With Yarrow, aged 2 weeks, in Samoa

CAM WILSON

In his early 20s, Cam did a landscaping apprenticeship in Anglesea with McGains Nursery (a member of SGA). There he developed his aesthetic landscaping skills working at beautiful sites along the Great Ocean Road. But creating beautiful gardens alone wasn’t fulfilling enough, and he went searching for ways he could use his practical abilities and love of outdoor work to contribute to the environment and humanity in a meaningful way. Travelling around Tassie in 2004 Cam came across permaculture, and the rest is history. His passion, design talent and practical skills have resulted in him working alongside and being mentored by some of the best permaculture designers and teachers in the country, including Geoff Lawton, Rick Coleman, Tim Winton, Darren Doherty, Rosemary Morrow and permaculture co-founder Bill Mollison himself. Cam has worked, designed and taught permaculture in a wide range of climates and cultures, from Cairns to Tasmania, in Asia and the Pacific. With his passion to feed all who are hungry in a truly sustainable and wholistic way, he will continue to travel and teach permaculture throughout the developing world. Meanwhile, in more affluent countries, we can choose to use the same principles to heal our Earth and to eat and live well.

JESSIE PRICE

Jessie has worked as a journalist and sub-editor for six years, in Australia and Asia. It was while living in Hanoi that she first came across permaculture. On motorbike trips into the countryside an environmental scientist friend pointed out the integrated and incredibly dense systems the Vietnamese use for growing fish, fruit, vegetables, pigs, chickens and rice. She read Introduction to Permaculture cover to cover and finally did a PDC in Melbourne with Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton in January 2007. Since then she has been one of the key organisers of Permablitz in Melbourne, creating backyard designs and teaching on Introduction to Permaculture courses. Meanwhile, after working with a Karen women refugees’ group on the Thai/Burma border in 2006 on a project with their traditional midwives, Jessie returned to university in 2007 to become a midwife herself. She plans to work overseas with women alongside Cam as he works on permaculture aid projects.

YARROW WILSON

Yarrow was born at home in Samoa in 2008, where Cam was working on a seven-month permaculture aid project. He is named after a favourite and unassuming herb which sends its roots down deep to draw up nutrient for all the plants around it. He likes letting the chooks out in the morning on Dad’s shoulders, ripping up paper to feed the worms and squashing wombat poo with his blue gumboots.

MAIREAD AN

Our beautiful little girl arrived in a lovely waterbirth on April 30! Hooray! All very happy to have her here with us tucked up in the yurt as the mornings turn frosty and we enjoy the sun rising through the mist on the dam.