Of course, in this world it is not about what you know, but about who you know. The following people and organisations have been helpful somewhere along the journey.

Agrisolutions

• www.agriculturalsolutions.com.au
• Products, solutions and a lot of information for supporting sustainable agriculture. Speak to Gerhard Grasser, he is passionate about what he does, and he knows a lot! Not shy to share his rich knowledge either. Good service, fair prices.

Beach Tree Nursery

• www.beachtreenursery.com.au
• Small but very well stocked nursery on the way to Torquay. Great source of bush tucker (and many other) plants – all in very good condition. Speak to Jane, Fiona, Trish or Sam – they all know their stuff. They can also source particular plants you may be looking for.

Beehive Company

•  www.beehivecompany.com.au
• Supplier of beehives and bee equipment in Lara
• Speak to John Webb for good advice

Bells Beach (Organic) Nursery

• www.bellsbeachnursery.com.au
• Speak to Brian or his son David for good advice and great friendly service. These guys can source whatever you want on the surf coast.

Biodynamic Agriculture Australia

• www.biodynamics.net.au
• Very good service, good advice, good biodynamic products. They go the extra mile to ensure their products are shipped the best and most economical way. They publish a quarterly newsletter called News Leaf, packed with information, case studies and stories.

Breakwater Metaland

• www.breakwatermetaland.com.au
• Supplier of galvanised pipes and fittings, also castors, wheels, tow bars, etc. Good advice, good service, spot-on delivery too.

Chris Whitworth (graphic designer)

• http://chriswhitworth.myportfolio.com
• Graphic designer and master barista at The Little Teapot Café and Play (who graciously keep all their coffee dregs for our compost heap). Now this guy can play a guitar and sing.

Country Link Rural Supplies

• www.clinklara.com.au
• Great rural hardware store in Lara. Very helpful service, good pricing and excellent service. A little gem!

Diggers Club

• www.diggers.com.au
• Great source of organically grown and heritage seeds and seedlings. From time to time they good informative workshops too.

Eden Seeds

• www.edenseeds.com.au
• Great on-line source of organic and heirloom seeds. We found varieties here that we couldn’t find anywhere else. Amazingly efficient service with very quick turn-around times. Out of their own accord they combined my and Patricia’s separate orders to save us postage.

Elcho Garden Supplies

• www.elchogardensupplies.com.au
• Great source of the freshest, moist organic mushroom compost. Real quick delivery too. Lots other services like landscaping materials, skip hire, etc.

Haverford

• www.haverford.com.au
• Excellent supplier of everything net-related. Nets, zippers, clasps, etc. I talked to Mark. Great friendly service, customised to your needs – they don’t just sell the pre-packaged units. Very quick turn-around on orders.

Geelong Honey Source

• www.honeysource.com.au/
• Supplier and mentor for beekeeping in the Geelong area
• Speak to Sam, he is extremely helpful and knowledgeable

Ground Grocer

• Groundgrocer.com
• Supplier of composting and bioactive soil products.

Jochum Family Maintenance

• www.jfm.net.au
• Great father & sons family business that does about everything well – painting, woodwork, construction, bathroom renovation, the works. Amongst many other things, they installed beautiful permanent bird nets for us.

Kerr’s Hire

• www.kerrshire.com.au
• Any tool or equipment you need – good service, good advice and fair prices too.

Lifeway Christian Church – Lara

• www.lifeway.org.au
• Speak to pastor Rob Chaney – he really takes a personal interest. He’s a masterchef too, I’m told. Beautiful family. Sarah manages The Little Teapot Café and Play – beautiful community-focused café tailored for young moms with kids.

Lou’s bloomin’ garden

• http://stores.ebay.com.au/louisesplants and www.facebook.com/lousbloomingarden/
• Retired lady growing and selling beautiful plants through EBay

Mal Heppel – DMS Landscapes

• Landscape designer / engineer at DMS Landscapes
• Arguably the most talented landscape designer and engineer we’ve ever worked with. Good eye for shape, form, colour and natural fit, with great ideas and amazing creativity. Hands-on, climbs in and gets the job done beautifully. Great family man.

McKay Grass Seeds

• www.mckaysgrassseeds.com.au
• Good source for a large variety of grass and clover seeds in medium to large shipments. Very efficient service with quick turn-around times.

Otway Indigenous Nursery

• www.otwaysindigenousnursery.com.au
• Speak to Nick Day the owner of the nursery – nothing about local plants and their growth habbits and roles in the garden that Nick doesn’t know about! Nice guy, very helpful, stoked surfer too.

Pest-Away Australia

• www.pestawayaust.com.au
• Supplier of permanent bird nets – good service, good pricing, excellent turn-around on orders. Speak to Trevor – he makes sure you get what you need and he ensures the best and fastest and cheapest way to get it to you. Good quality strong flawless nets.

Pete the Permie – Telopea Nursery

• Horticulturist / tree supplier at Telopea Nursery
• Nothing about fruit trees this guy doesn’t know. From root stock, to climate suitability to seasonal influences. Amazing stock of heritage fruit and nut trees.

Philip Sedgman – Living Water Flowforms

• www.livingwaterflowforms.com
• This man turns functional items into beautiful forms. Great service too.

Plant Inspirations

• www.plantinspirations.com.au
• Massive online retail plant nursery, with a huge variety of native plants. We got plants here we couldn’t get anywhere else. Some really good deals on tube stock plants. Friendly, well-informed, good service – with very decent shipping rates, especially for larger orders.

Rex Bennett – Ascot Splicing & Supplies

• ascotsplicing.com.au
• For anything rope-related, Rex is your man – ladders, nets, climbing ropes, the works. Great service too. Aussie master cricketer.

Solair Group

• www.solairgroup.com.au
• Experts in agriculture, aquaculture and water quality management – suppliers of equipment and solutions that provide healthy water quality in ponds, lakes and dams. We received amazing after-sales service from Jordan, where they assisted us with trouble-shooting and providing replacement pumps until our solution worked 100%

Tank Management Services

• www.tankmanagement.com.au
• Suppliers of a large range of tanks and spray equipment. Good products, good service and fast delivery times.

The Mulch Centre (Geelong)

• www.themulchcentre.com.au
• Great mulch, great topsoil. Quick delivery. Speak to Lee-Ann, she’ll set you right. Shaun maneuvers the trucks and delivers whatever you need into the most awkward places with a smile – precision engineer, he hasn’t come close to bumping a single plant in a hundred difficult drop-offs; stoked long-boarder too.
• We recently featured very nicely on their Facebook feed!

TimberZoo

• www.timberzoo.com.au
• Amazing collection of recycled wood – great for landscaping, furniture, you can build a beach house from all this stuff!

Water Quality Solutions
previously known as Clearwater Lakes and Ponds

• www.cwlp.com.au
• Nothing about managing natural and grey water that Scott Tucker and his team doesn’t know – from swimming pools and small ponds to great lakes. Great service and after-sales service. Not shy to give good advice either. We recently got some Silver Perch through them too.

Wayne Barry – Treecycle Tree Services

• www.treecycle.com.au
• Very efficient tree surgeon, removal, mulching. Fair rates. Wayne really knows his trees.

WellSpring Wesleyan Methodist Church

• www.truelocal.com.au/business/wellspring-wesleyan-methodist-church/prahran
• Speak to pastor Jim Scott – great sense of humour, builds the most beautiful model boats. Beautiful family. Jim and Heather are our friends for life.

William Horvath – Permaculture Apprentice

• Permaculture blogger at permacultureapprentice.com
• Some good tips on his blog. Hard worker. Living the dream.