Ryman Healthcare NZ Gardener of the Year nomination

Kirsty from Otumoetai

Odette Chesterman may have had a slight ‘crisis of conscience’ three years ago, leaving an established career in the kiwifruit sector to pursue her passion for sustainable environments and optimal health. Following her heart she retrained in Organic Horticulture, Permaculture Design and Plant based Nutrition, with the goal to help ‘grow’ a better world.

Odette initially studied Permaculture, planning to visit a friend’s school for orphans and under-privileged in Africa and wanting to teach the children something useful that would also bring them sustenance from the garden to the table.

But Permaculture opened Odette’s eyes to a whole new way of working in harmony with nature and better ways to share resources. Odette attended the NZ Permaculture hui at Guytons’ food forest in Riverton then joined a Permaculture tour gaining inspiration from passionate property owners in the South Island.

Wanting to learn more, she then enrolled in Organic Horticulture at Toi-oho-mai, whilst taking on an organic conversion of her family kiwifruit orchard with Biogro. Extramural workshops, especially one on soil and regenerative farming by Nicole Masters got her excited about the possibilities of reversing climate change and restoring harm done to the planet. Her beliefs are that by moving away from mono-cultural farming and embracing Functional Biodiversity, we can trust nature to balance itself.

Odette’s ‘Organic Awakening’ led to an adventurous few years giving back to people and communities around the world. Exchanging her initial permaculture garden designs in return for donations for the Olive Tree Learning Centre in Zambia saw Odette finally get to spend 6 weeks at her friends school on the outskirts of Livingstone, where she helped establish terraced garden beds, designed and built a compost for chicken manure and taught the kids all about soil microbes, whilst making a permaculture design for the school that will see them into the future.

Odette spent a further four months combining travel with volunteering on organic farms. In Italy she pruned berries on the hills above Venice, dug potato’s in 40-degree heat at a social project in Schio, laid irrigation at a vineyard in Perugia. In England she pruned roses at a Cotswold manor and built the largest home compost pile ever! She visited Natural History museums in Oxford, Buffalo, New York, San Francisco - always seeking to learn. Happy to push her boundaries Odette attended the US Biodynamics conference in New York, before flying home to NZ with a wealth of experience and knowledge to share.

Back home Odette has continued to upskill, completing another Permaculture Living course with Milkwood and David Holgrem plus a Gardening Essentials course with Permaplenty. She has begun writing about her experiences with the aim to share knowledge and stories of inspiration with others.

Currently Odette is following another dream and along with her small dog Meg is living a nomadic lifestyle in the Tasman district, swapping designs for a scenic place to park her van and soak up the diversity of New Zealand’s environment, whilst establishing her permaculture design business and dreaming up new ways to make a positive difference with plants.