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Annette McFarlane is no longer
a regular Organic Gardener writer
but was a treasured and respected
contributor from the earliest
issues until recent years.
I began my career at a time when
horticulture was an unconventional choice
for a woman. But after spending years
watching the legendary Kevin Heinz on the
ABC TV program Sow What, I was destined
to a life with my hands in the soil. Imagine
how many unsuspecting readers have
become similarly addicted by the enticing
cover shots and stories in the ABC’s Organic
Gardener magazine over the past two decades!
As an ABC Radio gardening talk-back
presenter (Brisbane, Saturdays, from 6am)
and full-time horticulture teacher for more
than 30 years, you might think I have heard
every gardening question there is to ask. But
gardening has an enduring fascination. There
is always something new to learn: plants;
insects; fungi; new ideas or historical
knowledge waiting to be unearthed.
While now retired from full-time horticulture
teaching, I continue to write and broadcast
each week and run free gardening workshops
in libraries and other community venues most
weekends. I am addicted to seed saving and join
other local gardeners in supporting several
community seed exchange programs. My aim
is to encourage as many people as possible to
discover some aspect of gardening.
Of course, I still have a very large garden
of my own to enjoy with vegetable plots, fruit
trees, hens and ducks as well as remnant dry
sclerophyll bushland that is home to many
plant and bird species.
If you have knowledge or any practical
experience of gardening I encourage you to
share it with others. Propagate cuttings; save
seed or share homegrown vegetables. Help
out at your local school garden or simply
water the street tree belonging to your
non-gardening neighbours.
Gardening is contagious and if every Organic
Gardener reader ignites a passion for plants in
just one other person, imagine the difference
we can make.
Finding t wi
Simon Webster entertains us
each issue with his ‘Losing the
Plot’, but He has also covered
a string of environmental
issues for OG over the years.I’ve had a complicated
relationship with food growing
over the years, having gone
on a journey from wide-eyed
enthusiasm to disillusionment
to cautious hope. Many times,
often between breakfast
and morning tea.
Having been fortunate
enough to work for Organic Gardener for the past 10 years
or so, I’ve got no excuses for being a bad gardener, yet my
thumbs stubbornly refuse to turn even the lightest shade of
green (as readers of ‘Losing the Plot’ will be aware). What
I have done, however, is learn a bit about environmental issues
(from glyphosate to electric cars) thanks to editor Steve Payne
commissioning me to write stories about them (probably because
he feels sorry for me and wants to get me out of the garden).
So where do I stand on our climate change future? It seems to
me we just about have the technology to create a carbon-positive
world, which makes it all the more frustrating that we don’t
have the political will.
Fortunately, while we wait for the pollies to catch up, there
are lots of people out there doing good things – from buying
solar panels to setting up food co-operatives.
Organic Gardener plays a role in that, by educating and
inspiring, and hopefully will continue to do so for many years
to come. If I keep reading it, maybe I’ll get to grow some
decent tomatoes one day.