About

Blossom Cottage came about for a host of reasons. Mainly, though, it was birthed from a place of optimism and delight. Optimism because, as the mother of two adult daughters and grandmother to four gorgeous grandchildren, I felt compelled to do everything possible to remain hopeful about today and tomorrow and all the tomorrows yet to be. And delight because few things compare to the joy that comes from sowing and nurturing things that matter.

I've been a gardener since childhood, and I've been passionate about our natural environment for almost as long. In my teens, I devoured John Seymour's, Guide to Self Sufficiency. In my twenties, I added an Environmental Science degree to the host of university studies I undertook. Throughout my life, I've demonstrated against old growth logging and for ecosystem conservation, and talked myself hoarse (to anyone who would listen) about climate crisis - long before any of these things were considered cool or even mainstream.

For a lot of my life, my passion for gardening, for growing my own food and for treading lightly on the earth, was accompanied by both anger (that we as communities, countries, and an entire planet were not doing more to mitigate the natural catastrophe that was unfolding), and panic (that time was running out for any lasting change).

Somewhere along the way, I changed. 

I stopped being so angry and panicked. I chose optimism - not the 'wishful thinking' kind of optimism, but the 'get your hands dirty at every opportunity' kind. And I also started to realise that there were so many more of us working hard to save our blue planet than there ever had been before, and that groundswell in numbers and energy gave me hope.

So I started designing and building more gardens... with friends, neighbours, schools, community groups. I completed my Permaculture Design Course and began designing gardens (small suburban spaces through to larger rural sites) along permaculture principles. I also began offering workshops and longer courses, relishing the opportunity to put my teaching credentials to work doing something I love.

From the seed of an idea, Blossom Cottage has grown into something beautiful - as do all good things when they're nurtured. And since moving to Bundjalung Country in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, I've been able to indulge my passion for growing almost anything I want in our subtropical climate.

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