Educator's Spotlight Nat Giffney

We’ve had the honour of serving Nat and her partner Bill as Simple Market Members for a few years now. Nat is someone who does incredible things within the community through her work, daily life and other passions, especially surrounding growing, harvesting, cooking and composting organic foods. Our seedling, composting, compost tea and edible garden classes are directed by her, as we felt that our community would hugely benefit by her knowledge. She currently works for Permaculture SA, and has been in that industry for multiple years now advocating for sustainable practices.

What started your passion for gardening?

I have fond memories of my mum growing the sweetest sweet corn I have ever eaten, along with the best, most delicious peaches. I’m pretty sure it was mum's love of gardening that spiked my interest in attending Urrbrae Agricultural High School which I did in the early 90's. Here I got a taste of everything from market gardening, composting, wine making, bee keeping, propagation, grafting and more.

However, it wasn't until later in life that I have truly come to growing food. My background in public health led to an interest in the connections between healthy soil, healthy food, healthy people and healthy ecosystems. Today I love nothing more than growing, harvesting, cooking and eating delicious home grown organic food.

What's your favourite part about your job?

I’m currently on the Permaculture SA committee where I help to support permaculture practice across SA. The ethics of permaculture, 'people care, earth care and fair share', resonate strongly with my values. While I am only 18 months into this role, I love working with the community to foster more sustainable ways of living. Most exciting at the moment is the planning we are doing for the national Australian Permaculture Convergence which we are hosting in April 2023. This biennial event hasn't been hosted in Adelaide since 1995 and is going to be an incredible festival and conference for everyone and everyone interested in all things permaculture, including sustainable living, urban agriculture and regenerative practice.

I'm also lucky to be working for Green Adelaide on the roll out of Grow It Local, an online platform to support more people to grow food at home. I'm working with local councils and generally getting to focus on all things urban agriculture.

My other job is running workshops for community and organic farmers. I specialise in making high quality compost, compost tea and soil health, and LOVE talking about soil microorganisims.

Why is it so important for more people to grow their own veggies and create nourishing compost at home?

Growing food connects you to nature in a really direct and profound way. We know that nature connections are essential for health and wellbeing and a food garden can provide daily opportunities to touch, feel, taste and experience the soil, sun, plants and ecosystem. By caring for our food plants we develop greater appreciation for ecosystem function and health. This is essential for fostering a sense of stewardship of nature and leads to more action on climate change.

However, I really think people should grow their own food as it's just so fun and rewarding. Nothing brings me more joy than picking things straight from my garden and taking them to the kitchen. My heart explodes a little each and every time. The joy never fades. If anything, it grows and grows. What's more, the food is healthier and better for the environment. It's win win win!

What's your favourite thing growing in your garden at home?

Just one! Ok then, I would have to say eggplants. They are so versatile and delicious. I love their bright shiney purple skin. I have recently learnt that you can grow eggplant trees by grafting eggplants onto wild tobacco (Solanum mauritianum) rootstock, creating a perennial plant which produces huge amounts of eggplants. It's my life goal for 2022 to learn more about this and hopefully teach others to do it too.

What's your number one tip for someone starting their home composting journey?

Good compost shouldn't smell bad at all. If it smells bad, you are doing it wrong! Bad smells come from over wet, soggy compost with no aeration. To avoid this, mix in 'browns' things like ripped up cardboard, dead leaves, leaf litter, twigs, bark and even a bit of soil. These inputs will soak up some of the excess moisture and create structure and micro passages for air to flow. Also, get a compost turner and turn your compost every so often. Lastly keep an eye on the moisture levels in your compost - it needs to be wet enough to keep the microorganism alive but not too wet that it becomes soggy and gross.

What's your favourite fruit at the moment?

I'm going to cheat and say tomatoes! I love this time of year when tomatoes are in abundance. We are growing 4 varieties and I love them all so much. We have made sun-dried tomatoes for the first time recently (a few weeks back when it was hotter) and am looking forward to making some passata sauce to keep for later in the year.

What does simple living mean to you and how do you practice it?

Great question! To borrow a term from others, I guess I attempt to 'tread lightly' on the earth. I try to be conscious of the resources I am using, where they have come from, how much I am using, constantly reflecting on how I can use less. I consider the businesses I support when I spend my money. I really try to live by Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle. Most importantly I actively try to cultivate my life to allow for lots of time at home in my garden, growing food and sharing food with community. Simple living I think is calm living. Not rushing. Slowing down. Considering the connections between our action and the world around us. Making time for community connections. Making time for nature connections. Building community.

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We have always been conscious of food wastage and ways that we can reduce, reuse and recycle our waste here in the store and in our homes. We believe that doing even the slightest form of growing or composting within the home helps to form resilient and healthy communities. Luckily, Nat has helped us build an efficient and nourishing composting system within our garden that helps us to improve our cycle of regeneration. Her knowledge has helped us along our journey of simple living by improving our composting and growing abilities.

We have multiple workshops this year run by Nat that are communicated in store or through our mailing list. Nat’s knowledge is extremely valuable and you’re directly supporting one of our members be able to share her passion by joining us at her workshops.