For Adam Grubb, there are few things more satisfying than walking into an empty space, and then walking out of a thriving, functional edible garden.
And he and his team at Very Edible Gardens (VEG) get to do it everyday.
Adam and his business partner Dan Palmer, as well as their team in Brunswick, Victoria, are dedicated to creating and building wonderful edible gardens, building chook systems, and running permaculture courses.
And it's all for one reason - to help people be self-sufficient and to help the planet, not work against it.
As it turns out, the idea for their business came about in an unusual and wonderful way. Both Adam and Dan had different careers - Dan was a academic philosopher, and Adam was running a hugely successful website about global energy depletion.
But Adam said they both were questioning where the world was heading, and in 2005, they happened to be sitting next to each other at a Permaculture Design Course.
But a day that really changed their lives was in 2006.
After practising what they had learned in their own gardens, they got together with some South American friends and transformed a backyard.
"There were heaps of volunteers, and they put on a feast, and we had fun and did some bad salsa dancing," Adam said.
And that's how Permablitz was born. Every couple of weeks they would come together and transform gardens into amazing edible environments.
"We found out anyone can be Jamie Durie," he said. "And it just gained momentum."
Adam said they started to formalise their design, and practising permaculture design skills. And Permablitz took over, gaining popularity across the globe.
In 2008 they started VEG, with their friends Paul Fogarty and Nathan Edwards, and from there, their business has soared.
They travel around, mostly in central Victoria, designing and also building edible gardens for people, whether they have a small backyard or a much larger space.
Their designs also include their clever wicking beds, which have a water reservoir under the soil to help irrigate the plants.
Adam said when they started the business, a lot of people who were environmentally concerned had native gardens, so building edible gardens was very popular.
Adam said each garden was different, and they worked with the owner to accommodate what they wanted in their garden, from veggie gardens, fruit trees, a 'food forest', flowers to ponds.
They then designed the garden depending on soil type, climate, weather exposure and so on.
He said one popular creation was a cottage garden, which had around half food producing plants growing amongst flowers which attract beneficial bugs.
"Design can be difficult - it can be easy to mess it up, and not make the best use of space. We just help people get a long way with it," he said.
And then there's the chooks.
"The chook systems mean you can get the chickens to do things for you, like composting, weed control and pest control," he said.
But it isn't just about installing the garden - it's also about education. They teach Permaculture Design Courses, as well as publishing books on permaculture, and even edible weeds.
Adam said for him, permaculture was simply about living in harmony with the land.
"It's about finding that elegant harmony between humans and the landscape, while attempting to minimise inputs and time, and maximise outputs," he said.
"It was originally for people trying to be self-sufficient on marginal land.
"It's about adapting to a future where we can live with less resources without affecting our quality of life."
Adam said permaculture found ways for people to feed themselves while still improving top soil, capturing carbon, focusing on hydrology and still getting a yield.
"It is about providing for human needs without destroying the planet."
- Visit veryediblegardens.com.au
