[styled_image w=”400″ h=”300″ lightbox=”yes” image=”http://www.permacultureaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Terry-2008.jpg” align=”right”]Terry is a serving as a director on the board of Permaculture International Limited. He is also a co-convenor for Permaculture Cardinia Baw Baw which is a local group of Permaculture Melbourne and an ordinary committee member of Permaculture Melbourne.
“My permaculture journey commenced after we graduated from Teacher’s college in the 1970s and we had an interest in growing our own food and perhaps having some acreage to live a sustainable lifestyle. Reading Grassroots magazine I became aware of Permaculture and went to hear Bill Mollison speak in Queenbeyan in 1995/6 and subsequently read “Introduction to Permaculture”.
“Since the 1970s we had grown our own veggies wherever we lived using manures and mulch to build up a bed but it wasn’t until 2000 that we were able to buy our current property. Unable to build a house straight away, that would have to wait until 2009 we established an orchard with a variety of stone and pome fruits. I have since branched out and experimented with berries and perennial vegetables and now have over 60 fruit and nut trees and numerous berries. I have become enamoured with the concept of a food forest since I undertook my PDC with Rick and Naomi Coleman in April of 2008 and the experience has made me rethink how I approach the development of our property and how I look at the landscape. This was followed up in 2009 by attending a Food Forest Workshop at Robyn Francis’ Djanbung Gardens near Nimbin. We moved into our new house mid-2009 and I have made steady progress in turning the orchard and house surrounds into my version of a cool temperate food forest and enjoy the challenges of experimenting with sub-tropical fruits in the West Gippsland bioregion.”
Terry started his career as a Primary school teacher in rural Victoria and then joined the Army as an educational officer. This necessitated moving every few years, mostly up and down the east coast to Townsville, the Gold Coast and Canberra with the bulk of his time in Victoria. He has had long term postings overseas to Papua New Guinea, Cambodia and Thailand. He retired after 26 years and now does Army Reserve work as an educational officer one day a week. His other interests include woodworking and Tai Chi.
