At our recent Annual General Meeting in May, we welcomed two new faces to our Management Committee! Meet Maree, our new President, and Karen whom has come on board as General Member of the Committee.
Maree Gillott – President
After 31 years running my own legal practice in Logan, together with other business interests, my husband David and I moved to Wolvi just a year ago. Now that life has moved into (slightly) less frenetic gear, I’ve got the time and space to involve myself again in the things that matter. I’ve always been involved in community organisations of one type or another and the opportunity to combine my experience in not for profit management and my long held interest in sustainable land management was too good to pass up. I’ve got a particular interest in permaculture and regenerative agriculture, as it has long been apparent to me that industrialized methods of farming are making us, and what we eat , sicker than we have ever been.
My Husband and I were lucky enough to find our way to a well -watered cattle property in the foothills of Mt Wolvi which will be keeping us well occupied in our “non-retirement”. At last, I have both the means, and the opportunity to put all the theory I have accumulated from the permaculture/ sustainable agriculture reference books sitting on my shelves and apply them to our new place. The aim is simple- I am just looking to leave our small patch of the world in better shape than we found it .
Becoming a part of Landcare will hopefully allow me to help spread the seeds of change even further.
Karen Jarling – General Management Committee Member
With a ‘paid’ work history that covers retail and hospitality, it was always my ‘unpaid’ work that felt like the better personal fit. The unpaid job had terrible hours, no holiday pay or super, but it did have excitement, fun and personal satisfaction in spades. What was that job? FARMING – the best job on the planet.
Learning beside my father as a very young person, later beside my now husband and more recently from Australian and International experts, “Farming” has come to mean much more than just growing food.
What happens below the surface of our soils is where the true story of farming anything lies these days. Soil health, microbiology and the interaction between plants and the soil life is a vast subject and the discoveries about these interactions are happening at a break neck pace due to vastly improved technology.
When time permits, I attend industry workshops, field days and information sessions to feed the knowledge bank. These workshops and other regional food and agriculture events are also an opportunity to network with other like-minded farmers and graziers.
Like many women on the land, in my day-to-day working life I have become an accountant, research officer, minister for finance, marketing director and sales person along with caring for my two rapidly growing boys.
I will continue to seek information and cutting-edge techniques to improve upon farming challenges and am excited to be able to share what I learn to the wider community through Landcare Gympie. I am always eager to connect with other farming families, but also those who are asking questions about how they can take the next step towards a farm that is a growing lifeforce, in all it’s amazing forms.