Michael Wardle
Michael began his permaculture journey 24 years ago when he first picked up a copy of Permaculture One and the Introduction to Permaculture. Michael is the Adult Education Coordinator at the Farm.
He is a father of 4, has worked in schools and the community and is a permaculture educator, designer and consultant for Savour Soil Permaculture. He is also working with his local council in building a forest garden on public land.
He has applied the ethics and principles of permaculture to his personal life and is now enjoying the wonderful opportunities of being able to apply them in his work place and community.
Michael enjoys learning about the many different facets of permaculture and design. Through his learning he has also come to love teaching.
He completed his PDC with Milkwood and his Permaculture Teacher Training with Rosemary Morrow and Nick Ritar. He completed the Advanced Permaculture Principle workshop with David Holmgren and the Advanced Permaculture Design with Dan Palmer, Edible Forest Garden Design Intensive with Dave Jacke and the REXonline with Darren Doherty
He aspires to be as inspirational and effective as his teachers.
Michael continues to run workshops, designs and consults and continues his learning journey to advance his knowledge and to increase the value he may provide in his teaching, projects and consultations.
Krystelle Ellaby
Krystelle is a plant geek, permaculture practitioner, teacher and life-long student, living on a small acreage west of Brisbane. She has worked in the landscape and horticulture industry for a decade.
Krystelle first learnt about permaculture as a young teenager when she read Permaculture 1. In 2008, she read ‘The Transition Handbook’(Hopkins, 2008), and ‘Permaculture: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability’ (Holmgren, 2002). These books solidified her desire to become a permaculture practitioner. She enrolled in her first PDC at Northey Street in 2009 and hasn’t looked back since.
Currently, Krystelle is the propagation coordinator at City Farm Nursery. The main focus of the propagation nursery is to produce a range of useful and medicinal plants specific to the South East Queensland climate.
Krystelle is technically still in the “observation” phase of designing her family’s dream self-sufficient property. Together with her husband, she has just finished building a small commercial nursery. Next on the agenda is an heirloom seed operation, or a commercial quail aviary, or pastured pork, or fibre goats, or… Meanwhile, Krystelle wrangles ducks, chickens, children, goannas and wallabies, while juggling work and teaching commitments.
Ko Oishi
Ko Oishi has extensive experience in the field of permaculture, organic farming and environmental consultancy. Having received formal training in environmental science, he proceeded to further his practical skills in permaculture and organic farming. During the period of time between 2009 and 2014, Ko undertook a number of internships, including at Milkwood and Renge Organic Farm in Japan. He continued his training in organic farming through undertaking a Cert III in Production Horticulture (Organic) at TAFE, whilst working at an organic farm in Northern NSW. He is currently the Farm Team Manager at Northey Street City Farm.
During his professional career as an ecologist, he gained extensive experience in the assessment of post-mined rehabilitation sites, bush regeneration sites, threatened flora survey, and ground-truthing of vegetation types in Queensland.
Ko combines his knowledge of native vegetation, environmental science, organic farming and permaculture to offer a holistic understanding to land management.
Adrian Holbeck
Adrian has grown veggies in Ravenshoe, Townsville, Brisbane, the Pilbara and Perth; and a few chooks and citrus trees in Alice Springs. His focus is on teaching and practising Permaculture locally in a low energy future. Although his main teaching interests are plant ailments and remedies and soils, other interests include edible weeds, indigenous culture, toxic chemicals and their elimination and fermenting various foods.
In previous careers, he owned and operated a business psychology consultancy for 20+ years and taught many subject areas, including corporate governance and sustainable business at Curtin University.
Emma Brindal
Emma Brindal has a passion for permaculture, living lightly, and social and environmental justice. She has a keen interest in a range of areas relating to social permaculture, and is particularly passionate about the permaculture principle of ‘produce no waste’.
Emma is the Youth Education Coordinator at Northey Street City Farm, which is where she completed her PDC and Certificate II in Permaculture, and previously volunteered in a range of capacities.
Emma also facilitates earth connection and Deep Ecology experiential work through WiseEarth Education. She previously worked in Western Australia on the Waste Wise Schools Program, supporting teachers throughout W.A. to integrate Education for Sustainability and waste minimisation projects and approaches into their schools, including worm farming and composting. Emma has worked on Climate Justice campaigning with Friends of the Earth, and worked as a TESOL teacher in Australia, East Timor, Spain and England. She has a degree in Environmental Science.
Dick Copeman
Dick was one of the founders of Northey Street City Farm in 1994 and has been involved in the Farm ever since. Originally a medical doctor, Dick has also worked as a campaigner on food policy, fair trade and sustainability issues. He has a Diploma in Permaculture. His particular interests are in trees of all sorts, but especially bush foods and fruit trees, and in Permaculture design. Dick sings in a choir and is a keen bush walker.
Lydia Blocksidge
Lydia Blocksidge is the City Farm Nursery Coordinator at Northey Street City Farm. Lydia started her Permaculture journey at Grovely TAFE in 2009 where she got her Certificate III in Horticulture. From here, Lydia went on to study Landscape Architecture at QUT and after 2 years, she transferred to Melbourne University to continue her Landscape Architecture studies as part of an Environmental degree. She graduated from Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Environments (Landscape Architecture) in 2014 and went on to work for The Sustainable Table and Little Veggie Patch Co. In 2016 Lydia was accepted into a yearlong Sustainable Living Apprenticeship at Rancho Mastatal, a Sustainability education centre, operating permaculture and agro-forestry farm, nature reserve and eco-retreat in rural Costa Rica. Here Lydia learnt about, practiced and taught Permaculture every day and she was lucky enough to visit and observe many other Permaculture farms around Central America. Passionate about agro-forestry, regenerative farming and urban agriculture, Lydia is keen to continue to learn, teach and share her skills and knowledge.
Robin Clayfield
Robin Clayfield has spent 3 decades living, working and playing in groups and communities and using the Principles of Permaculture to inform all aspects of life. She is a Permaculture Pioneer and has been responsible for encouraging Social Permaculture to be considered and applied in many contexts – Education and Teaching, Facilitation and Group Dynamics, Community and Participatory Design, Social Enterprise, Buildings and Public Space Design, Health and Lifestyle… as well as using the principles to design and work towards creating a one acre garden ‘paradise’.
Robin lives at Crystal Waters Permaculture Eco-Village, having been a resident lot holder since 1988. She has taught many Permaculture Design Courses as well as her Creative Teachers Facilitation and written two books ‘You Can Have Your Permaculture and Eat It Too’, and her ‘Manual For Teaching Permaculture Creatively’, co-authored with Skye, supports teachers and facilitators in over 50 countries to work in a more creative, interactive and empowering way.
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