Maria Ciavarella is My Green Garden, a business that provides a local and experienced resource for talks, demonstrations and workshops on many aspects of sustainable gardening practices, especially in the area of growing food, preserving food and cooking with the bounty of the organic garden.
As a Maths and Science teacher by profession and then working in the nursery industry for close to two decades, Maria has come full circle and is back in a school again! Education is in her veins as Maria has long combined her passion for growing food sustainably, making great compost and keeping backyard chooks with her skills as a teacher and communicator to provide organisations, communities, schools and households with a service that educates, inspires and most of all encourages a more sustainable way of living.
“It really was a special day. I thought Maria was amazing being able to competently answer every question thrown at her. It was obvious that she had extensive background in gardening both in the commercial and domestic sphere. Also her teaching background shone through. I’ve mentioned the experience to everyone I’ve spoken to in the past week. Also I’ve enjoyed watching my take way seedlings grow.” (Julianne, Whitehorse resident)
Earth-life balance is increasingly becoming an integral part of school and adult education and Maria, in her work with My Green Garden, provides experience and how-to in a fun and engaging manner. Practical hands-on learning is a feature with participants always encouraged to get dirty! Presentations are to both children, young adults and older adults, through schools, libraries, Probus and other community groups, neighbourhood houses, community centres, garden clubs, festivals, shopping centres, council-funded information sessions and holiday programs.
Maria has spoken on various topics through different ABC Radio Melbourne programs and has been interviewed for several newspaper and magazine articles. She worked for many years at Bulleen Art and Garden, a nursery dedicated to helping gardeners with the sustainable production of food in the suburbs and then worked with Sustainable Gardening Australia getting their Open Gardens scheme trialled.
Working with primary school children in her daughter’s school’s productive patch gave her a great grounding in the practicalities of running a school’s garden program first-hand and it is all of these experiences that give her the understanding of what educational institutions, as well as householders, need in order to live more sustainably and more in tune with Mother Nature. Since 2009, My Green Garden has given hundreds of presentations to both children and adults, through many organisations and was a finalist in the 2016 Manningham Business Excellence Awards.
Maria lives with her gorgeous family – understanding and ever-patient husband Ciro, and now adult children, Andrew, Elise and Sophie.
“What a fantastic day my daughter and I had. Maria is very motivating, a wealth of information and just fantastic…thanks so much to everyone involved and especially Maria, we both went home very enthusiastic to make our vege garden more productive, thank you all so much.”
– Sharon and Tahnee, Whitehorse residents
“I was very impressed by Maria and her presentation. It was comprehensive, jam packed with information which was all relevant, very organised, stayed on the topic, well presented and enjoyable. Maria was very generous with her knowledge, and during her presentation she also managed to answer questions without getting side-tracked. I will keep an eye out for any seminars Maria gives!”
– Marianne, Whitehorse resident