Meeting Us

Jade

Paul & Jade

Hello, I’m Jade. Pleased to say “Hi”. I have vegetable gardened most of my life. Gardening is in my ancestry. It is a strong connection for me with my heritage. I garden for the future survival of our earth for the generations to come. I garden because my life depends on it. I need my gardens to sustain my life. My gardens nurture me and allow me to be the person they need to care for them.

I love gardening. I am healthiest and happiest when I’m in my gardens, surrounded by life. I can be warmed by the sun or kissed by raindrops, tickled by a fresh naughty wind or soothed by a gentle northeast breeze. Leaves and flowers caress my working tools - my arms and legs - with hands and feet that touch the earth with care and understanding. In the garden my connection with the rest of the world is harmonious.

Gardening with nature, following our mother’s lead is truly pleasurable, easy and rewarding. The garden is my place of learning, the place where I have educated myself completely in nature’s ways. Learning truly begins when we implement our knowledge and accept that we will never know everything. We come to realise that we have to adapt what we know to every specific observation of nature. Everything I write is from being implemented, trailed, tested and is lived by Paul and myself.

With a background that included tertiary qualifications, course certificates and extensive reading and research I went to the land and realised that the real learning was about to begin and it would never end. The highest qualification I could ever receive is manifest in the establishment of the gardens at Eudlo and many gardens throughout QLD and Northern N.S.W. Gardens rich in yield and production, where biological life flourishes within the soil and a holistic gardening approach is paramount.

As an educator I offer my experience, not my qualifications. I share my “in the garden” experiences with you, the management practices I have chosen and developed and the complete life style of Permaculture.

I explain in common language what you need to know - what’s important to the earth, to her people, to you.

I am excited, motivated and extremely passionate about helping you. By sharing my practical down to earth knowledge, you will have the assurance and capability to garden for the earth and yourself, successfully and pleasurably.

Health and happiness to you, from Jade.

Paul

Hello, I’m Paul...... Gardening is my life. I have always felt a connection between myself and the plants that surround me. I share their pain in times of drought or extreme heat. I share their joy with life-giving rain and gentle sunshine. Without my gardens and natural surroundings I am soulless - an empty man with no direction. It is this sense of connection and compassion, which drives me to help protect the earth and all it’s inhabitants.

We know there is a better way to supply food without destroying the very elements that we need to survive. At Simply Natural Organic Farm we are endeavouring to show the way. You can produce abundant, nutritious food while still maintaining a balance with nature. Jade has expertise and a wealth of knowledge in sustainable vegetable growing, while my vast background in general gardening will challenge me to create productive, sustainable and aesthetically pleasing gardens to complement the outstanding natural attributes of our property.

I have recently started an organic gardening service on the Dorrigo plateau. This service will help me connect with the Dorrigo community, help beautify the area, and enable me to pass on my knowledge in sustainable gardening. It is an outlet for my desire to offer help and information. It is a way to change the community’s thoughts on gardening organically or using Permaculture principles. I am offering extremely affordable rates for my services as I do not desire to be rich- just content. My aim is to live simply and healthily with the earth, care for the planet and to convince others to do likewise. I still have far to go with my dreams but the path is there in front of me and it is one incredible journey.

Take care of yourself and the planet, from Paul.

Why did we move?

Jade

My students, friends, work colleges, neighbours and parents all can't understand WHY I would ever want to leave my home, the gardens that I had created, the specialness of our Eudlo property. And how could I, How could I leave the place that gave me life again, that healed me from Cancers, that taught me so, so much. Also me; Successful, well established as an Educator, sought after for my expertise and happy at what I was achieving. Satisfied, yet silently longing for something that had been lost.

All I said and all I can say honestly, my reason for agreeing to sell and leaving is that I love my husband.

Paul wasn't comfortable with the Sunshine coast.

Over the eight years we got more neighbours either side of us, up one road it went from four properties to thirteen. Sub-dividing everywhere and the townships either side of Eudlo were becoming extremely developed, busy and fast and occupied by city people. We were living on the edge of the fastest growing, ugly city in Australia. Too fast, over night stuff. Even though we had created privacy, a sanctuary, gardens that when you are in them, you are in your own world, yet everything was coming in to close. Even walking the dog was no longer quite, nor traffic free, regardless of what time we went out.

In the last 18 months at Eudlo Paul and I rarely went out of our gardens and home.

I seeked space, big wide, open space, and I missed genuine quietness.

I said to Paul that I would only move if the temperature was at least 5 degrees cooler than Eudlo and the area received even a higher rainfall than what the Sunshine Coast does. I am extremely aware of the effects that the climate change has produced in the Eudlo gardens in the last five years, from 1999.

Paul researched, investigated and observed Australia for 18 months and He is convinced for all our needs now and the future Dorrigo is the place.

Well Dorrigo to me is space, magnificent panoramic views, and natural beauty everywhere. Dorrigo is resisting modern time and I believe it is winning. If the red ceder trees in our, unlogged, temperate rainforest give the message that they resisted the 'normal' of modern times, I believe we can too.

Dorrigo is serene, it is peaceful. Peacefulness like I haven't felt before, I thought I might have missed this in my generation.

The specialness of the Eudlo gardens is the specialness that is in all of us.

With the deepest of sadness and intense emotions I left the gardens of Eudlo, achieving the most important thing I had ever done in my life, I had regenerate a piece of land for future generations and I had passed on the highest quality environment to dear friends. Sonya and John will honour the asking of the Eudlo gardens, Paul and I felt they were the right owners for the property and by knowing they were going to be the new carers I was able to pass on the stewardship.

Simply Natural Organic farm at Eudlo gave me life, it saved me, Simply Natural Organic farm Dorrigo offers me a future and further education.

The larger acreage, 146 acres, offers us Natural sanctuary created by Mother Nature and we have the opportunity to be fully self sufficient and fully sustainable. If we desire.

We have owned botanical gardens, a cornucopia, at Eudlo now we own a 120-acre National park. We are the right people to look after this unique, priceless, threatened forested landscape.

We aim to continue to help people, we live what we speak, we share what we learn, we offer you our energy and we hope you are inspired by what we are doing and how we are doing it. I will offer my availability as an educator, presenter and author of my books.

Paul and I will be busy little bees and it is a large project when you start from scratch, yet we will take small little steps.

We not only want to create a healthy Home, productive permaculture gardens, an organic orchard and permaculture livestock systems, we wish to create an even closer community. We wish to give back to the Dorrigo community.

We wish to help the wider community as well; all over Australia hence we have decided to keep the web site.

The time, the energies are right for you to make a change.

Love Jade
16th November 2005

Paul

The most frequently asked question by all who knows us lately is 'Why move?' Why would we sell up a well-established and successful property to start again in a new area and from nothing? Well there are a number of reasons why we made the big shift.

Firstly the climate. I in particular, have struggled with the hot, humid, climate of the Sunshine Coast. With global warming the heat and dry has increased and will continue to increase. The cooler mountain climate of Dorrigo makes it much easier to work outside all day without getting frazzled and heat exhausted. You can enjoy the outdoor lifestyle all day without the humidity.

Secondly we desired more land. While our 2 1/4 acre property at Eudlo was ample land to be self sufficient in fruit and vegetables, it lacked sufficient space to give us freedom at being surrounded by nature and the opportunity of having some larger live stock, instead of just poultry and worms.

I have always desired to own a large tract of rainforest to commune with and to protect for future generations. Our new property at Dorrigo contains nearly 120 acres of mostly pristine temperate rainforest with cascading streams and abundant animal and bird life.

I am at peace in the forest and the world seems serene.

Another reason for our moving was the unsustainable massive growth the Sunshine Coast has experienced over the last few years. In the coming years the depletion of fossil fuels will result in food and resources shortages, which will only escalate in the future. To be so close to such a huge population base holds deep ramifications for our future food and general security. We do feel safe here in Dorrigo. It is a small, close-knit community, there is genuine community spirit, and care, virtually no crime and the people are as friendly as you would find anywhere.

Of course it was very emotional leaving the property in Eudlo. We loved our house and especially our gardens. We do get comfort though, that we restored the land and soil, and the new owners will keep the land sustainable.

We will miss the circle of like-minded permaculture life stylers on the Sunshine Coast and only hope that we can establish the same kind of network in our new area.

We step into our 'Nature Change' here in Dorrigo with excitement, fear, passion and energy. A mixed level of confidence, yet a willingness to learn and work (be) with nature.

We desire to implement our old knowledge and new to create a sustainable life style farm, having our special beauty and the unique beauty that nature is already offering and that she can improve on now that she is protected.

All the best to you all
Paul. 15th November 2005