Sun and Soil Organic Gardening began as partnership between James Blyth and Melissa Smrecnik in 2018. Over 5 years James and Melissa delivered over 100 creative permaculture designs for homes, schools, commercial businesses and community gardens. Almost one third of those designs were carried through to implementation stage where the team bought the ideas on paper into reality.
In 2023, Melissa stepped back from Sun and Soil to focus on her wonderful holistic healing business, Gaia Kin. James is continuing to provide the same dedicated permaculture design services as before, however we are moving away from the implementation side of things to focus more on delivering high quality designs, project management and coaching.
If your project requires implementation, we can recommend a few local landscaping providers that understand permaculture thinking to help you bring your project to life.
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 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!
Melissa SmreCNik
Melissa Smrecnik is passionate about helping others to live a healthier and more sustainable life by growing their own organic food and herbal medicine. Melissa has a wealth of knowledge about farming practices including organic, permaculture and biodynamic farming. She completed her Permaculture Design Certificate with Jeff Lawton in 2012 and a Bachelor of Environmental Science majoring in Ecology and Natural Resource Science in 2010. Melissa has been involved in many projects across the world including Rio Muchacho and Sarawati Ahimsa Vana Organic Farms in Ecuador and The Permaculture Research Institute in Australia.
Melissa coordinated Jane Street Community Garden in West End for 6 years along with coordinating and managing the Common Ground Roof Top Garden in South Brisbane.