My background is fairly diverse - or as Geoff Lawton would say, I have a portfolio of careers. I worked as a cook/chef for many years before getting a degree in health science and setting up private practice as a Naturopath, implementing modalities of herbal medicine, nutrition, homoeopathy and counselling. Further studies expanded my practice to include psychotherapy.

From a strong foundation in food and nutrition I set up a whole food cooking school to complement my naturopathy practice. This was called, "Real Food - School of Cooking and Eating" and later transformed into "Cook Club" - a monthly group with a focus on cross cultural sharing of recipes and ideas.

I was also keenly interested in writing so did some more study in professional writing and editing before completing a Masters Degree in creative writing at the University of Melbourne. I have three published novels for children and young adults and am currently working on an illustrated book which might take the rest of my life to complete !! I also get work in the corporate sector as a bid writer in the construction industry. Don't ask me how that came about - like everything else, I kind of fell into it.

Having spent most of my childhood on my grandparent's farm I've always wanted to have a patch of land of my own and since discovering Permaculture have become passionate about growing my own food, creating a diverse food forest ecosystem and working toward self sufficiency.

Currently doing a PDC with Geoff Lawton and working on an urban design for an inner city rooftop food farm as well as a design for establishing a food forest on a quarter acre block at Phillip Island where I escape to on weekends.

I am really interested in future aid work with permaculture but need to learn a whole lot more first !!