaps, and
yeah, seeing if you can changethat script a little bit this
season, I think that'll be good.
Uh, what about something atleast that you would you sort of
have uh bragging rights foranything that you've had great
(31:42):
success growing?
Speaker 2 (31:44):
no, not from, not from my little garden beds, i't
think.
Actually, we did a bit ofgardening at my mum's so we
moved to my mum's house once wesold our house and we moved
there during COVID lockdown sowe had a lot of time to garden
and be outside and yeah, I thinkI mean typical summer crops,
(32:06):
but our tomatoes and ourzucchinis went gangbusters and
they were delicious.
So I mean they're not reallybragging rights because
everybody can grow bloody.
You know zucchinis and tomatoes.
But they were good, they weregood.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Oh good, Do you have a favourite recipe for them?
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Oh, I love to pickle zucchinis, actually because it's
one of those glut yeah, glutveggies that you get so much of
and you can't possibly eat thatmany, so my favorite thing to do
with zucchinis is to picklethem.
So we pickle them just like youpickle cucumbers pretty much,
and we have them on sandwichesand with breakfast.
Um, and the other thing that Ilove, and everybody seems to
(32:50):
love, is a chocolate zucchinicake or chocolate zucchini cake
oh my gosh, you don't even knowthe zucchinis in there, like I
know some healthy recipes.
You know you can do likebeetroot brownies, but you can
tell the beetroots in there, oryou know the sweet potato
brownies.
This chocolate cake is amazing.
You would have no idea thatthere's any zucchini in there
(33:11):
and it just kind of two wholezucchinis go in there.
So it's a great way to get ridof them, or especially those
extra big zucchinis that youknow you don't want to cook
because they just taste awful.
You just grate it up and put itin this chocolate cake and it's
amazing, oh we might have toshare one of the recipes for
that on your socials, I think.
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
I'd like to give that a whirl.
Yeah, fantastic.
What about gardening tools?
When it came to things you usein the garden, did you find
there was anything in particularthat was just really
indispensable for you?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Not indispensable necessarily.
I'm a big like get your handsin the dirt kind of gal, but
from our permaculture course Ithink I really learned that
using the right tool for theright job is really important.
And also, you know, I love thelook of all the old wooden
beautiful tools you can get.
But when you're in the gardenfor hours at a time, I think
(34:09):
when you go to buy the tool,it's really important to make
sure that it's ergonomic for youbut also that it's lightweight.
For certain things you reallywant a lightweight tool.
So at the moment I'm loving myFisker fork because it's great
for the hay, it's great for evenpicking up our mulch and I've
(34:30):
been doing so many loads backand forth with the wheelbarrow
to build up our lasagna bed.
So I love that and it's super,super light and I couldn't
imagine doing it with a big,heavy fork or doing it with a
big wooden one because I just,yeah, it would be so much harder
on my body.
So, yeah, I definitely thinkcertain tools, you really want
(34:51):
them to be light and you wantthem to be ergonomic for you.
I do love my beautiful littlehandheld trowel with the
beautiful wooden handle which myhusband very cheekily used to
mix concrete the other day and Iwas not happy about that and I
(35:15):
think those things are beautiful, like they can be real heirloom
items.
But for your bigger tools, Ithink definitely the weight
outweighs the beauty of whenyou're using them and making
sure that they're not too heavyand they, yeah, you can work
with them all day long yes, yes,that's good advice.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Um, has there been anything, along your gardening
journey at least, that you neverexpected to learn?
Speaker 2 (35:34):
and that doesn't have to be about the garden just
having come from the gardensomehow yeah, I think I never
really realized, like I knewnature made me happy and being
outdoors, but how much comfortand how much joy the garden
really brought me.
You know I mentioned COVIDlockdown.
That was a massive thing for us.
(35:55):
We'd have a cup of tea and we'dwalk around the two acres at my
mum's and, you know, do agarden check and observe and
just do a really slow walk withour cup of tea or coffee,
noticing things being out there.
Yeah, and I think it reallytaught me to slow down.
Part of why we took off in thecaravan was that you know, our
(36:17):
week was just go, go, go.
We were passing ships.
You know my husband would goand I'd be up with the kids and
everything.
So, yeah, I think the gardenhas definitely taught me how to
slow down, how to be patient,how to be more mindful and in
the moment, because you know youcan't rush it, you don't have a
choice, you're working at thepace of nature.
(36:38):
So, yeah, I think the two bigthings that I got out of our
gardening journey just the joyand, yeah, that lesson to slow
down.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Yeah, that's a valuable lesson.
Thank you for sharing that.
I really love that.
I read an article once thatsaid when we're in nature, our
body actually becomes that bitcloser to homeostasis, so our
blood pressure lowers, our heartrate calms down, we become more
efficient at problem solving,we can think more effectively,
(37:12):
and I don't know the study thatwas done behind it, but it
certainly made sense to me and Ithink it says a lot in the way
of where we should be trying tospend the majority of our time.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Yeah, there's so many studies about how good it is
for our mental health.
You know grounding effects ofnature when you take your feet
off and you know you have yourfeet in sand or in soil and in
salt water particularly.
They're all things that arereally, really beneficial for
our mental health.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
Definitely definitely .
Get out there and get yourhands and feet dirty guys.
Get out there and get yourhands and feet dirty guys.
So is there anything else?
Elise, pivotal moments alongyour journey that you feel
deserve a bit of focus?
Along my gardening journey uh,yeah, it can be your gardening
journey or your your travelswhile you're looking for your
(38:03):
land yeah, I actually think ourpermaculture course was like a
massive eye-opener for me.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Um, so, brett, at Limestone you can go for a tour,
you can do an intro course, youcan do PDCs and then he does
specific courses.
So I started off by just doing,um, a weekend tour.
So we went for a couple hoursand he kind of gives you a run
around his garden becausethere's just so much to see.
And then from there I went anddid the intro course and every
(38:36):
time I went, you know, there wasjust so much more knowledge I
gained from being there.
And then, once we enrolled inthe PDC and made that investment
, yeah, I just think Brett andLimestone have been such a
massive part of my journey.
And then he has an alumni groupon Facebook and so, yeah, he
(38:57):
just seems so entwined intoeverything that we're doing at
the moment.
He's such a valuable resourceto me.
You know, he's a bit of a mentor.
He's the reason why I have thepodcast with my co-host, joe,
because I met Joe at thepermacult course.
So, yeah, I think that momentand meeting him and I don't even
(39:20):
know how I heard aboutLimestone and was first
introduced to him and hisbusiness, but, yeah, him and his
garden and the connections andpeople I've met through that
course have just been soinfluential in some of the
decisions that we've made forour family, for our block, for
our garden, for our life.
(39:41):
So, yeah, it's been a massivething for us to come across him
and and his garden, his family.
You know his wife works withhim and she does all of the
kitchen and feeding of thestudents.
And Nikki is just such a whiz,you know they have a mainly
gluten-free diet and mainlysugar-free and the stuff she
(40:01):
does with food and vegetables isjust amazing.
And his daughter works withthem too.
So, yeah, I think just thatthey're a family business doing
what they do and that in itselfis very inspiring for us because
we want to turn our propertyinto a business that can sustain
not just me but also my husbandand the fact that our kids are
(40:23):
homeschooling, so inevitablythey're going to be part of that
process.
So, yeah, I think that kind ofmoment and journey has been
really pivotal in where we areright now.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
It encompasses a lot, doesn't it?
Permaculture it's not justabout the garden people may
assume, but it really makes youlook at your life as a whole and
all different levels of how youapproach it.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Yeah, well, it rolled in the course, or in the first
intro course, thinking oh, youknow, I'll learn how to grow
carrots a bit better, you knowI'll do this permaculture garden
thing.
But yeah, it's a design system.
That's what it really is.
It's a way of systems thinking.
It's not just about the garden,or um, yeah, it's, it
(41:10):
encompasses so, so much andworking with nature rather than
against it.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
I think we find ourselves more and more
sometimes, you know, as aspecies fighting nature rather
than working with it, and thingsare so much more productive
when we we go with the flow.
We work with nature's rhythms.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Yeah, and permaculture is also about
ethics and about people care andabout caring for the planet.
So, yeah, it's not just aboutour gardens.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Exactly, yeah, it's very true.
So what about, like, speakingof you know as a whole and
things like that, not just aboutthe garden?
You mentioned some as a wholeand things like that, not just
about the garden, when youmentioned some things that you
would love to include on yourblock, the fire pit being one of
them.
So you must have seen a fewdifferent things.
Is there anything unusual orwacky that you'd like to try in
(42:03):
your garden space?
Speaker 2 (42:05):
No, I'm very practical kind of person.
I'm very into aesthetics, so Iwant it to be really beautiful.
I love Hugh Richards over inWales, like I love his look of a
kitchen garden and you know I'dlove to have some big arches
and things like that.
I think probably the quirkiestthing that we want to have is
(42:26):
that I love cottage gardens butI want to try and emulate a
cottage garden with natives asmuch as possible.
I'm sure there'll be mixedplantings in there, but try and
create more of a native cottagegarden to the best of my ability
.
I'd love to do that, but yeah, Ithink it will be fairly
traditional looking, fairlytraditional looking.
(42:50):
The only thing I think thatwould be a bit different than
people might not be so used tois some of those permaculture
techniques where you'll beintegrating a lot more systems
and we'll be integrating thingsand really thinking about how
one system affects the other.
You know like we're not justgrowing a grapevine on our
veranda for aesthetics.
We're doing it because it givesus shade in summer and then the
leaves die and we'll get thesun in winter.
(43:12):
So we're really thinking abouthow plantings will affect how we
live in the space.
Um, so that's a big thing forus, for sure yes, definitely,
and very important too.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
Well, thank you so much for your time, elise.
It's been wonderful chattingwith you and I'm sure there'll
be plenty of real estatesearches taking place after
listening to this.
Vacant blocks no very inspiring.
Thank you so much, but beforewe sign off, could you please
share with our listeners howthey can find out a bit more
about you and how they couldfollow your journey on this
(43:47):
homestead?
Speaker 2 (43:49):
Yeah, sure.
So our very, very new journeyof our homestead and micro farm
will be mainly on Instagram OneFine Farm, which is actually a
play on what our travel accountwas, which was One Fine Van when
we were traveling around ourcaravan.
And we want to get a YouTubechannel up and running.
(44:10):
So we've been filming a lot ofcontent for that, but we
actually haven't got it up andrunning yet, because I want to
make sure that we can actuallydeliver content regularly.
And then, yeah, we have ourpodcast too, which is called the
Practical Permaculture Podcastthat I have with my co-host, jo.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Oh, fantastic.
So if you haven't already beenfollowing Elise on Instagram,
jump online and give her afollow to learn with her, as she
shares her experiences andlearning journey on this
exciting endeavour.
Also, be sure to check out thePractical Permaculture podcast.
It's got some fantasticinterviews up there, so do jump
over and have a listen.
(44:48):
That's got some fantasticinterviews up there, so do jump
over and have a listen.
You've been listening to how IGrow, produced by the Seed
Collection in Melbourne,australia.
It's our aim to make gardeningmore accessible to more people,
and this podcast is one of themany ways in which we're doing
that.
If you don't already know whowe are, jump online and visit
(45:09):
wwwtheseedcollectioncomau.
You'll find a treasure trove ofgardening information, as well
as a huge range of seeds andgarden supplies and accessories.
That address again iswwwtheseedcollectioncomau.
Thanks for listening.
You're listening to how I Grow with the Seed
Collection.
My name is Gemma and today I'llbe speaking with Elise from One
Fine Farm on Instagram and thePractical Permaculture podcast.
Elise, along with her hubby andtwo children, is embarking on
creating a permaculture-inspiredhomestead.
After travelling Australia for18 months, they're starting from
scratch and documenting theirjourney to show others what's
(00:29):
possible.
Elise and her family are livingon Yagal country in a
subtropical region in northernNew South Wales.
Hi Elise, thank you so much fortaking the time to speak with
us today.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
My pleasure.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Well, thank you.
I'm really excited to bespeaking with you today and I
can't wait to learn more abouthow you grow.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah, very excited.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So, to give everyone a bit of an idea of the space
that you're starting with, elise, could you describe your canvas
, the land you're working withand why it's important to you
that you're doing this?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, sure.
So initially we were lookingfor a lot of land but we wanted
to be close to the beach.
So we're about seven, 10minutes to our local beach and
we ended up on just under anacre and a half.
So it was kind of different towhat we had in our minds, that
we first wanted to purchase, andwe did a permaculture course in
(01:27):
the back of our head thinkingwe'd have you know, 20, 30, 100
acres kind of thing.
So it's been a bit of a youknow 180 flip from what we were
first looking at.
It was all bush and they'vesubdivided the land so it has
been partially cleared, withsome big gums at the back, and
(01:49):
we've got houses or land eitherside of us where people, some of
them are vacant blocks, some ofthem are purchased and
everyone's slowly building veryheavy clay soil.
It's been raining non-stop inthe Northern Rivers area so
we've literally got just amudslide through our block
(02:10):
currently.
And besides that,infrastructure-wise, we've
connected to mains water and wehave a fence around our block so
that our puppy dogs could joinus, and we're living off-grid
pretty much in our caravan untilwe can build and set up our
gardens oh, it sounds veryexciting, genuinely a fresh
(02:32):
start.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
You have a completely clean slate to work with yes,
pretty much lots of kangaroos.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
So we're trying to, yeah, take stock of the land and
figure out, um, what some ofthe things that will be
affecting the block and what'salready there, and how that kind
of works with what we want todo.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
That observation principle of, yeah, watching a
full season cycle and seeing howit all works together with your
land.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, when we were looking at purchasing it, we
actually were camping at thelocal national park and I said
to my husband, we must look likecrazy people because it was
belting down rain one day and Iwas like, quick, get the kids,
get in the car.
And we all went to the blockbefore we even had purchased it
and sat on the block at thefront drinking coffee, watching
where the rain went and where itpulled.
(03:19):
So, yeah, definitely lots ofobservation going on and even
prior to us buying it, yeah,doing site sectors and things
like that to make sure it wasappropriate for what we wanted
to do on there.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Yeah, that might sound crazy, but it's very, very
clever.
Yeah, it's great advice too foranyone with some land looking
to do.
What you're doing is to yeah,rain, hail and shine.
Get out there and check outwhat's going on.
So you'd like to create apermaculture inspired farmstead
there.
Can you tell us what this lookslike for you?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
yeah, so we're quite new to permaculture.
I completed my PDC at Limestonein the Hunter only last year.
Permaculture has been somethingthat we've, you know, been very
interested in the last coupleof years, but we've only done
our formal training quiterecently, so it's a big journey
(04:13):
for us really, like we are noexperts and we're definitely
fumbling and learning along theway.
But I think the big thing thatI got out of our permaculture
course was to start with ourvision and our why that was
really important.
Um Brett, who does the coursewith us or who, sorry, teaches
the course um, yeah, he reallydrummed that into us.
(04:34):
So, really taking stock of whywe want to be there, what our
values are as a family, um, whatwe want the block to provide
for us, how we want to work withthe land, those kind of things
really dictated the type ofblock that we were looking at.
So we wanted something.
We ideally wanted somethingwith a bit more of a slope than
(04:58):
what we had, but we picked itbecause of the aspect.
We picked it because of theaspect.
We picked it because of itsclimate.
So, yeah, our vision reallykind of revolves around growing
enough food for us andsustaining our family.
We don't really want to beself-sufficient or self-reliant
(05:18):
necessarily.
We've kind of we had that inmind to start with, but as we
learnt more we realized thatcommunity sufficiency was
something that we were moreinterested in, and obviously
there's things that we won't beable to get in our community as
well.
So, understanding thelimitations and kind of not
beating ourselves up eitherabout the fact that you can't be
totally self-reliant orself-sufficient, but, yeah, as
(05:42):
much as possible, providingmajority of our vegetables and
some fruits for ourselves, ourfamily and we like the block to
be an income for us.
So we're looking at doing amicro farm, I guess, because
it's quite small and the back ofour block we can't actually
build on, it's all anenvironmental, environmental
(06:04):
zone.
So that'll be our zone five,where it's kind of untouched.
Um, and, yeah, looking at goinginto specific garlic varieties
that suit our climate and doinga flower farm oh lovely.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
And when you say zone five release, I understand
these uh sections of the theproperty are counted in in terms
of permaculture, so you havezone one through to zone five.
Could you explain what some ofthe zones are for those
listening who might notunderstand this?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
yeah, so it kind of starts with um, zone zero.
So zone zero is the house, um,and your homestead.
But we also talk about zonezero, zero, which is yourself,
and starting with zone zero,zero.
So you know what your needs areand your values, which is kind
of what we're talking aboutbefore, and then zone zero is
(06:56):
your homestead, so the houseitself and how you can make that
sit within the environment andyou can think about things like
aspect and wind and, you know,capturing water, those kinds of
things.
Zone one is a section closest tothe house, so they're things
that you'll visit frequently orare high needs.
(07:17):
So you know you might put yourchickens in your zone one
because you need to visit themevery single day to collect eggs
or quick pick vegetables.
You know, cut and come again,greens, your herbs, things that
you will be visiting frequently.
Zone two is kind of the nextstage out, so if you kind of
think of it like a concentriccircle, things that lead, need
(07:41):
less maintenance, but you stilldo visit them quite often.
Zone three is going into cropsand things that are almost more
commercial use or larger scalecrops.
Zone four is a semi wild area,so things in between, that kind
(08:01):
of homestead and then your bushor natural environment and then
five is that natural environmentand wilderness kind of area,
bush things that we don'tintervene in and it's part of
the natural ecosystem?
Speaker 1 (08:16):
That sounds fantastic .
It sounds like a really goodaid in helping you plan what to
put where, I should say, andespecially given that you're on
that clean slate, that's goingto come in very handy.
Yeah, excellent.
So I saw on Instagram thatyou've been getting the kids
involved with making somelasagna beds.
Could you tell our listenerswhat lasagna beds are and what's
(08:36):
required to create them?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, so we've chosen lasagna beds because we are on
clay soil so we don't want todig down and just create a big
water bowl, so we've chosen tobuild up for all of our beds.
For our lasagna beds it'spretty much just like a
long-term, slow, cold compost.
So you layer just like youwould in a compost system and we
(09:01):
try and get as much diversityas we can in our lasagna layers.
There's more traditional waysof doing it, I guess where you
do you know browns, greens,manure, those kinds of things.
But we're just doing as muchdiversity as possible.
So our greens we're looking atdoing things like green leaves,
grass clippings, any greenmaterial we can get our hands on
(09:25):
, which is kind of tricky for usbecause we don't have any
plants to be able to provide uswith our grains.
You know we don't have weeds,we don't have, you know,
pumpkins that were the pumpkinvines that we're pulling out or
comfrey or anything like that.
But those kinds of things areall things that you could put in
as your greens layer.
And then your browns are thingslike brown leaves, any straw.
(09:50):
We've got lots of mulch becausewe did take a few trees down.
So mulch, both new mulch andaged mulch that might have been
sitting there for a while.
We've got mills, timber mills,near where we are, so shavings
from the timber mill worksreally well in our context.
And then you have other thingslike seaweed, manure, coffee
(10:11):
grounds.
You know mushrooms, spentmushroom waste from when they're
making mushrooms all thosekinds of things are things that
you could layer in a lasagna bed.
And then what we do after thatis pocket plant.
So we just open up the top ofit and we put in some good
quality either topsoil or youknow well composted compost and
(10:31):
we plant into that.
So it saves us money as well,because we're not having to buy
truckloads of soil or createtruckloads of compost.
So it kind of speeds theprocess up and it is a lot
cheaper to do it that way.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I like as well that you're reaching out to the
community, looking outside thebox and you know, for example,
the shavings from the timbermill.
I think that's very resourcefuland it's a great idea just to
plant that seed for listeners.
That doesn't have to be justabout what's you know at your
feet.
You can look around.
You go and have a chat topeople in your community.
(11:04):
You'll find things like thisavailable.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Well, we've done a lot of our kind of hedge
planting and so far I've onlyspent nine dollars on some
manure that I found on the sideof the road that was pre-bagged.
Everything else we've done hasbeen free or found or foraged.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Fantastic.
So what kind of things are theythat you've done there?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, well, we were joking about on our podcast the
other day that I need to get at-shirt that says crazy seaweed
lady, because I just go to thebeach and pick up buckets and
buckets of seaweed.
So that's something that'ssuper available to us.
Definitely, check your localcouncil because there are limits
and some places you can't takeseaweed from your local beaches.
But we have a bit of a seaweedproblem at our local beach so
(11:51):
they're more than happy for usto go and collect all the washed
up seaweed.
And, like you were saying,things like going to the mills
getting timber shavings theblocks across the road from us
get slashed frequently becausenobody's built any houses there
yet.
So we get our trailer and we goacross, we pick up all the
straw, our local cafe gives usthe coffee grounds, so just
(12:15):
things like that.
Really that we're kind ofkeeping our eyes open and I
think when you start looking forthese resources you notice them
more and more.
Marketplace is a really good one.
Like we got all of our mulchbefore our trees got chopped
down from someone who was justgiving it away.
That was happy to and it hadbeen sitting there for ages, so
it was really broken down.
(12:35):
You could see all the fungiinside it.
It was, you know, all the goodstuff.
So, yeah, definitely check outMarketplace too.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Excellent, and it's a marketplace on Facebook that
you're referring to.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yes, yeah, that is good there.
I do like a browse.
So you mentioned that you weretraveling Australia for 18
months.
Was there anything along yourtravels that made you think, oh,
that's on the list for thefarmstead.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yeah for sure.
So I guess, like kind of takinga step back, the whole reason
we traveled around Australia isbecause we weren't really happy
with the life that we'd kind ofset up for ourselves in suburbia
.
We were really stressed.
We had a really big mortgage,um, yeah, it just wasn't the
kind of lifestyle that we werewanting to live, and that's kind
(13:26):
of how we went down thatpermaculture path and
discovering that.
But the whole trip was aboutfiguring out where we wanted to
live and what we wanted to doand what we envisioned for our
farmstead or homestead really.
So I mean, back when we werelooking at lots of acreage, we
were really keen to host campers, because that's something that
we were super interested in, andwe got lots of acreage.
We were really keen to hostcampers, because that's
(13:47):
something that we were superinterested in, and we got lots
of inspiration for outdoorkitchens from a lot of the hip
camps that we stayed at.
There were some epic outdoorkitchen setups and fire pit
areas.
That's definitely something inour garden that we want to
incorporate, yeah, yeah, andjust lots of people who were
(14:09):
already doing what we wanted tobe doing.
So it was cool to see howthey'd set up their garden beds,
how they'd set up, you know,vegetable washing stations, and
how they were utilizing waterand integrating different
systems on their farms, um, eventhings like, you know, feeding
and watering systems forchickens.
Like, just traveling around, wesaw so many things on different
(14:31):
properties and through meetingpeople.
So, yeah, plenty of things thatwe kind of collected ideas
along the way.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
It's a fantastic way to learn, too, through people
who have done it, and you canhopefully avoid making any
mistakes that they have so thatyou can learn from theirs.
It really is nice, yeah,excellent.
So was there anything out ofany of those that stood out the
most really inspired you themost?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I think just having access to vegetables that was
one thing that I really, reallywanted, and whenever we stayed
somewhere that had a veggiegarden, um, it just really
inspired me, uh, to want to dothat and to think about how to
do it in a way that I couldcreate the most diversity in our
(15:22):
garden, like I don't want rowsand rows of the same veggie.
We really want to have as muchpolyculture and diversity in our
veggie beds.
And after talking to peopleabout it, you know it was so
good for pest management andafter doing our permaculture
course, obviously thatreinforced all of those things
as well yeah, yeah, definitelythat companion planting and, and
(15:43):
yeah, the, like you say, thepoly crop, it's um, it's just
full of benefits you can't lose.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
So what is it that you're going to plant?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
first, speaking of planting, Well, we've actually
planted our first thing in theground, which was a mulberry
tree oh lovely, yeah, it was agift from a family member.
So we've popped that in theground and I've got a few things
potted up, some herbs.
But just before we left we'vecome on holidays.
(16:13):
This week we planted a wholeheap of or sorry, not planted.
We sowed a whole heap of seeds.
So I've got all of my seedsgerminating currently and we've
just built some garden beds, sohopefully our winter beds will
be cranking in a couple of weekstime.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Oh, fantastic.
What kind of garden beds haveyou built there?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
There's really bad termites here.
Like I love the look of thosebeautiful sleepers and stacking
them up with raised beds, but itjust wasn't a smart idea to do
that close to the house with thetermites, so we've just gotten
some recycled corrugated ironand just made the beds from
those ourselves.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Oh lovely, and they can have a beautiful rustic look
too.
I quite like how they look.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah, they're pretty.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yeah, definitely.
And again, you know recyclingthings.
It's fantastic.
Yeah, excellent.
So you've planted the mulberrytree.
Hopefully that serves you wellfor many moons to come.
But what are you most lookingforward to growing?
You mentioned on your travelsit was access to veggies, but is
there anything in particularthat you just?
(17:22):
You can't wait to get in theground and to harvest.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Well, I'm actually a sucker for natives, so not in
terms of harvesting, but I justcannot wait to get in the ground
and to harvest Well, I'mactually a sucker for natives,
so not in terms of harvesting,but I just cannot wait to have
lots of natives all around me,like acacia, and having some,
you know, grevillea and theprostrating one, that kind of
will cover all of our ground andI can't wait to just have all
of that around us.
And, you know, seeing thatencourage all the birds and the
(17:46):
wildlife.
I'm really excited for that.
But I really also want to getour cut flowers in the ground
because, you know, I just don'tthink you can have a bad day
when you can walk out and walkamongst your flowers and cut
some and bring them inside andit just makes me feel so happy.
So, besides our veggies, I'mdefinitely looking forward to
having lots of flowers around,whether it's natives or yeah,
(18:08):
our cut flowers.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Oh, that sounds lovely.
Do you have a favorite cutflower?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
um.
I love peonies, but they won'tgrow in our area oh, okay um,
but yeah, dahlias, I love those.
I just love the diversity youcan get from them.
They, they're beautiful.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
They are, yeah, quite striking, aren't they?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
And there's another sunflower that I really love.
It's like a I think it's calleda teddy bear sunflower.
You don't actually see theseeds in the middle.
I think I got it from you guysactually.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Oh, the little fuzzy ones.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yes, they're so beautiful, I love them.
So I bought a big packet ofthose, which I'm going to try
and plant a couple actually whenwe get home, to see if I can
sneak them in our climate duringwinter.
But I don't know how I'll goFingers crossed yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
So did you have much of a garden prior to setting off
on your travels when you wereliving in suburbia?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Not, really, actually I've done garden beds, raised
garden beds you know just thebirdies ones you buy from
Bunnings kind of thing butalways struggled with pest
management, you know gettingmoths and caterpillars and all
those kinds of things and aphids, and I think because I wasn't
(19:24):
really understanding you knowhow the whole thing worked
together I never really had anygreat success.
I grew up.
My grandparents all moved herefrom Croatia.
They're all immigrants, so Imean I've had a lot of
experience through themgardening and that's kind of
where I got a lot of mygardening knowledge from,
(19:45):
because you know they were beingvery frugal when they first
came and growing up they alwayshad veggie patches in garden
beds and my grandmother lovedflowers so she planted a lot of
flowers around.
But yeah, myself, no, notreally, to be honest just some
little tiny patches in oursuburban backyard, patches in
(20:06):
our suburban backyard.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Okay, so is there anything that takes you back,
like a flower or a particularplant, that takes you back to
being in the garden with yourgrandparents?
I just love hearing thesestories from people.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, my mum's mum.
We had some acreage when wekind of semi-lived with them on
and off when I was little and Ijust loved sitting in her patch
and you'd feel like as a kid youknow it's covering you entirely
, even though it probably wasn'tas big as it felt in my head
and playing with snapdragons.
(20:39):
That was one of my favoritethings to do and making them
talk and having my own littleimaginary world playing with
snapdragons.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Oh, that's really sweet.
I think those yeah suchprecious moments, and would you
say that those are the momentsthat first inspired your love of
gardening, or did that come abit later?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Yeah, definitely, especially my dad's parents.
You know they always had theveggie patch.
You know eating a beautifulripe fig straight from the tree
and having tomatoes off the vine, those kinds of things are such
core memories.
And then when you start, Ithink, becoming an adult and
(21:18):
you're buying produce yourself,especially when you have your
own children as well, you know,you kind of unlock those core
memories again.
But you also kind of question,you know, is this the best
decision health-wise for myfamily?
Can I get fresher food andhealthier food?
And when you start kind ofreassessing that once you become
(21:38):
a parent, I think it kind ofbrings you back.
And I've done that full loop asan adult now with my family
because I've wanted that and Iwant those memories for my kids
and I want those health benefitsfor my children.
So, yeah, I think our kids havebeen a massive inspiration for
us to go back down that path andkind of revisit gardening and,
(22:03):
yeah, wanting that for ourfamily.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
They're great little teachers, children and, yeah,
often inspiring us.
What are you hoping to teachthem or demonstrate to your
children through embarking onthis journey?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah, so we're actually homeschooling our kids
as well.
So I mean, they're just mylittle shadows, they're
following me around every dayand I just think that in context
, context learning is so goodfor them and they really grasp
the concepts so well and they'relearning about things that
interest them.
So pretty much anything thatthey're interested in we dive
(22:40):
into, whether it's you know howa seed starts to come up, or you
know why you treat differentseeds differently.
You know having to boil a seedor smoke to germinate a seed,
those kinds of things.
My eldest, who's five, she'sreally interested in all those
kinds of things.
And then my younger one, who'sthree.
(23:01):
A lot of our gardening stufffor him is about responsibility.
He really likes the fact thathe gets to water them and the
consequence if you don't lookafter something, and, yeah,
those kind of concepts he'sreally enjoying.
But I just think the gardenprovides them with so much
learning opportunities.
You know whether it's noticingthe bugs and talking about those
(23:25):
and life cycle, and I justthink the garden's going to be
some of the best educationthey're going to get from our
homeschooling journey.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yes, I think there is lots to learn in that and I
like how you say that yourlittle one's journey is about
responsibility, what happens ifyou don't water the plant, and
things like that.
It's the best way for them tolearn getting out there and
getting their hands in the soil.
And those memories, thoselessons, I should say they tend
to stick a lot quicker than justbeing told.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, and I mean, you know the garden provides
science for them, it providesmath.
You know we're learning aboutconservation, we're learning
about all kinds of things.
So it's not just learning aboutflowers and plants, they're
learning about all kinds ofthings.
So it's not just learning aboutflowers and plants, they're
learning about so much.
You know, we take it as anopportunity to talk about mass
and to talk about numbers and totalk about, you know so, so, so
(24:16):
many concepts.
So, yeah, it's pretty much mywhole curriculum at the moment.
Yeah, that's fantastic.
And they can't get bored.
You know they might get sick ofdoing something and they'll go
find a stick and they'll startpoking at a tree or looking at
an ant's nest or whatever it is.
So there's just so much forthem to discover.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yeah, and you can get them out there with measuring
tape as well, when it's time tomake those garden beds and plan
everything out.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Yeah, we've been measuring out our house and
pegging out the corners.
So, yeah, we've been measuringout our house and pegging out
the corners and so, yeah,they've each got their own tape
measure and they've got a littlenotepad and they write down,
you know, in their little randomlanguage that they have with
mark makings, what they'reseeing and noticing.
And they've also been, you know, getting Addie wants her own
patch.
So every time we go to thegarden centre or nursery or
(25:05):
wherever, or Bunnings, she'llfind the seeds and the the
garden aisle and she's like,okay, I want a rose in my patch.
And you know, for a five yearold, she knows so many different
plants, um, and their names.
And, yeah, she blows me awaywith the knowledge that she's
accumulated oh, that's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
That, that is really wonderful.
I hope she gets her roses inher patch.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah, it's going to be the most random patch in our
garden, but you know, go for it.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Why not?
Why not?
It's good to be creative.
So you mentioned teaching yourdaughter why you might boil or
smoke some seeds.
Could you explain that a littlebit further for our listeners,
who might be a bit curious?
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Yeah, sure.
So seeds all need differentthings to germinate.
Really, I mean, most of theseeds that we're used to you pop
in the ground and you know.
Sure, there might be adifferent depth that you might
plant it to, but for the mostpart you can plant them and
they'll pop up.
But yeah, some seeds are veryparticular, so you know you
(26:10):
might need to scratch thesurface of the seed to encourage
it to germinate.
Some seeds like being soaked inwater or put in boiling water,
some, like I said you know,smoke, heat, and these are all
things that naturally occur innature.
So we're not doing it justbecause we feel like it.
(26:30):
We're doing it because we'retrying to mimic what happens in
nature.
So, like a banksia pod, thoseneed the smoke to open up and to
be able to germinate.
There's a lot of seeds that canactually just sit in the ground
.
There was a story I can'tremember where I was watching or
listening to it but theythought this particular native
(26:52):
flower in the Blue Mountains hadgone, like they thought it was
extinct.
They hadn't seen it for 20, 30years, something like that.
And then those bushfires camethrough and someone was walking
a horticulturalist and noticedthat this plant had popped back
up, so it was just sitting therewaiting for the right
conditions essentially and thatwas the bushfires so that it
(27:13):
could pop back up and germinate.
So yeah, seeds and plants areamazing and some of them are
very fussy, needy little things,but definitely amazing to see
nature in action.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
It is.
It's incredible, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
There's many different methods too.
They all need, as you say,different things, some things,
but particularly Australiannatives.
They're a finicky bunchsometimes.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
And I find the plants that you can't necessarily
propagate from easily, likenatives, you know.
Not all of them you cantransplant or, you know, take a
hardwood cutting.
They seem to be the ones withvery particular needs when it
comes to their seed germination.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yeah, I would agree with that.
So, elise, what's somethingthat you would like to see more
of in the gardening realm?
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Oh, that's a good question.
I think people are just havinga go.
I think sometimes people getvery disheartened when a plant
dies or they're not successfulin a certain crop or it gets
smashed by bugs or somethinglike that.
But I think it's a way for usto really learn and instead of
(28:28):
just being like, oh you know,I've got a black thumb and I
can't garden, it's just kind ofpushing past that barrier and
understanding that you knowyou're getting feedback from the
garden and the environment andtaking that on, maybe just doing
a bit more research.
You know we do a lot ofresearch as to what things need
before we put it in the ground.
(28:49):
It helps us be more successful,but we're still going to have
failures.
Um, you know, I, like I saidbefore, I was trying to
transplant some natives thatwere growing in our back area.
I thought, oh yes, I'll digthese up.
There were little pups that hadcome up of some acacias.
I thought I'll just dig them up, put them them in a pot, like
it cost me nothing, it's just abit of my time and they all died
(29:10):
.
There was about 20 of them.
They all died.
None of them liked beingtransplanted.
So that's not going to go in ourhedge from our block, but you
know, it was worth a go and eventhough I failed, it's Maybe I
could do a different method, ormaybe it's just not a plant that
doesn't like being transplanted.
So, yeah, I think that'ssomething that we really need to
(29:33):
remember, especially when we'reat the beginning of our
gardening journey that you'regoing to have a lot of failures
and it's not a good reason.
Well, I don't think it's a goodreason to give up, that you
could kind of keep trying andtry different things and learn.
And, especially, it's a goodopportunity to connect, like,
either with local gardeninggroups or your neighbor or your
local nursery, um, because, yeah, I think gardening requires
(29:58):
connection with other people,like that's a massive part for
me of how we learn, um.
So, yeah, very true.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
I think that's a very valid point.
We we tend also to learn a lotmore from our losses in some
instances than we than we dofrom our successes.
So it's not a bad thing to tohave a failure, of loss of a
plant or something like that,because you've learned from it.
So it actually it makes you abetter gardener, so so keep at
it.
For sure.
Yeah, so is there.
(30:28):
You mentioned that you had afew little garden beds before
you set off around Australia.
Is there something that you'vegrown before that really
challenged you?
Speaker 2 (30:41):
I've always struggled with carrots Isn't that a
random thing?
But I'm so bad at growingcarrots, I don't know why.
I've tried to make the soilmore loose and sandy.
I've tried.
You know, you can get thecarrots now in the strip packets
from Bunnings, where they'reall, like you know, separate.
I just I can't.
(31:02):
I can't grow carrots.
I'm going to give it a red hotgo this season, but so far I
have had zero success at growingcarrots.
They're like the size of mypinky nail and have all this
greenery.
They have all this greenery andI pull them out and they're
just not.
They're not even.
They're nothing.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Oh goodness, so that's unlucky.
Perhaps some yeah checking thesoils, perhaps, and perhaps, and
yeah, seeing if you can changethat script a little bit this
season, I think that'll be good.
Uh, what about something atleast that you would you sort of
have uh bragging rights foranything that you've had great
(31:42):
success growing?
Speaker 2 (31:44):
no, not from, not from my little garden beds, i't
think.
Actually, we did a bit ofgardening at my mum's so we
moved to my mum's house once wesold our house and we moved
there during COVID lockdown sowe had a lot of time to garden
and be outside and yeah, I thinkI mean typical summer crops,
(32:06):
but our tomatoes and ourzucchinis went gangbusters and
they were delicious.
So I mean they're not reallybragging rights because
everybody can grow bloody.
You know zucchinis and tomatoes.
But they were good, they weregood.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Oh good, Do you have a favourite recipe for them?
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Oh, I love to pickle zucchinis, actually because it's
one of those glut yeah, glutveggies that you get so much of
and you can't possibly eat thatmany, so my favorite thing to do
with zucchinis is to picklethem.
So we pickle them just like youpickle cucumbers pretty much,
and we have them on sandwichesand with breakfast.
Um, and the other thing that Ilove, and everybody seems to
(32:50):
love, is a chocolate zucchinicake or chocolate zucchini cake
oh my gosh, you don't even knowthe zucchinis in there, like I
know some healthy recipes.
You know you can do likebeetroot brownies, but you can
tell the beetroots in there, oryou know the sweet potato
brownies.
This chocolate cake is amazing.
You would have no idea thatthere's any zucchini in there
(33:11):
and it just kind of two wholezucchinis go in there.
So it's a great way to get ridof them, or especially those
extra big zucchinis that youknow you don't want to cook
because they just taste awful.
You just grate it up and put itin this chocolate cake and it's
amazing, oh we might have toshare one of the recipes for
that on your socials, I think.
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
I'd like to give that a whirl.
Yeah, fantastic.
What about gardening tools?
When it came to things you usein the garden, did you find
there was anything in particularthat was just really
indispensable for you?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Not indispensable necessarily.
I'm a big like get your handsin the dirt kind of gal, but
from our permaculture course Ithink I really learned that
using the right tool for theright job is really important.
And also, you know, I love thelook of all the old wooden
beautiful tools you can get.
But when you're in the gardenfor hours at a time, I think
(34:09):
when you go to buy the tool,it's really important to make
sure that it's ergonomic for youbut also that it's lightweight.
For certain things you reallywant a lightweight tool.
So at the moment I'm loving myFisker fork because it's great
for the hay, it's great for evenpicking up our mulch and I've
(34:30):
been doing so many loads backand forth with the wheelbarrow
to build up our lasagna bed.
So I love that and it's super,super light and I couldn't
imagine doing it with a big,heavy fork or doing it with a
big wooden one because I just,yeah, it would be so much harder
on my body.
So, yeah, I definitely thinkcertain tools, you really want
(34:51):
them to be light and you wantthem to be ergonomic for you.
I do love my beautiful littlehandheld trowel with the
beautiful wooden handle which myhusband very cheekily used to
mix concrete the other day and Iwas not happy about that and I
(35:15):
think those things are beautiful, like they can be real heirloom
items.
But for your bigger tools, Ithink definitely the weight
outweighs the beauty of whenyou're using them and making
sure that they're not too heavyand they, yeah, you can work
with them all day long yes, yes,that's good advice.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Um, has there been anything, along your gardening
journey at least, that you neverexpected to learn?
Speaker 2 (35:34):
and that doesn't have to be about the garden just
having come from the gardensomehow yeah, I think I never
really realized, like I knewnature made me happy and being
outdoors, but how much comfortand how much joy the garden
really brought me.
You know I mentioned COVIDlockdown.
That was a massive thing for us.
(35:55):
We'd have a cup of tea and we'dwalk around the two acres at my
mum's and, you know, do agarden check and observe and
just do a really slow walk withour cup of tea or coffee,
noticing things being out there.
Yeah, and I think it reallytaught me to slow down.
Part of why we took off in thecaravan was that you know, our
(36:17):
week was just go, go, go.
We were passing ships.
You know my husband would goand I'd be up with the kids and
everything.
So, yeah, I think the gardenhas definitely taught me how to
slow down, how to be patient,how to be more mindful and in
the moment, because you know youcan't rush it, you don't have a
choice, you're working at thepace of nature.
(36:38):
So, yeah, I think the two bigthings that I got out of our
gardening journey just the joyand, yeah, that lesson to slow
down.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Yeah, that's a valuable lesson.
Thank you for sharing that.
I really love that.
I read an article once thatsaid when we're in nature, our
body actually becomes that bitcloser to homeostasis, so our
blood pressure lowers, our heartrate calms down, we become more
efficient at problem solving,we can think more effectively,
(37:12):
and I don't know the study thatwas done behind it, but it
certainly made sense to me and Ithink it says a lot in the way
of where we should be trying tospend the majority of our time.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Yeah, there's so many studies about how good it is
for our mental health.
You know grounding effects ofnature when you take your feet
off and you know you have yourfeet in sand or in soil and in
salt water particularly.
They're all things that arereally, really beneficial for
our mental health.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
Definitely definitely .
Get out there and get yourhands and feet dirty guys.
Get out there and get yourhands and feet dirty guys.
So is there anything else?
Elise, pivotal moments alongyour journey that you feel
deserve a bit of focus?
Along my gardening journey uh,yeah, it can be your gardening
journey or your your travelswhile you're looking for your
(38:03):
land yeah, I actually think ourpermaculture course was like a
massive eye-opener for me.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Um, so, brett, at Limestone you can go for a tour,
you can do an intro course, youcan do PDCs and then he does
specific courses.
So I started off by just doing,um, a weekend tour.
So we went for a couple hoursand he kind of gives you a run
around his garden becausethere's just so much to see.
And then from there I went anddid the intro course and every
(38:36):
time I went, you know, there wasjust so much more knowledge I
gained from being there.
And then, once we enrolled inthe PDC and made that investment
, yeah, I just think Brett andLimestone have been such a
massive part of my journey.
And then he has an alumni groupon Facebook and so, yeah, he
(38:57):
just seems so entwined intoeverything that we're doing at
the moment.
He's such a valuable resourceto me.
You know, he's a bit of a mentor.
He's the reason why I have thepodcast with my co-host, joe,
because I met Joe at thepermacult course.
So, yeah, I think that momentand meeting him and I don't even
(39:20):
know how I heard aboutLimestone and was first
introduced to him and hisbusiness, but, yeah, him and his
garden and the connections andpeople I've met through that
course have just been soinfluential in some of the
decisions that we've made forour family, for our block, for
our garden, for our life.
(39:41):
So, yeah, it's been a massivething for us to come across him
and and his garden, his family.
You know his wife works withhim and she does all of the
kitchen and feeding of thestudents.
And Nikki is just such a whiz,you know they have a mainly
gluten-free diet and mainlysugar-free and the stuff she
(40:01):
does with food and vegetables isjust amazing.
And his daughter works withthem too.
So, yeah, I think just thatthey're a family business doing
what they do and that in itselfis very inspiring for us because
we want to turn our propertyinto a business that can sustain
not just me but also my husbandand the fact that our kids are
(40:23):
homeschooling, so inevitablythey're going to be part of that
process.
So, yeah, I think that kind ofmoment and journey has been
really pivotal in where we areright now.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
It encompasses a lot, doesn't it?
Permaculture it's not justabout the garden people may
assume, but it really makes youlook at your life as a whole and
all different levels of how youapproach it.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Yeah, well, it rolled in the course, or in the first
intro course, thinking oh, youknow, I'll learn how to grow
carrots a bit better, you knowI'll do this permaculture garden
thing.
But yeah, it's a design system.
That's what it really is.
It's a way of systems thinking.
It's not just about the garden,or um, yeah, it's, it
(41:10):
encompasses so, so much andworking with nature rather than
against it.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
I think we find ourselves more and more
sometimes, you know, as aspecies fighting nature rather
than working with it, and thingsare so much more productive
when we we go with the flow.
We work with nature's rhythms.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Yeah, and permaculture is also about
ethics and about people care andabout caring for the planet.
So, yeah, it's not just aboutour gardens.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Exactly, yeah, it's very true.
So what about, like, speakingof you know as a whole and
things like that, not just aboutthe garden?
You mentioned some as a wholeand things like that, not just
about the garden, when youmentioned some things that you
would love to include on yourblock, the fire pit being one of
them.
So you must have seen a fewdifferent things.
Is there anything unusual orwacky that you'd like to try in
(42:03):
your garden space?
Speaker 2 (42:05):
No, I'm very practical kind of person.
I'm very into aesthetics, so Iwant it to be really beautiful.
I love Hugh Richards over inWales, like I love his look of a
kitchen garden and you know I'dlove to have some big arches
and things like that.
I think probably the quirkiestthing that we want to have is
(42:26):
that I love cottage gardens butI want to try and emulate a
cottage garden with natives asmuch as possible.
I'm sure there'll be mixedplantings in there, but try and
create more of a native cottagegarden to the best of my ability
.
I'd love to do that, but yeah, Ithink it will be fairly
traditional looking, fairlytraditional looking.
(42:50):
The only thing I think thatwould be a bit different than
people might not be so used tois some of those permaculture
techniques where you'll beintegrating a lot more systems
and we'll be integrating thingsand really thinking about how
one system affects the other.
You know like we're not justgrowing a grapevine on our
veranda for aesthetics.
We're doing it because it givesus shade in summer and then the
leaves die and we'll get thesun in winter.
(43:12):
So we're really thinking abouthow plantings will affect how we
live in the space.
Um, so that's a big thing forus, for sure yes, definitely,
and very important too.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
Well, thank you so much for your time, elise.
It's been wonderful chattingwith you and I'm sure there'll
be plenty of real estatesearches taking place after
listening to this.
Vacant blocks no very inspiring.
Thank you so much, but beforewe sign off, could you please
share with our listeners howthey can find out a bit more
about you and how they couldfollow your journey on this
(43:47):
homestead?
Speaker 2 (43:49):
Yeah, sure.
So our very, very new journeyof our homestead and micro farm
will be mainly on Instagram OneFine Farm, which is actually a
play on what our travel accountwas, which was One Fine Van when
we were traveling around ourcaravan.
And we want to get a YouTubechannel up and running.
(44:10):
So we've been filming a lot ofcontent for that, but we
actually haven't got it up andrunning yet, because I want to
make sure that we can actuallydeliver content regularly.
And then, yeah, we have ourpodcast too, which is called the
Practical Permaculture Podcastthat I have with my co-host, jo.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Oh, fantastic.
So if you haven't already beenfollowing Elise on Instagram,
jump online and give her afollow to learn with her, as she
shares her experiences andlearning journey on this
exciting endeavour.
Also, be sure to check out thePractical Permaculture podcast.
It's got some fantasticinterviews up there, so do jump
over and have a listen.
(44:48):
That's got some fantasticinterviews up there, so do jump
over and have a listen.
You've been listening to how IGrow, produced by the Seed
Collection in Melbourne,australia.
It's our aim to make gardeningmore accessible to more people,
and this podcast is one of themany ways in which we're doing
that.
If you don't already know whowe are, jump online and visit
(45:09):
wwwtheseedcollectioncomau.
You'll find a treasure trove ofgardening information, as well
as a huge range of seeds andgarden supplies and accessories.
That address again iswwwtheseedcollectioncomau.
Thanks for listening.
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