Avant Gardeners

-- Save 15% off everything when shopping. Use the code AGPOD15 here. This episode is proudly sponsored by Veggie and Flower Garden Seeds. With more than 900 varieties of veggie seeds, and unique and hard-to-find flower seeds, this is our go-to place to shop for garden goodies. Female founded, Bec sources freshest seed to help with your germination success. We love their amazing customer service, their helpful advice on getting the most out of your seed, and the range of stunning flowers and veggies they have available. --

Poh Ling Yeow is an artist, author, cook, and TV host - one of the hosts of Masterchef Australia. She's also a relatively recent convert to gardening—but gee whiz, has she grabbed it with two hands!
​She doesn't call herself a chef, but she burst onto our screens in 2009 in the very first season of MasterChef. Since then, she's been a regular on TV, including her own series, Poh and Co., which followed the creation of her amazing garden.
​Poh explains that her "greed for life experience" has always made her creatively adventurous and willing to invite change. We think those are words to live by.
​Poh lives, cooks, creates, gardens, and tends to her bees - alongside her beloved dog Tim on Gah-na land in Adelaide, South Australia.
Before that we're chatting Miso - Maddie's obsessed with these miso chocolate biscuits, and this way of cooking cabbage that you're going to love (panko, miso and add some chilli - oh my!). 
Maddie is loving strawberries growing in pots, and reccomends this Bee Native florists hand balm
Poh talks about Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerrer, Maddie talks about Phosphorescene by Julia Baird
Poh also references The River Cafe cookbook, and Tickle Tank in Adelaide

--This episode is proudly sponsored by Willie Smith's Non-alcoholic Cider. Made from Organic Apples grown not far from us, we're big fan of this delightful non-alcoholic cider. It's more refined that apple juice, there's no added sugar, and it's something fancier than your standard sparkling water. It has that craft cider taste, and it's a great option if you aren't drinking, want just one less alcoholic drink, or feel like something a little different.  Enjoy 10% off their Non-Alcoholic ciders when using the code AG10 here --


We've knocked the top off a Willie Smith's Non Alc cider for this glorious episode. Not only do we enjoy their cider, but we love going to their Apple Shed too for some live music inside, let the kids run wild outside, a bowl of delicious potatoes or their yummy apple pie. 
We're chatting tree dahlias (again), scary snapdragon seed pods, encouraging Ravens in the chicken yard, the no-egg season, chicken curtains, the ridiculousness of the guinea fowl. We're looking at Scarab Beetles in a new light, Emily is planting out Dwarf Gums but needs to consider power poles (as do you if you purchase a property down here!). Emily is singing the praises of Buy From The Bush

--This episode is proudly sponsored by Willie Smith's Non-alcoholic Cider. Made from Organic Apples grown not far from us, we're big fan of this delightful non-alcoholic cider. It's more refined that apple juice, there's no added sugar, and it's something fancier than your standard sparkling water. It has that craft cider taste, and it's a great option if you aren't drinking, want just one less alcoholic drink, or feel like something a little different.  Enjoy 10% off their Non-Alcoholic ciders when using the code AG10 here --

Anna Matilda, aka The Urban Nanna specialises in teaching people about traditional skills, crafts and methods of living in a modern-day context. 
Anna's purpose is about reviving traditional ways of cooking, preserving, and crafting, always focusing heavily on permaculture principles to guide a sustainable lifestyle that's full of gardening and zero-waste practices.
Anna is a former primary school teacher with a horticultural background who has created The Urban Nanna to showcase and teach knowledge, methods and skills to people much like grandmas have done for generations. 
Anna lives, forages, preserves and works on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung peoples in Victoria, Australia.
We're eating Tony Chocoloney.
Maddie and Emily discuss Friction Maxxing, Visible Mending,
With Anna we delve into Carescapes and specifically Spoons theory. 
Anna's book is Everyday Permaculture
We discuss Ceres, Milkwood Permaculture, The Veggie Scientist, Autism and Neurodivergence, Catie from Reskilliance Podcast, Foraging and much more. Enjoy!

--This episode is proudly sponsored by Willie Smith's Non-alcoholic Cider. Made from Organic Apples grown not far from us, we're big fan of this delightful non-alcoholic cider. It's more refined that apple juice, there's no added sugar, and it's something fancier than your standard sparkling water. It has that craft cider taste, and it's a great option if you aren't drinking, want just one less alcoholic drink, or feel like something a little different.  Enjoy 10% off their Non-Alcoholic ciders when using the code AG10 at https://www.williesmiths.com.au/product/willie-smiths-non-alc --

We're back! Welcome to a new season of Avant Gardeners.
This is an Emily & Maddie episode where we start off with saffron and end on a recommendation that will have your veggies lasting much much longer in the fridge.

Maddie has grown a successful saffron crop, and now understands why it's so expensive, she's popped in a bunch of Gladiolus, there are kiwi fruits growing (we incorrectly said that kiwi don't ripen off the vine. This is untrue - they will ripen on your bench). Coriander are going off in the garden paths. Maddie is ambivilent about quinces. Emily is giving back to the local seed saving group, and has a great hack with pillow cases. She's recommending King of the Wilderness a story about the amazing Denny King, as a tree that was previously thought to be extinct has recently been discovered. King's Lomatia.

Emily is recommending The Swag. 

A big thank you to Willie Smith's Non Alcoholic Cider for being this episode's sponsor.

Mitch Theissen has the enviable role of Head Gardener at the award winning Agrarian Kitchen in New Norfolk, just outside of Hobart.
Having grown up in the Huon Valley, born into a long line of apple farmers, Mitch started his career in the kitchen, first in Hobart, then Sydney, before spending time in Japan. It was here that his thoughts returned to agriculture and produce, and upon returning to Australia he sought out the next phase of his career, landing this dream gig a few years ago and being pivotal in what it looks like, and how it operates, today. 
Mitch lives, works and gardens with his partner, and young family on the land of the wulawali people in New Norfolk, in lutruwita/Tasmania's Derwent Valley.
Before we get to that, Emily and Maddie are (as well as talking over the top of each other -- sorry about that --) talking about radishes. Yep, that's about it.

We also talk about 
Compost
Soil
Salad spinners (lol, yes)
And maybe you need to rush out to buy some Japanese Salad Turnip Seeds. IYIYK

Mitch is recommending Eliot Coleman's New Organic Gardener.