50 YEARS OF EARTH GARDEN MAGAZINE
DECADES OF ACHIEVEMENT AND HAPPINESS
Judith Gray has been the co-publisher of Earth Garden since 1990.
In its early days, Earth Garden was a foundational platform for change. Readers and writers from all over the country networked locally and nationally to bring about environmental and social change. The ripples of Earth Garden’s intent have radiated out and created a groundswell that has turned the ‘alternative lifestyle’ into the ‘responsible lifestyle’ that so many Australians have come to embrace.
Throughout my 30 years of EG, family life has been worked around publishing deadlines and responsibilities. Earth Garden has been our very way of life, on so many levels. From homegrown food to independence from the grid, environmental campaigns and creative solutions to Climate Change, EG has been the framework on which our family has been built. I am proud to say all our adult children enjoy growing and gathering and like many Earth Gardeners they have a great empathy for their environment.
If I were to distill EG’s greatest gift to our family, it would have to be its lessons in sharing and working together for a better world. Earth Garden has taught me the power of Giving. Through the Earth Garden Foundation, so many Nepalese communities now have solar power and lighting in their medical posts. Many First Nations Australians in remote Kimberley communities now have access to culturally aware financial counselling. All this has brought a great sense of achievement and happiness in our lives. I am so grateful, and honoured to have been part of the Earth Garden journey.
FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS YEAR
The much-admired founders of Earth Garden, Irene and Keith Smith from Artarmon in NSW, look back fondly over EG’s 50 year journey.
“Earth Garden is a friendly little magazine for the bush push.”
—Tony McMichael,The Review, 29 April-5 May 1972 (our first review).
The idea that we might start a magazine of some sort popped up on our honeymoon, as we drove south from Sydney to Melbourne in ‘Morrie’ our green Morris campervan. At first we talked about it as ‘Garden Earth’, but one day we realised that ‘Earth Garden’ had a better ring to it. It’s still hard for us to believe that this was 50 years ago (yes, half a century) and EG, now published and edited by Alan and Judith Gray, is still going strong.
In 1972 concepts like self-sufficiency, environment, organic gardening, conservation and even shelter were not in everyday use. In Melbourne we met and heard about young people fed up with fast city living with its high house prices for small pieces of land (even way back then), heavy use of chemical fertilisers for food crops, and little thought for our planet.
Our aim was to inspire and inform, to help people live closer to the earth, be more self-reliant, grow their own organic (chemical-free) food, keep chooks and other animals and even build their own house.
They did not want big mortgages which necessitated full time jobs, usually in the city. They wanted gardens and fresh air and they were prepared to put in their own hard work instead of money and mortgages. Many we met were vegetarians.
Most had little knowledge of how to go about this. We realised that, between the two of us, we had practical, useful information and had gained valuable experience ‘in the field’ while working (before we knew each other) on kibbutz in Israel. And this might help people who were attempting to simplify their lives and become more self-reliant.
So we started EG as a forum of advice, help and a place where ‘back to the earthers’ could ask questions, tell about their own experiences, good or bad, and exchange ideas. From the start we encouraged our readers to contribute their own stories.
We travelled around Australia to meet and interview those who were trying to live this kind of life. We wrote about them and what they were doing and loved meeting those