Mary, Mary quite contrary how does your garden grow? 

I’m a huge believer in growing your own produce, and educating people (especially children) on where their food comes from and how it is produced. There’s nothing better than being able to walk outside and pick your own herbs, fruit and vegetables. I grew up on a farm and my mother has always had a veggie patch, something which has rubbed off on me. Lemon, Mulberry, Orange, Peach and Nectarine tree’s grow in the backyard of our family home. Tomatoes, potatoes and herbs grow wildly. Often things are found to be growing simply from the scraps which we threw out as compost. 

Currently, I have this herb garden and a vegetable patch in my backyard. Here you see chilli trees, parsley, basil (chefs, holy and vietnamese), strawberry, a curry tree and chives. I also grow sage, spinach and rosemary, mint and I have a passionfruit vine. Recently the patch has been filled with beetroot, tomatoes, chard, spinach, kale and cos lettuce amongst other things. 

I love being able to create great flavour combinations just using the beautiful ingredients I’ve grown. When the winter veg (beetroot, potatoes, carrots etc) are ready we’ll be having a big dinner with emphasis on using just the produce we’ve grown. 

Currently this blog is purely for photographs which I’ve taken. I guess you could say that they convey one perspective or aspect of my life. You can probably tell that I’m a bit of a beach bum, that I like landscapes and people and black and white and blue, and maybe that I live a reasonably laid-back lifestyle.  

Since the so called “End of the World, 2012” I’ve seen a huge change in consciousness of the people around me and I think across the world. Raw food, holistic healing, vegan, paleo, and vegetarian diets, “fitspiration” and general healthy and respectful living are being taken to a whole new level of awareness. There are blogs, books, magazines, television and you-tube channels, facebook pages, pinterests, instagrams and applications dedicated to these things (and I love it)! It can get seriously confusing but all of these things are promoting a healthier lifestyle.
Perhaps it is is coincidence and people are actually sticking to the stock standard “Take better care of body and soul” and “Get healthy” new years resolutions or perhaps there are now just more and more ways to convey our messages and share the ways we live. Whatever the reason I’ve been seriously inspired to better respect myself and the people and environment with which I exist. I now, more than ever, am aware of the effect the way I choose to live has both positive and negative consequences not only for myself. 

So things are about to change a bit. I don’t want to preach or push people to live any one way, just share my perspective and perhaps subtly inspire. I’m now 22, studying Interior Design and all I really want to do is build a completely open plan warehouse style home, with a huge backyard so I can grow my own food. I love fashion, photography, architecture, books and gardening. And music. And food. I’m healthy and I’m happy, and I’m about to start sharing the little things I do and the small changes that I’ve made which have made me more excited about life than ever.  

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