Just doing my best to live lightly on the Earth and grow some decent food. I'm a passionate advocate and practitioner of permaculture and have been for nearly 15 years now. Formally trained in organics, biodynamics, permaculture and conventional farming nutrient management I’ve been fortunate enough to gain experience across a broad range of production systems.

My permaculture diploma work was published in 2011, through creative commons license, and has been downloaded in over sixty countries since then from www.piginthemud.com .It’s also available for purchase in hard copy from the Koanga institute down here in New Zealand.

'The Permaculture Practitioner' journal series captures experiences gained over a nine year journey developing orchard systems utilising permaculture ethics and principles as a guide and compass on the way. It's a resource for those looking for a practical, down to earth, introduction to permaculture and a number of valuable design elements, techniques and systems leveraged by practitioners of permaculture.

Much of my focus today, through my profession, is on merging technology with best practice to help dairy farmers maintain productivity while protecting the natural resources they share with others.

When I’m not on a dairy farm you can find me wandering around innermost community gardens in the middle of Wellington city where the innermost team are developing urban examples of orchards, wall gardens and food forests. I’ll also be tending my comfrey patch there which is the focus for a new research project seeking to uncover the potential of comfrey in subsistence farming systems.

The Permaculture Practitioner journal series, Entry 7 - Soil Remediation, now available online

In this journal entry we connect the dots between soil health, plant health and our own health. And we review a design for soil restoration.