Tim Sansom is the inaugural CEO of the Diggers Foundation – the garden charity which owns The Diggers Club and the Diggers gardens. Working with plants has always been Tim’s passion and he has worked in urban food production for more than 20 years. Formerly director of Horticulture at Diggers, Tim has also been involved in the establishment of multiple permaculture and community gardens.

Tim Sansom

Daylesford Cider Company: Clare & Mackie (Tarker the cider dog!) took over the Daylesford cider business and premises in 2014, growing their small business to where it is today

Daylesford Cider Company

Julian is the Head Gardener at St Erth, where he is curator of the espalier orchard, the food forest, and the bulb meadows, and he is a highly experienced market gardener and passionate fork to fork foodie!

julian Blackhirst

 After twenty years working in various roles within the nursery and garden industry it was with great pleasure that Ryan came to work for the Diggers Club in mid 2018, both his and the Diggers Club’s 40th birthday.

RYAN Garratt

Dan the Bee Man has turned his hobby of beekeeping into an educational business to share the joy of beekeeping and fresh honey to people all over Australia, whilst also promoting the idea of suburban beekeeping and bringing necessary bees back into the city.

Dan The Bee Man

Jac Semmler is foremost a flower lover and passionate advocate for annual flowers and all the many ways you can use them in the garden for beauty and biodiversity.

Jac Semmler

Jan is an accomplished gardener with a depth of knowledge that can only come with the dedication of much research and trial and error.

 Jan Beare

Chris & Janae Paquin-Bowden, Fleurs De Lyonville: A Family business who manage a micro-flower farm based in Lyonville. 

Fleurs De Lyonville

Phil is the proud owner of Shepherds Nursery in Balnarring, and is a third generation fruit tree fanatic and specialist.

Phil Shepherd

Simon Rickard is a passionate gardener and plantsman. He was head gardener at the Diggers Club until 2009, overseeing the gardens at Heronswood and the Garden of St Erth.

Simon Rickard

Established by skilled and passionate individuals, Farm My School is a not-for-profit association, working to transform unused land within schools, into regenerative market gardens providing food to the local community.

Farm my School

Jodie Goldring is an Artist & Teacher a notorious gleaner who has a broad range of creative experiences to share. Jodie identifies as a sculptor who uses basketry techniques to create and exhibit a small number of works each year in what she describes as a slow art practice.

Jodie Goldring

Linda Marold is a well known poultry expert in the Central Vic area. She has been keeping chooks since 1974 and together with her husband had the first free range egg farm in the Castlemaine area. They are now retired but continue to breed their own line of chooks.

Linda Marold

Mara is a cooking teacher with Village Dreaming, an Artisanal Cooking School in the Central Highlands. An avid kitchen gardener and custodian of a productive fruit and berry orchard, she has been preserving food for the past 15 years, an essential skill that makes the very most of the harvest.

Mara Ripani

Kirsten is the co-founder of Milkwood with Nick Ritar – together they’ve been teaching permaculture design and skills for living like it matters, to folks across Australia and beyond, for 15+ years. She is the author of the best-selling ‘Milkwood’ (2018) and the brand new ‘Permaculture Living Handbook’.

Kirsten Bradley

Penny is a dedicated organic gardener with a degree in botany and zoology. She is the author or co-author of 8 gardening books, including the award-winning ‘Garlic, an organic guide to knowing, sowing and using garlic’ and multi-award winning ‘Tomato – know sow grow feast’.

Penny Woodward

Peter Allen was co-founder of the Heritage Fruit Society and ran the Petty’s Heritage Apple Festival & Collection for over 10 years, with Silvia he has established the biggest fruit collection in Australia of over 1000 varieties on their Biodynamic farm in Olinda/ Monbulk.

Pete the Permie

Phil Dudman is the Horticultural Editor of ABC Organic Gardener magazine, a gardening talkback host on ABC Radio, TV presenter and author for ABC Books. He is also a popular speaker at events across the country, regarded for his informative and entertaining presentations and down-to-earth gardening approach.

Phil Dudman

Mount Zero Olives is a family owned olive grove three hours west of Melbourne on the northern edge of the Grampians National Park in Victoria, Australia. Commitment to flavour, sustainable farming and a passion for quality ingredients defines Mount Zero and all that we gather. Richard Seymour has been managing the Mount Zero family business since 2005.

Richard Seymour

Sophie Thomson is an Australian horticulturist, author and television and radio personality from Adelaide. Sophie is a presenter on ABC’s Gardening Australia and an ABC radio talk back host with extensive media experience.

Sophie Thomson

Adam Grubb is a permaculture designer and co-founder of the Naarm/Melbourne based Very Edible Gardens (VEG), as well as the permablitz community backyard makeover network. Since 2009, VEG has worked with over 20 councils, as well as libraries, festivals and community groups, while designing and building lots of gardens including wicking beds and integrated chook systems for householders.

Adam Grubb

David Holmgren is best known as the co-originator of permaculture. He is respected globally for his commitment to presenting ideas through practical projects and teaching by example that a permaculture way of living is a realistic, attractive and powerful alternative to dependant consumerism.

David Holmgren

Beck Lowe believes growing food is a radical act of sustainability and resilience. She practices, writes about and teaches permaculture, empowering people to create resilient gardens and households wherever they live. She has practical permaculture experience in private and community spaces in inner city, urban and rural areas.

Beck Lowe

David Reynolds is an award-winning Australian watercolour artist and tutor with the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne and Nature in Art at Park Orchards. He specialises in Australian flora and fauna, exotic plants, and wildlife. He has botanical artwork represented in the Victorian State Botanical Collection of the Royal Botanic Gardens, and in private collections in Australia and overseas.

David Reynolds