Paula Ajuria

Paula is a writer and artist.  She lives with her family in what she calls her “little farm” in Australia’s Blue Mountains. Her place has been developed using permaculture thinking and the family now enjoys a substantial amount of home grown food. Her other home, where she has –since childhood– spent long seasons, is San Sebastian, in northern Spain.  Paula has a BA degree in languages from the UNSW, is an accredited Interpreter and translator and has a background in journalism. In earlier years she held employment with the national broadcaster SBS and was a contributor to the Indigenous newspaper, The Koori Mail.  Paula writes for the Spanish  publication Ecohabitar and has three children’s books published.

As a visual artist, Paula applies her aesthetics to edible, fire protective landscaping, to show that these productive safe gardens can be as beautiful as any.

Paula asserts that our Australian suburbs are an ideal setting to address climate change by retrofitting for energy descent and localising our food supply closer to home:

“And we can start in the garden. I think gardens should evoke fertility, life, and wellbeing.  Gardens can be both ornamental, and productive. When the flowers in my garden turn into fruit it doesn’t stop there.  It is fruit that can be the cause of a conversation over the fence, fruit that gets given or exchanged, -and the beginning of a community that is sustainable and safe.“