Hannah Moloney at Lyttleton!
Lyttleton Stores played host to a most exciting guest this November… none other than Hannah Moloney! Hailing from Tasmania, Hannah is an enthusiastic and talented gardener, teacher, designer and gem of a woman, who is passionate about sharing her love for permaculture and living sustainably with a wide international community. Perhaps best known as a presenter on Gardening Australia, she is also a writer, and she chose Lyttleton Stores to host the launch of her second book “Good Life Growing: How to grow fruit and veg anywhere in Australia⤻”
By Neela Shearar
We were honoured to have Hannah join us for the entire day, where she first generously joined our Volunteer Garden Working Bee. Here Hannah and an amazing team of volunteers worked hard to restore our side garden back into a productive space for growing fruit, veggies, herbs & flowers. The transformation was simply phenomenal, and stands as a testament to what we can achieve when we work together as a community. What started as an overgrown jungle was transformed back into a delicious edible garden, with garden beds uncovered, seedlings planted, and a surprising number of established plants rediscovered among the weeds!
Photos just don’t do justice to the transformation, so if you’re in the area, drop by and see for yourself - our garden is now open to the community six days a week (the perfect place to enjoy a coffee and lunch from the Lyttleton Kitchen).
By Neela Shearar
As we transitioned into evening, tools were packed away and hands washed, read for the Book Launch itself. It was wonderful to see guests filling our community garden, keen to meet Hannah, have a photo and their books (conveniently supplied by RoseyRavelston!) signed. Emmanuela Prigioni from Farm It Forward⤻ then treated us to a compelling and joyous interview with Hannah, touching on a wide range of topics with a number of insightful deep dives!
Hannah was keen to express what her book was, and was not. Emphasising a work grounded in the Australian landscape, inspired and educated by the culture and knowledge of First Nations people, and expressly created to encourage and empower everyone and anyone to grow their own food…
“When we talk about how to grow food, I’m only interested in that conversation when we talk about “How can anyone grow food?”’ - regardless of your postcode, your housing situation, your bank budget, there’s a way for every single context [to grow food]. And I’ve experienced quite a few of those contexts over my growing career - I think I’ve lived in 25 share houses over 10 years, I’ve grown food on the road, I’ve grown food with zero dollars, and maybe some dollars, but not many dollars. So I’m only interested in this conversation when we can include everybody”
Hannah ended the interview by treating up to a reading of the last page of her book, which you can view here (please excuse the video quality and lemon tree!)