From Soil To Supper

A woman with a passion for horticulture has set herself the task of rejuvenating her family’s 200-acre property

- Claire Bickle

In Witta, near hilly Maleny in Queensland’s subtropical Sunshine Coast Region, lives a woman with a passion for organics and sharing the therapeutic benefits of gardening.

The property Cath Manuel shares with her family is around 200 acres with a kitchen garden area of 800m2. In her spare time Cath enjoys soaking up the sun at the beach, walking and running through bushland and coastal locations and dabbling in a bit of cooking. On the property she’s experiencing a new activity: managing a herd of cattle.

With a Diploma of Horticulture, a Certificate in Horticultural Therapy and a Design Certificate in Permaculture, Cath works as a horticultural consultant and horticultural therapist.

For some time, she has been bringing gardening to those in need, whether they be disabled or mentally unwell, aged or children. Her passion for engaging all people in all situations and all walks of life has seen her recognised within the horticultural therapy fraternity, her local community and further afield.

She used to run a successful landscape business but decided to switch to the world of organic gardening, starting a business called Soil to Supper that springboarded her into the horticultural community.

The Soil to Supper website is a wealth of information. You can sign up for membership to keep updated on what you should be doing in the garden each season. Plus, there are fabulous master classes and you get to be a part of a supportive greater gardening community.

Cath also has a regular podcast called Wellbeing Gardening and writes a regular column for the Maggie Beer Foundation.

THE EVOLVING GARDENER