Wel­come! I’m Nicola Chatham.

My desire is to heal your body, nour­ish your spirit, ignite your cre­ativ­ity and con­nect you to nature by giv­ing you tools to eas­ily grow your own organic food at home.

I’m here to bring nature’s good­ness into your life.

I believe when we include nature and gar­dens in our day-to-day exis­tance, we expe­ri­ence greater joy, cre­ativ­ity and health, not to men­tion take pos­i­tive actions that can col­lec­tively heal the earth.

That’s why I teach organic gar­den­ing and make art inspired by the landscape.

I believe nature imbues life with hope; it has the power to heal, replen­ish and invig­o­rate us. In a world where pol­lu­tion and cyn­i­cism are the norm, nature can feed our bod­ies, soothe our souls, and delight our senses. Best of all, it con­nects us to Life; bridg­ing the gap between exis­tence, mean­ing and Spirit by remind­ing us of some­thing big­ger than ourselves.

I love help­ing art lovers, health seek­ers, and busy peo­ple include more of nature’s inspi­ra­tion and nour­ish­ment in their life with my organic gar­den­ing courses and con­tem­po­rary art exhibitions.

Me with Costa from the SBS TV pro­gram ‘Costa’s Gar­den­ing Odyssey’.

After suf­fer­ing painful diges­tive prob­lems and the chronic fatigue that comes from Epstein Barr Virus, I knew I needed to take extreme respon­si­bil­ity for my food and health by grow­ing my own organic pro­duce. I learnt how to make ‘instant gar­dens’, and within months a third of my meals came from my back yard.

My back-yard before mak­ing a garden.

My back-yard less than one year later AFTER mak­ing a garden.

A stu­dent of Bill Mollison’s (co-founder of Per­ma­cul­ture), I’ve used Per­ma­cul­ture and organic gar­den­ing prin­ci­ples to trans­form my back yard into an abun­dant, tran­quil and nutrient-dense smor­gas­bord in less than a year.

I help peo­ple break down the matrix of organic gar­den­ing into sim­ple step-by-step actions to grow abun­dant, organic food.

Through my free newslet­ter Sprout! and online gar­den­ing course The Abun­dant Veg­gie Patch Sys­tem, I share prac­ti­cal and enthu­si­as­tic ‘how to’ gar­den­ing videos that will inspire you to get out in the gar­den and grow your own food, even if you’re con­vinced you have a ‘black thumb’ (which, by the way, isn’t true. You have a flesh coloured thumb that just needs a bit of spe­cialised knowl­edge to turn green.)

Using the power of the inter­net, I’ve bridged the gap between my organic veg­gie patch and your kitchen table.

I live in a region where organic gar­den­ers, Per­ma­cul­ture design­ers and gar­den­ing gurus are a dime a dozen, and I want to share the wis­dom I’ve learnt from them with you. I’m thrilled to be on the Dri­ving Com­mit­tee for the Cooroy Com­mu­nity Gar­dens and the Open Gar­den Coordinator’s Assis­tant for Per­ma­cul­ture Noosa.

I’m known to deliver prac­ti­cal and fun organic gar­den­ing courses that are totally unique, sim­ple and accessible.

That’s because I’ve expe­ri­enced the value of hav­ing organic food right out­side my back-door and I’m com­mit­ted to help­ing you get results in your garden.

Through my videos, online courses, free newslet­ter ‘Sprout!’ and live work­shops, you’ll learn prac­ti­cal organic gar­den­ing tech­niques as well as pro­duc­tiv­ity tools to get what you want in your life and garden.

It blows my mind Sprout! has sub­scribers all over Aus­tralia, in the United States, New Zealand and Spain. In each issue I share prac­ti­cal ‘how to’ videos and tips to help you grow herbs and cre­ate a low-maintenance, organic veg­gie patch, no mat­ter where you live.

So make sure you’re a sub­scriber – it’s FREE

As well as focus­ing my cre­ative energy on deliv­er­ing world-class organic gar­den­ing courses, I work as a con­tem­po­rary artist exhibit­ing art­work inspired by the landscape.

My paint­ings, pho­tographs and videos reflect themes of land­scape, nature, inti­macy and mem­ory which I exhibit reg­u­larly in solo and group exhi­bi­tions in Aus­tralia and internationally.

Some of my solo exhi­bi­tions include Between Here and There, Logan Art Gallery (2010), Cohuna Diaries, Anita Tra­verso Gallery, Mel­bourne (2009); With or With Drought You, Red­land Art Gallery (2009); Over the Gar­den Fence, Bund­aberg Regional Art Gallery (2008); Today we don’t have plans, Anita Tra­verso Gallery, Mel­bourne (2008) and Uncom­mon­place, inTran­sit Gallery, Bris­bane (2008). Inter­na­tional high­lights include the Ore­bro Inter­na­tional Video Fes­ti­val, Swe­den (2008).

I was awarded the Espresso Garage Award in the Thiess Art Prize in 2006 and have been a final­ist in sev­eral national art com­pe­ti­tions includ­ing the Churchie National Emerg­ing Artists Com­pe­ti­tion, the Stan + Mau­reen Duke Gold Coast Art Prize, and Red­land Art Awards.

My art­work is rep­re­sented in pub­lic col­lec­tions includ­ing the Bund­aberg Regional Art Gallery and the Royal Bris­bane Women’s Hos­pi­tal, and pri­vate col­lec­tions in Aus­tralia, the United King­dom, New Zealand and the United States.

I’m con­stantly learn­ing about organic gar­den­ing and improv­ing my skills through expe­ri­ence and life lessons.

I don’t pre­tend to know it all and nature often throws curve balls that remind me it’s impos­si­ble to con­trol everything.

But I am totally com­mit­ted to inspir­ing you to take action to lead to a more ful­fill­ing, healthy and cre­ative life. I’d be hon­oured if you’d join me in Sprout. I love to have a laugh and share the delights of my gar­den with you as we enjoy devel­op­ing our green thumbs together.

Pro­fes­sional Bio

Nicola Chatham is an organic gar­den­ing teacher, blog­ger, cer­ti­fied Per­ma­cul­ture designer and con­tem­po­rary artist whose clients range from mar­ket­ing exec­u­tives, IT con­sul­tants, town plan­ners, archi­tects and retirees to sin­gle mums.

Author of ‘City Kids Move to the Coun­try’ and cre­ator of the world’s first video-based, online organic gar­den­ing course ‘The Abun­dant Veg­gie Patch Sys­tem’, Nicola is pas­sion­ate about help­ing peo­ple improve their health and qual­ity of life by grow­ing their own organic food.

Her art­work reflects her love of the land­scape and is held in pub­lic and pri­vate col­lec­tions in Aus­tralia and over­seas. She exhibits her paint­ings, videos and pho­tographs reg­u­larly in pub­lic and pri­vate gal­leries around Australia.

Nicola inspires peo­ple to grow their own food, find nour­ish­ment in nature, take stock of their per­sonal val­ues and have a laugh along the way. You can get her prac­ti­cal gar­den­ing tips + videos through her free weekly newslet­ter ‘Sprout’ at www.nicolachatham.com