Northern Rivers, NSW

What a beautiful journey it’s been helping create this space. This site had seen so much disturbance when I started work here. The topography had been drastically altered, many trees removed and soil mistreated for years. After the heavy machines were gone, bringing this place back to life began. Erosion methods were a primary focus here, with steep banks and unsealed driveway edges being ripped away with every heavy rainfall. Getting root systems back in place to stabilise, cover and protect the soil was immediate. Re-direction swales were input almost immediately too, these performed so well that these re-direction swales have now become some of the most productive elements of the property, while also re-directing around 50% of driveway run off and stopping erosion of driveway edges. These swales turn the run off water into nutrient rich hydration for the plants that are throughout, including: Potato, sweet potato, variety of citrus, bananas, cassava, galangal, ginger, turmeric, mint, sugarcane, selection of herbs, flowers and more. Sitting just beneath the last swale is a market garden, that has never required irrigation, requires very little maintenance and thrives from this nutrient rich run off before it leaves the site.

Throughout this site we have also planted a vast selection of native trees, shrubs and ground covers and all landscaping has been designed to be in-keeping with permaculture principles, all helping to really bring this space back to life. The biodiversity on this hill is now on another level and the different pockets of life really show what’s possible when we listen to nature.