Lolo Houbein talks about how easy it is to start your own vegetable garden

On Sunday the library was fortunate to host ‘Paradise is at Your Backdoor’, an afternoon of gardening and literary delight! Author of One Magic Square, Lolo Houbein and Holistic Gardening author Miles Trench were joined by local poets Jude Aquilina and Sarah Clay to provide two hours of gardening knowledge and experience in a very entertaining and creative fashion. 

Jude kicked off the afternoon reciting some of her poetry as published in her recent work Womenspeak, throwing to Sarah who recited some of her own poetic backyard observation.

Lolo spoke about the health benefits of home grown vegetables, explaining how easy it is in any sized backyard to grow a variety of vegetables and the value of rotating your crop.

Miles Trench with his book 'Holistic Gardening' and the broad beans

After a short break to sample some local wines followed by some more poetry, Miles Trench spoke about the holistic approach to gardening. He discussed some of the theories around planting times, Feng Shui, inner health, and how gardening is a wholly organic process that really does not require any chemicals at all.

 Some thoughtful questions followed, with Lolo and Miles ultimately saying that the link between human and plant is stronger than science can explain. 

It was an entertaining and informative event, those of us who have little to zero vegetable growing experience were invited to take home some broad beans, to kick start or own holistic approach to homegrown gardening!

Sarah Clay, Jude Aquilina, Lolo Houbein and Miles Trench with Library mascot Anstey the Echidna