Sun and Soil Organic Gardening was founded in 2017 by James Blyth and Melissa Smrecnik and has since delivered hundreds of creative permaculture designs for properties, schools, commercial businesses and community gardens. Many of these garden designs were bought to life by our team of talented landscapers and one of our school gardens even won a national award. In addition to design and construction the team has also delivered a number of workshops, courses and talks on topics such as urban farming, urban permaculture, native bee keeping, composting, integrative pest management and many others. Regular garden coaching services have also been provided to a number of clients over the years to help build confidence with organic gardening.

In 2023 we decided to step away from garden construction and instead focus on delivering high quality permaculture designs backed by years of hands-on local experience. We now work closely with a number of trusted local landscaping contractors to carry out garden implementations.

CURRENT TEAM

James Blyth

James Blyth is passionate about educating and empowering people to grow real food in a way that improves the health of their own bodies, the soil and the planet. James is an experienced organic gardener and has specialist knowledge in organic market gardening, urban farming, garden education programs in schools and permaculture design. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering and is a highly experienced CAD designer with a deep understanding of all things earthworks, soil biology and water treatment.

James spent 5 years (2017-2022) working as the Garden Specialist in the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program at Bulimba State School, educating around 600 primary school aged children about how to grow food for themselves. He has spent a number of years working and volunteering on various organic farms and permaculture projects around the world in places such as Canada, Ecuador, Colombia, Hawaii and Australia.

James completed his Permaculture Design Course with Woven Earth in rural Nepal, followed by a Permaculture Teacher Training course with Rosemary Morrow at the Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute. He has since returned to Nepal to co-facilitate a Permaculture Design Course run by Woven Earth and been involved in delivering shorter introduction to permaculture and gardening workshops around Brisbane.

James has been deeply involved in the design and installation of every Sun and Soil design project since inception in 2018. His unique blend of civil engineering, practical gardening knowledge, hands-on landscaping, permaculture design and teaching experience allows him to come up with extremely practical and elegant solutions and communicate them clearly.

In 2016 James was so passionate about bringing awareness to eating local food that he rode from Brisbane to Hobart dressed as a carrot to highlight the ridiculous distances that our fresh food travels in Australia, raising money for a not-for-profit backyard farming enterprise in the process.

James has an infectious enthusiasm for organic gardening and is set on motivating both children and adults alike to start learning where food comes from and how to grow it for themselves!