Claire completed her Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) with David Arnold in Violet Town about 7 years ago and since then she has maintained her 20 or so year old passion for the permaculture philosophy of sharing, keeping food production local and building community resilience.

Starting from scratch at the house she bought 8 years ago, Claire has aimed to provide as much of her own food and power as possible.  

She built up her soil with coffee grounds, rabbit manure, straw and autumn leaves. She has eight varieties of cherries, three types of apricot, six types of apples as well as nashi pears, plums, quince, pears, peaches, nectarines, macadamia and other fruits. Claire has deliberately cultivated her frontyard as a model for passers-by to see what is possible on a suburban block.

Claire’s place sustains chickens, frogs and numerous other creatures, including bees.

To harvest water, there is a tank capacity of 72,000 litres and Claire runs a washing machine and two toilets from that.  She has a 3kW solar panel system with 12 panels.

Claire is a member of the Outer Eastern Permaculture Swap Group and the Permaculture Victoria Bee Group. She trades her produce at  the Mooroolbark Urban Harvest Swap.

Claire also coordinates the local Buy Nothing Group’s community pantry from her house, collecting surplus fruit and vegetables from a range of sources such as supermarkets, a local church, dumpster divers, Bakers Delight and Nandos.