Rodney Dunn's excitement when talking about gardening is like a kid in a candy store. Fuelled by a 'quest for flavour' and inspired by The River Cottage UK, Rodney and his wife Severine moved to Tasmania in 2007, opening The Agrarian Kitchen, a cooking school and garden that has grown to become an institution itself. In 2017 they added a restaurant…

Have we become professional Christians, abiding in church-ianity? We unpack what this means with our guest, Pastor Andy Sloan. With honesty and humor, Andy shares how he’s learned [the hard way] that being radically on mission is simpler than we may recognize, the practicalities of living out calling, and also what he considers to be his favorite s…

We've both been obsessed with My Father and Other Animals for some time now, so when author and accidental-farmer Sam Vincent said yes to being interviewed we were quietly nervous. He joined us from his family's farm in the Yass Valley that he shares with his partner Lauren and daughter Orlando. This land has traditionally been inhabited by the Ngu…

Plantlovers, let us welcome Sophia Kaplan to the microphone. What a bloody treat to interview Sophia about all things floristry, moving to Paris, Indoor plants, and what she's growing at her place. Sophia's eponymous studio specialises in botanic set design for stills photography, floral styling for events, editorial and commercial projects. She's …

Do I need to step back from ministry, or is it an opportunity to pull myself up by the bootstraps and keep going? In this episode, Pastor Bill Campbell shares how growing with intentionality in self-awareness has helped him distinguish between the two in the course of his decades in ministry. It’s a vulnerable conversation about learning from your …

In this episode, we return for part 2 of our conversation with Charles Dowding, the guru of no dig gardening. If you haven't listened to Part 1, feel free to go back and brush up on the basics of no dig, composting and weeding, before diving head first into this episode where we explore planting by the moon, biodynamic, gardening with intention and…

Pinch us! We had the chance to speak with the guru of no dig gardening himself, Mr Charles Dowding. Over an hour and a half we meandered all manner of subjects including the obvious (no dig gardening, composting, weeding) and the maybe less obvious - the politics of gardening, UK alotments, microdosing. To keep our episodes short(ish) and sharp(ish…

What’s the biggest obstacle a leader will face within ministry? Recognizing that it’s, “Not about you.” In this episode, Pastor Suzie Genin gets real (and has fun) with her journey of learning humility the hard way, becoming equipped as you equip others, and seeing every invited opportunity to minister as sacred…and also calling out Chad’s question…

We've been dedicated students of the Compostable Kate's School of Compost since wayyyyy back, so it's an absolute dream to interview her for this week's episode. Kate Flood (aka Compostable Kate) is a sustainability educator, compost queen and author of The Compost Coach (2023). She is prolific on Instagram, sharing all things Bokashi, worm farms a…

We're kicking off Season 2 with the delightful Jac Semmler, author, flower lover, and director of plant practice Super Bloom. Jac has held coveted positions including Head of Plants and Strategy at The Plant Society, as well as roles at The Diggers Club. Her debut book Super Bloom is a manifesto to all things flowers, and her 2023 release, The Supe…

New Year, New Vision--or is it? Executive Coach and Pastor, Gary Dunahoo, kicks off Season 3 by positing the question, "What if we could be more present today, trusting that God is going to lead us forward tomorrow?" Through his own experiences and learned wisdom, Gary unpacks practically, what it means to be a leader who stewards all they've been …

Ministry as an individual is one thing, but ministry as a couple is another level. In our stacked Season Two finale, we add Lindsay Garrison, and Dustin and Joanna Black to the ongoing conversation of navigating ministry with your spouse. Together, we unpack the hard earned wisdom gained in clarifying spouse vs. ministry roles, ministry expectation…

To wrap up a season of dreamy guests, we spoke to Kirsten Bradley, co-founder of Milkwood Permaculture. Kirsten and her partner Nick Ritar founded Milkwood, kind of by accident, back in 2007 when they moved to Nick’s family farm with the intention to build a tiny home, grow veggies and lead a simple life. And it turns out they weren’t the only ones…

Ashley James is a garden designer and horticulturist based in the Yarra Valley, Victoria, on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people. He started working in the industry when he was just 14 years old, alongside his dad. He started his own business aged 23 and went against the grain, focusing on soft-landscaping and design, when all the cool k…

When we allow ministry to become task driven, one of the easiest things to lose sight of is the creative expression that is inherent to our Creator. In this episode, we sit down for a fun conversation with minister and FMP Director, Bob Hunt. Bob unpacks for us the importance of creativity within ministry, how it affects everyone involved in the cr…

This week we're chatting to the super lovely Brenton Roberts whose garden we've coveted for a long time now. Brenton lives in the Adelaide Hills with his wife Libby and young family, breathing new life into the garden and home, built in the 1860s. They moved to the property about 10 years ago, and commenced the thoughtful process of transforming it…

Sadie Chrestman didn't get into gardening until she was 40, but she's quickly made up for lost time. Sadie moved from inner-city Sydney to the Huon Valley in Tasmania, settling on a property called Puggle Farm, where she got stuck into everything from animal husbandry, admiring wood piles, and deep soil knowledge. Stepping it up a notch, Sadie, and…

In this Episode we interview your friend and mine, Dimity May. Dimity's gateway drug to gardening was through market gardening, but she turned her attention to seedling growing just as the pandemic (remember that guy?) was just taking off, setting up Reid Tiny Farm in Canberra as a CSA model, for seedlings. In 2023, Dimity, her husband and two kids…

How do you achieve success in ministry? Become a servant to all. In this episode, Pastor Kimberly Dirmann recounts how God has moved her from a perfectionist people-pleaser focused on outcomes, to recognizing success in simply doing what God says, and not holding on too long. Kimberly also unpacks what cultivating love for people (even difficult on…

Ep 03 - Welcome back Avant Gardeners! We bring you Part 2 of our chat with friend and rose-die-hard, Pip Steele-Wareham from @The_Garden_At_Moorfield. In this chat we explore her 150m (no, that is not a typo) naturalistic garden, and then go deep on roses - why she loves them, how to tend to them, selecting the right rose for you and beneficial pla…

Conflict within relationship is unavoidable, but healthy resolution doesn’t come naturally. In this BONUS! episode, Pastor, Chaplain and Therapist, Robby Booth, returns for an extended conversation on pursuing healthy conflict resolution within the relationships every leader holds, and unpacks learned wisdom in seeing relationships strengthened on …

Ep 02 - Avant Gardeners In this episode we give you Part 1 of our chat with our friend, and inspirational gardener, Pip Steele-Wareham who is doing magical things at her property Moorfield @The_Garden_At_Moorfield in Victoria. A lot of this week's chat is about her and her husbands Hugo's previous property Little Oak and the challenges and successe…

It’s the most important ministry within the church, and yet it’s oftentimes the most overlooked. In this episode we sit down for a conversation with Pastor and NextGen Denominational Leader, Tami Jones, on ministry to the Next Generation (NextGen). Tami unpacks for us trends in NextGen Ministry, best practices for NextGen Leaders, wisdom in leading…

Hi, and welcome to Avant Gardeners. In this episode we give you an intro into the lives of Emily and Maddie, two friends who live, play and garden on Melukerdee country in Tasmania's Huon Valley, with varying success. Both have unexpectedly landed on properties, with vast gardens, and very little know how. In future episodes we'll be inteviewing ot…

Our ministries are an overflow of our relationships. In this episode Pastor, Chaplain and Therapist , Robby Booth, unpacks the wisdom he's gained in his over 80,000 hours of counseling with ministry leaders and couples. We discuss combatting the false beliefs that hurt relationships, healthy ministry/relationship priorities and practical steps we c…

Happy Summer! For this month's episode, we're excited to introduce a new episode format we are adding to the mix titled "Shop Talk", where we'll do just that--talk shop on a variety of ministry specific topics. For our first Shop Talk, we sit down with pastors Billy Holden and Dustin Black for a roundtable discussion on taking the grind out of plan…

Am I a Pastor, or the CEO of a Small Nonprofit? It's a question that this episode's guest, Pastor Dustin Black, has wrestled with in recent years. Join us for this interview as Dustin deconstructs ministry as a vocation verses ministry as what the leader has been created to do, and also how this simple truth has transformed his ministry and created…

Addiction. As leaders we will either walk with those caught up in it, or find ourselves facing our own. In this episode, we have a raw and real conversation with Bob Vander Meer, a Pastor and Clinician for Pure Desire Ministries. Bob shares about his own journey with sexual addiction with honesty and vulnerability, wisdom to leaders struggling with…

"What you invest is what you will reap, and what you put up with is what you’ll end up with." In this episode, we have a conversation with Paul & Janice Rice, who have planted and pastored Riverside Community Church for over 20 years! In this interview they unpack the joy of being a bi-vocational pastor (seriously!), the roller coaster that is the …

It is one thing to hold a ministry position of leadership, but it's another to believe you're exactly who God should have placed there--especially when it doesn't go the way you thought it would! In this episode Pastor and Denominational leader, Esperanza Morphis, gives candid insight from her recent, unexpected season of ministry role transition, …

"Ministry is never done, and I will disappoint people." In this candid conversation, Pastor and Leadership Coach Trey Abney, unpacks what it means and looks like practically to live and lead with an inner peace that is not influenced or effected by the uncertainty, the expectations or the drama that exists outside of you. Guest Bio: Trey Abney serv…

Ministry is tough, but it can be even tougher on the ministry leader's kids. In our Season Two Premiere, we sit down for a candid conversation with three PK's (Pastor's Kids), two of them adults, one still a "kid", and unpack the highs, lows and burdens the children of ministry leaders experience that most people aren't aware of. Guest Bios: Jeniff…

For our Season One Finale, we join forces with Fred Schmitt and Drew Dodd, ministry leaders and also hosts of The Next Forty Podcast, for a crossover interview about creating community in the digital space, chicken sandwiches, Britney Spears and coming to a place of owning your story--the good, the bad and also the ridiculous. As they say on their …

Why do we do what we do? When the challenges of ministry come, and they will, remembering the answer to this question is crucial to being able to walk through the challenges well. Our guest for this episode is Pastor Jim McGuire, who has served as a Hospice Chaplain for over 22 years. In our discussion Jim shares the "pillars" of living well he has…

Most ministry leaders will say have some sense of "calling" they can point to for being in the ministry they are serving. But in pursuing wholeness, leaders need to go beyond, or beneath their call and consider less holy reasons for going into ministry. In this episode pastor and licensed therapist, Lindsay Garrison, addresses the root of many inse…

If there was ever a word that accurately sums up what is needed to be a ministry leader, "Grit" does it well. Ministry is not something for the thin-skinned or weak of heart. It requires courage, resolve and strength of character in the face of adversity--otherwise known as, Grit. In this episode, seasoned Pastor and Leader, Loren Houltberg, shares…

Taking the reins of leadership in ministry, especially when it's for the first time, can be quite a challenge. Is it possible in the midst of the messiness of starting a new ministry leadership assignment to stay sane? In this episode, we sit down with Pastor Gary Roca to debrief with him on completing his first year of leading as a Senior Pastor, …

In ministry, you will inevitably encounter conflict, and ultimately your ministry will be evaluated by how you deal with conflict. In this episode, Dr. Daniel Mundt, National Coach for the Foursquare Church, shares the leadership lessons and wisdom he's gained through conflict, confrontation and criticism within ministry. Using practical examples f…

The only thing that's constant, is change. Yet most people don't like (or possibly HATE?) it at all. This holds true especially in ministry, and more often then we want to admit, our leadership within our ministries. In this episode, Billy Holden, Lead Pastor of Innovation Church in Lafayette, IN discusses how he has learned to be fueled by change,…

Ministry is not meant to be done apart from your relationships. When agreement between ministry couples is missing, the shared ministry will suffer and the relationship is headed for trouble. In this episode, Pastors and Church Planters, Justin & Janae Klatt, unpack the unique dynamic of Co-leading in ministry. Through sharing about their church pl…

Everyone is looking for a hero. But trying to fulfill the "Ministry Hero Spot" is a blueprint to hating your ministry and losing your own identity. In this episode, speaker and nonprofit founder, Christina Hernandez, tells her story of tragedy and the heartbreaks that have shaped her own pursuit of authentic leadership. Christina also unpacks for u…

In a world that continues to trend towards increasing divisiveness, the task of implementing and cultivating unity gets harder each day for leaders. Pursuing unity within our ministries, and with those we are leading is something that is often talked about, even preached about--but what does that really look like? In this episode, Jeff Watts, Lead …

If we seek to LOVE the ministry we lead for the long haul, we'd better get real in bearing the fruit of JOY. For our very first episode, we wanted to "set the table" for what's to come, but start off by interviewing show producer and pastor, Brenton Hill, on the subject of keeping Joy within our ministry. Through this candid conversation, you'll fi…