Blue Bubble Lane

Having the PDC and being qualified in Horticultural Therapy, beautifully combines the love of always having worked in coaching with people of all demographics, motivational work and mentoring. Blending these aspects and having a thriving permaculture-based garden brings the benefits to others and is something of a perfect combination here.

A bit about the garden:

Reclaimed terraced wonder came to us in a state of some neglect, brandishing blackberry, a lawn pathway and a couple of ancient fruit trees. The terraces are a beautiful structure put in by the deceased past owner who had lived in it for some decades and done the work himself. The 120 year old cottage had sat empty for over a year and we lovingly brought it up to modern standards (when it was still affordable to do so.) No one wanted to buy it, and that was when Tassie was selling cheap. Too hard, too much garden, not enough lawn for ‘ease of maintenance,’ so it sat empty. (The real estate agent was pulling his hair out.)

Worms were almost nonexistent, not a great variety of birds, just some introduced species but a large family of blue tongues gave hope. (The before photos are fun to look at whenever there’s time!) But it was beautiful and there was that inspiring terracing.

So one middle aged woman decided it was perfect, because tackling impossible projects seems to be her thing in life, possibly genetic Italian ‘woo hoo, land to grow stuff on!’ and issues that Freud would love, about accomplishing all things seemingly impossible on a shoe string budget…

With a bit of help, not much, over the past 10 years, she brought this forward to become home to several species of native honey eaters and other native birds including parrots, fantails etc, shy blue tongue lizards that come to breed in spring; possibly snakes, but we’ve only ever seen one, a pretty little copperhead sleeping soundly right smack bang on top of the thyme garden and probably on its way to find a mate somewhere when it woke up (after we ran screaming in ten stupid directions to hide the greyhound, before turning into normal again and wishing it well on its way.) And so many bugs, some we hadn’t seen since childhood.

It now houses 28 fruit trees – a mix of espalier and free growing- many berries, herb garden, ornamentals, natives, vegetables, edible weeds and medicinal plants. Hedges, windbreaks, micro climates, tanks. Thriving.

This was all put in and managed prior to getting the PDC and, remarkably exists (in intuitively-grown permaculture zones) as if it had been planned. Having said that, a LOT of planning and work went into it and many people still laugh (ne sneer,) at it’s scope, not understanding that it’s possibly easier to manage than if we had grown just lawn and ten roses bushes.

People don’t like working here but love visiting. They shy from what they see as an impossible gardening job.

And so we are constantly on the lookout for like-minded workers, preferably people who love a good garden environment that they can enjoy working in and learning from. Hopefully, soon we can accommodate people and that will include the offer of some work for a place to stay and learn or enjoy while figuring out what our part of Tassie has to offer. Tassie has purportedly the cleanest air in the world and we hope that remains as such.

Our small quarter acre gem is nestled into a hillside above a tiny village but is an easy 8-10 minute drive to two main centres with everything in them and the Spirit of Tasmania, a hoot to watch go out of town each night, (which has to been seen to be understood.)

In all this time it’s been ‘do the work ourselves’ or find the odd wonder-person, (who all end up to remain our friends,) but now we are ready to accept workers with a purpose. If someone is studying their PDC it might be a great opportunity for a learning curve. We presently have an as-new off grid camper, fully self contained with it’s own storage and driveway which we can offer for accommodation but only if it’s necessary as many people live in the area who’ve worked here and some have been travelling the world.

We love meeting like minded people who have vision, clarity, spirit and joy. And who truly love a garden! We also do some great homesteading, so something more to learn.

It’s only just getting to social media, so much to do and so little time. But the website is up and looking good!