Tassie’s queen of compost lives the good life

MOST of us strive for the perfect work/life balance, seeking a clear divide between our 9-5 selves and our home lives, but for Hannah Moloney such a division doesn’t exist.

Anton Vikstrom and Hannah Moloney from Good Life Permaculture. Picture: NATALIE MENDHAM

MOST of us strive for the perfect work/life balance, seeking a clear divide between our 9-5 office personas and our home lives.

But for Hannah Moloney such a division doesn’t exist — and the 35-year-old couldn’t be happier with the way her work and family life collides.

Moloney, her husband Anton Vikstrom and their three-year-old daughter Frida live in a hot-pink house on a ¾ acre property in South Hobart.

They also run Good Life Permaculture, a business dedicated to sharing sustainable gardening practices with others and teaching “lots of hand-on practical skills for living the good life’’.

Their “small city farm” is home to a thriving veggie patch, a fruit and hazelnut orchard, two milking goats, chickens and honeybees.

It’s the perfect place for Moloney, who grew up on her family’s herb farm in Queensland.

As a two-year-old she would sit and play in the garden as her dad worked nearby, and as she got older she helped tend to plants in the nursery and built cubby houses among the mango and macadamia trees with her siblings.

It gave her inside knowledge about farming and gardening and also a deep appreciation for food.

But by the time Moloney hit 18 she decided she’d had enough of the “full-on” 24/7 lifestyle of farming more than 300 varieties of herbs and swore she’d never work on a farm again.

Within months of leaving the property in a search for new adventures, though, she realised she missed it. Permaculture was her passion.

Moloney travelled Australia, establishing a name for herself as a teacher, designer, business owner and compost queen.

Anton Vikstrom, Hannah Moloney and daughter Frida. Picture: NATALIE MENDHAM

She spent two months in Africa working on programs supporting farming women in Tanzania and Uganda, as well as a trip to the Solomon Islands to teach permaculture to remote farmers.

In 2012 she and Anton moved to Tasmania — inspired by the state’s amazing natural resources and its “not too big, not too small’’ feel. They started their business the following year, looking at ways to make landscapes resilient and regenerative.

Moloney says an increasing number of Tasmanians are looking for ways to live a happier, healthier and more sustainable lifestyle.

Which is evident from the breadth of workshops she runs at various Tasmanian locations — everything from establishing a permaculture garden and growing food to bee keeping, brewing beer and creating compost.

“We have all types of people, all ages and all backgrounds,’’ Moloney says. “The common theme is people who are really looking to reconnect with some hands-on skills and want to take more responsibility for where their food comes from and reconnect with what matters.’’

She says you don’t need acreage to have a permaculture garden. The skills she teaches are adaptable for all scales — from tiny balcony gardens to full-scale farms.

“You can grow some herbs and salad greens — you can do that in one square metre, you don’t even need earth as you can do it in a raised garden bed,’’ Moloney says.

She’s not aiming for self-sufficiency, but rather community sufficiency, promoting a swap, trade, buy and sell philosophy.

“We have some of the best food in the world in Tasmania, but most of it is exported,’’ she says.

But she believes food culture is slowly changing — community gardens, farm gate markets and passionate local chefs like Matthew Evans are helping people take back control of their food system.

Becoming a mum made Moloney even more passionate about where food comes from.

“Frida’s really lucky, it’s just normal for her — if she wants to eat a carrot she can go and harvest one,’’ Moloney says.

“As a parent I think ‘how can we make sure everything we do right now is going to benefit future generations’.

Looking back to when she was 18 — when she turned her back on farming and gardening — Moloney says it’s hard to believe she ended up in Tasmania, running a city farm and sharing her passion with others.

“We’re so lucky — every day we’re like, ‘gee, this is awesome’,’’ she says. “We live it — there is no separation between our work and lives.’’

“We love, believe in, and are committed to, living a truly integrated life. And we’re so privileged and grateful it resonates with so many people.’’

Moloney will run a free Compost Workshop in Hobart on October 6. Other upcoming workshops include An Introduction to Small-Scale Beekeping, Real Skills for Growing Food and a Permaculture Design course. For details visit goodlifepermaculture.com.au

Originally published as Tassie’s queen of compost lives the good life