You can contact me via email at kat.lavers (at) gmail.com, or use the form below.

Please check these FAQ before you get in touch!

Can you help me design my garden?

Maybe. If you live in Melbourne, I am sometimes able to do design consultancies. I am currently focused on some major projects and overseas aid work, and will be taking a break from household designs until further notice. I am still taking on design work for community gardens and other urban agriculture projects. 

If you live elsewhere in Australia/the world, please find your local permaculture group and teachers. While permaculture ethics and principles are useful everywhere, strategies must be locally contextualised to work with your culture, climate and local resources etc. To minimise my footprint, I prefer not to travel for work when there is local expertise available. 

Are you available to speak at my event, run tours or teach workshops?

Yes! Get in touch via the form below. Please understand that I usually need to charge for my time. I have a sliding scale so that I can offer a lower rate to community groups, and support my pro bono work with groups in need.

Are you available for media requests?

Yes! Please get in touch via the form below.

Can you give my community garden/urban agriculture project some advice?

Happy to help! Get in touch via the form below and I will do my best, or refer you to other sources.

Can you answer my random question about quails, permaculture or gardening?

Sorry, no. I receive too many requests to answer technical questions over email, and a lot of the answers depend on your context and climate anyway. Please come along to a course or event and I’ll be very happy to chat.

Usually you’ll find what you need using search engines, otherwise there are plenty of local social media groups dedicated to answering questions about quails, gardening and permaculture  🙂

Can I interview you for my school/uni assignment?

Sorry I can’t help with assignments at this time.

How do I get started with permaculture and create my own abundant garden?

I recommend doing an intro to permaculture or full Permaculture Design Course (PDC) with a local teacher to immerse yourself in permaculture design and thinking. Ask around permaculture networks and find out who the best teachers are near you, and if possible choose a teacher that specialises in your area of interest (aid work, earthworks, urban etc). If you live in South Eastern Australia you can check the courses I am involved in on my Events page. If that’s not possible, there are some great books. For beginners I like Rosemary Morrow’s Earth Users Guide to Permaculture and the Aranya Permaculture Design book. Also follow permaculturalists and growers that live near you on social media to pick up local tips. The WWOOF network or similar exchange arrangements are a brilliant way to learn practical skills. Ask around and find people with depth of experience to learn from (ie. respected farmers and teachers). The Permablitz network is another fantastic pathway for hands-on learning. There may be a local group near you, or if there’s not you could start one and there are some resources on the website to help. Finally, I did a lot of self-directed study. I picked one topic at a time, read and cross-referenced a few different books/sources, visited local systems, set up one of my own, did experiments etc. If you’re disciplined enough to stick with it, it can be more valuable than any paid course. 

Do you take helpers at the Plummery?

We sometimes offer an exchange where you live with us for 1-2 weeks and help out for a few hours a day with gardening, building and other jobs. In return we share skills and discuss the evolution of our design in detail. Our opportunities to host are quite limited so please get in touch a few months in advance, and understand that we can’t accommodate all requests.  We are not able to host anyone during the pandemic, sorry folks!

You can also find me on Instagram: @kat.lavers