SIMON ALLSTON
#58 Growing Wilder with Simon Allston
I feel very fortunate to now live where I do and be able to explore my love of gardening and farming. My father, Simon Allston, has been a pillar of strength, support and wisdom to me for the last 34-years of my life. Raised in England and a child of the British boarding school movement, my father moved to Australia for Law School. It was here, on Aussie soils that he found his greener fingers… and my mother. A proclaimed farmer on his marriage certificate, my mother and father moved to Tasmania to establish a greener life and family – including me!
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Despite being a student of law, on my marriage certificate I put down my occupation as a farmer! It was only the other day that I was blessed enough to write this occupation for myself again.
Mum and Dad raised my brother, James Allston, and I on a small organic hobby farm to the south of Hobart. Here they encouraged us to explore ‘The Valley’ and that I did, causing varying degrees of chaos with my impish spirit. Meanwhile my father dug in the alluvial soils morning, night and weekends, and in between he practiced law, first privately and later in the Government sector. Here he worked on many complex environmental cases, both for the Government but also charities such as the Wilderness Society. For the remaining years of his working career he was the Tasmanian Ombudsman.
As you will hear on the podcast, my father is a deep, compassionate thinker. We are oh-so-alike and yet oh-so-different. Where I played wildly and pursued competitive sport, I had lovingly thought of my father as a yoga-loving, green-fingered hippy! Is it Karma for these judgmental thoughts that I now find myself loving nature, plants, yoga, meditation and deep thinking!?
As you will hear on the podcast, my father is a deep, compassionate thinker. We are oh-so-alike and yet oh-so-different. Where I played wildly and pursued competitive sport, I had lovingly thought of my father as a yoga-loving, green-fingered hippy! Is it Karma for these judgmental thoughts that I now find myself loving nature, plants, yoga, meditation and deep thinking!?
I worked on some very complex environmental cases which taught me so much. Some of these went to the High Court. It was a privilege to work for the protection of environments, albeit very complex law.
My father is a life-long learner and forever, at his heart, a farmer. He now lives on Bruny Island in southern Tasmania where is he aiming to bring 70-acres of run-down land back to full health. His garden grows, his mind explores new learnings, and he is always ready to hold space for James and I as we, too, continue to grow.
This is a rich conversation and I hope that you fall in love with it as much as I did during the recording process.
This is a rich conversation and I hope that you fall in love with it as much as I did during the recording process.
Some of the topics covered in this podcast:
- My father’s love-affair with gardening
- Raising a wilder, competitive child – me!
- A caution note about success
- The need for us to live locally and conscientiously
- The science of soil and how repairing soils can assist the reversal of climate change
- Living on an island in Tasmania
- Love, parenting and remaining true to oneself
We have the capacity to reverse climate change if we rejuvenate our soils. One of the best things that we can do is to vote with our dollars and buy organic.
LINKS MENTIONED IN PODCAST
HANNY ALLSTON
Website – www.hannyallston.com.au
Blog - www.hannyallston.com.au/blog/
Instagram - @hanny.allston
Hanny Allston Training Resources
Guidebook – http://www.hannyallston.com.au/trail-running-guidebook.html
UTA Training Packages - http://www.hannyallston.com.au/ultra-trail-australia.html
FIND YOUR FEET
Website – www.findyourfeet.com.au
Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/findyourfeetaustralia/
Instagram - @findyourfeet
Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/findyourfeetaustralia/
Instagram - @findyourfeet
CODE WORD: Podcast
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