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My Story
Hello, I'm Ali
I'm a resilience-focused garden and whole site designer in Ballarat, weaving together threads of permaculture and ecopsychology with lived experience.
I believe that an authentic relationship with the land is quietly empowering. It returns us to ourselves and ignites a forgotten sense of agency.
What I Bring to This Work
My formal training gives me the toolkit: a Diploma in Sustainable Living, alongside Permaculture Design and Teaching Certifications. I've been working with permaculture since encountering it in Tasmania in 2008 - creating productive gardens in suburban Melbourne and more recently in Ballarat, teaching permaculture, and writing about sustainable living.
My own Ballarat home on Wadawurrung Country is where that design thinking lives in practice - a household food system developed with intention, an ongoing experiment in everything I offer to others, and the place where I'm putting down roots.
This Work Began Before I Knew Its Name
Nurturing Earth didn't start as a business but as recognition of a relationship.
I found myself increasingly called to the garden during a demanding season of life. What I received was restoration. Being in the soil and relating to the cycling of the seasons, steadied my breath and filled my depleted cup. It was a joyful realisation that in return for my efforts to heal the damaged land, the earth was reciprocally building me back up.
I understood how deeply our well-being is linked to our relationship with the more-than-human world, which manages to hold us even when we can't hold ourselves. It became the philosophy that underpins Nurturing Earth.
Healing ourselves and healing the earth aren't separate projects. We can cultivate the resilience of the earth, our households and ourselves by actively engaging with the land on which we live and play.
Where this work meets you
That work of repair and resilience always returns to the ground — to the practical, tangible act of creating a property that can hold you. A space that provides food security, natural beauty, and a sense of agency without demanding more than you can give.
My work translates this into a professional design service for Ballarat homes and properties: from resilient edible gardens to fully integrated whole site permaculture design. It is a clear, collaborative process that results in a productive, beautiful space tailored to your capacity and Ballarat's climate.
What I Believe:
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Reciprocity must be a design principle, not just a value. A garden that takes more than you have to give will exhaust you. Good design ensures the relationship is balanced.
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You don't need to be ready. You don't need more energy, knowledge, or capacity before you begin. The design meets you where you are.
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Small, well-placed acts compound. A thriving productive property isn't built in a weekend but by developing a system over time. That's what design guides.