Meet Farmer Pete, a man with seemingly infinite energy! When he’s not jetting the globe on business, he is knee deep in the veggie garden here at Springfield Farm. During the past six months, he has set up our beautiful chickens in the coop of their dreams and is growing mealy worms and crickets for their food. He’s passionate about mycelium and has planted a superfood mushroom farm. He’s always got his hands in the dirt, growing veggies for our retreats, and recently became a beekeeper! He is especially excited to have taken Springfield Farm off the grid with our own solar energy, and will be happy to take you on tours to explore all of his projects while you’re here. ​

Since obtaining her Permaculture Design Certificate with Permaculture co-founder David Holmgren in 1997 and the Permaculture Teaching Certificate from the Permaculture Institute Jill has been an inspirational local teacher. She is renowned for her skills and expertise in growing food seasonally in the backyard, preserving the surplus fruit and veggies, breeding rare chickens and ducks and designing food gardens.  

Since 2004 Jill has coordinated the Local Seed Network for the Southern Highlands Shire. The local seedbank boasts over 100 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, around 50 varieties of beans and sundry seeds of other food crops that are not found in seed catalogues.
Currently Jill oversees the Moss Vale Community Garden project which organizes garden tours for school groups and workshops, talks and hands-on activities for adults including Bread Making, Composting, Wormfarming, Edible Weeds, Grafting Fruit Trees, Making Beneficial Bug Motels, Seedraising, Seedsaving and Living Simply. She is also co founder of the local farmers market.

Shannon is a certified Nutritionist with a Bachelor of Health Science: Nutritional Medicine. ​Nutritional medicine is an evidence-based and patient-centered practice that applies a holistic framework to health.   

Shannon will inspire you with her own personal story, as well as many stories from working with her clients, to demonstrate that Holistic Nutritional Medicine can aid in both the prevention and management of a wide variety of health conditions, such as weight, wellness, gut health, and diagnostics. Her practice uses what she calls the inside out method, a process she used to heal herself when our traditional, western medical system failed. Instead of aiming to alleviate symptoms, the focus is on supporting and enhancing your body’s innate ability to heal itself. By identifying the cause of your symptoms and treating from the inside out, symptoms will fix themselves.​

Shannon will teach you how deliciously it can be to become your healthiest self. You will learn all about balance and even enjoy creations from her book Conscious Cocktails. Learn more about Shannon www.livingwithrosie.com

Kinchem is the Director at Springfield & Co, and develops the retreat programs on offer. Kinchem is thrilled to be putting down roots at Springfield after living overseas in New York, Chicago, Singapore and Bali for past 25 years. She has worked in venture capital, product development, start-ups, banking/finance, education, real estate and non-profits.  She has an MFA in Fiction Writing and Grad Dip in Permaculture Design. As well as managing the programs at Springfield she facilitates Inner Landscaping groups.

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Alex Klein is a devoted cook with an intention to educate and inspire people to reclaim their kitchen and their health using simple holistic practices and principles. An advocate for cooking with love, Alex is passionate about restoring our connection to the food we eat by sharing ways to gain a greater understanding of how to nourish the body. He will empower you to rediscover your innate well-being by sharing his philosophy that if we can change the way we eat, we can experience greater health and happiness. .