The Green Gardeners Macleay Valley

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2026 REFERENCES FOR THE GREEN GARDENERS, FIONA CRISTIAN.Scroll through the comments section to explore the refrences, wi...
15/05/2026

2026 REFERENCES FOR THE GREEN GARDENERS, FIONA CRISTIAN.

Scroll through the comments section to explore the refrences, with more being added in the coming weeks

The three 23rd March 2026 photos are of my home, Ironbark Farm Australia, 26.8 acres located @ Temagog, Kempsey, where my partner, Arthur Cristian and I, together since 1996, have been gradually regenerating this land from October 2022 onwards.

It was once full of up to 5m Lantana, 1.6m Queen Anne Lace, 2m To***co Plants, and with many other w**ds and unkempt grasses weaving into a thick 1m to 2m rastafarian jungle of strands mixed in with multi hundreds of mostly skinny tree saplings and other bushes ranging from 1m ro 7m heigh

Using our 2019 Razorback (Carnicom) CMX2106 Ride On Slasher-Mower up until today, 16th May 2026, we have performed 15 slashes so far, to gradually turn this jungle into mulch that transforms into the essential carbon profile and matting, critical to holding moisture, and as it thickens, it draws the water table closer to the surface, while the mycelium fungus explodes everywhere to support a thriving underworld of beneficial microbes, bacteria, insects and the transportation of large reserves of coloidal minerals, located everywhere.

The poor Razorback was gradually being damaged as we kept hitting unseen buried steel and other rubbish metals and garbage that has been dumped on this land over the past 50 years.

Our goal for Ironbark Farm Aust is to harvest and store multi millions of litres of drinking water, and get it moving around and across the land through gravity and possibly using mini hydro systems or hydraulic rampums, or whatever other brilliant ideas we come across in the meantime.

We then use a key line series of man-made billabongs (a few used as large swimming holes with man-made rock cliff faces, rock outlooks and platforms, surrounded by native habitats, islands with habitats, pontoons and gazebos nearby) and streams, with the intention of being able to hear the sound of gentle running water in the distance no matter where you are.

The harvesting of the rainwater serves the growth of interconnecting food forests, botanical gardens, organic orchards, no dig vegetable gardens, small plantations, native habitats, feathered friend environments, green sweeping fields, natural bending pathways and roadways that use simple beautiful timber bridges to cross the streams, with flowers and native gardens seen in most directions.

Dotted across the land will be beautiful strategic natural sheds, research and observation stations dotted here and there, used for all types of environmental, ecological, social and life sustainability purposes.

All in all, the vision we are creating is a powerful, peaceful healing sanctuary, and be a living reminder of how life can really be for everyone if we stop living for fiction, that is The System, and everything of The System.

Imagining fiction and setting fiction into motion goes against everything we all naturally feel from the heart, because labouring for fiction is all about doing harm to life, and is causing immense destruction to life in a 1001 ways

Engaging with fiction is doing harm to your life and to your families, and is doing harm to our lives and to everyones life, and is causing immense destruction to the life of all of nature, earth and everything else embodied within celestial space.

Collectively, we seem to be unable to constantly live from the inspirations and guidance of the good heart and all its virtues, which is very simple to do if we are willing, focused and disciplined to only live this way, thus nurturing and expanding all of the living, inanimate or not.

A living walk the talk way of life that does no harm to life.

Fiona Cristian

-----------------------------------

Help Build A Village Healing Sanctuary
At Ironbark Farm Aust

6th May 2026

In a world increasingly shaped by stress, desperation, insecurity, division, isolation, disconnection and endless pressure, we know something better is possible.

After difficult years and real hardship, we now have the chance to create something beautiful and practical, a peaceful, off-grid, living sanctuary at Ironbark Farm Aust on the Mid North Coast of NSW - a place where beauty, nature, meaningful participation and community care replace chaos, loneliness and survival stress, and create abundance for others.

We already have the land and have begun the foundations. Support now helps bring the next stage to life.

This is more than a property project - it is a living example of another way to live and about building a model others can learn from, be inspired, and replicate in their unique ways.

🌿 A Place Designed To Help People Reconnect With Life

We are creating a paradise of natural beauty where there wasn't one - flowers in every season, flowing waterways, timber bridges, sweeping green spaces, food forests, orchards, botanical gardens, native habitats, feathered friend environments, and places alive with birdsong.

No matter where you stand, you hear running water and the sounds of life returning.

Across the land we plan to create waterholes, flowing channels, and beautiful swimming billabongs framed by rocks, native plants, timber walkways, islands, pontoons, and gathering spaces.

These are not only practical water systems - they create peace, joy, habitat, beauty and places where people naturally come together, living waterscapes where land, wildlife and people thrive together.

🌍 Water Brings Life To The Land, And Calm To The People Living On It

This is more than landscaping. It is an environment designed to calm the nervous system, awaken the senses, and help people reconnect with life.

Sometimes healing begins not through treatment, but through beauty, purpose, peace, observation, and participation.

🧠 Reclaiming Our Energy

Modern living drains so much of our waking life through economic pressure and survival stress. We are creating a different model where people contribute directly to a constant, shared, life-giving environment. Instead of energy going into endless bills, burdens and ticking the right boxes, it goes into creating the environment of a living paradise.

Instead of using our energy to work for just a roof over the head and food on the table, we use it to create the waterways, grow the abundant fresh produce, plant the native corridors and habitats, build the natural homes for privacy and solitude, and community areas to nurture a culture of shared responsibility through a village life of contribution and care.

Life returns to the present moment; we work hard but we work for the purpose of creating a village paradise that raises everyone up and can be passed on to generations to come.

We are creating a paradise of beauty, sensory restoration, meaningful contribution, ecology, abundance, release from chronic stress and a chance to reclaim our waking lives.

We create beauty as medicine, nature as nervous system regulation and peace and calm for mental wellbeing and trauma recovery.

🌱 Stewardship Of The Land

This is about stewardship of the land, not ownership. The land is to be protected from speculation and commodification by being transferred to a land trust, and there will be a charitable trust for the foundations of village life to thrive.

It is also an example of one piece of land providing abundance and magnificence not only for those living on the land, but also for those in the wider community as produce is shared and skills are taught through example, participation, workshops and demonstrations, all for free.

We are creating living alternatives that gradually reduce reliance on unhealthy systems, that can be adopted on large or small scales, in rural or urban environments, and can all make a significant contribution to the communities around them.

Instead of isolation, community.
Instead of stress, restoration.
Instead of scarcity, shared abundance.
Instead of endless consumption, stewardship.
Instead of shattered nature and chaos, magnificence and tranquillity.
Instead of distractions and confusions, serenity, simplicity and solutions.
Instead of strangers, villagers.
Instead of exploitation, community support
Instead of limited responsibility, full responsibility.

🌿 A Healing Sanctuary

Healing often happens naturally when people stop being trapped in stress and self-preoccupation and reconnect with life itself by participating in something life giving.

When villagers care for gardens, children and the elderly, nurture animals, restore land, create beauty, share meals and participate in something meaningful, stress begins to soften and wellbeing can return.

Sometimes people do not heal by chasing healing - sometimes they heal by living well.

Many people today are caught in a cycle of pressure, distraction, and temporary relief, always trying to cope but rarely feeling deeply nourished by life. When life becomes rich, purposeful, and connected, many empty substitutes naturally lose their grip.

Many habits are not defeated by force; they fade when something richer appears.

We want to create a place where people experience joy through meaningful participation - growing beauty, restoring land, sharing abundance, caring for others, and helping build something magnificent together.

We become the sun that shines as a source of warmth, life and benefit to others. When we all live like this, we all benefit. When we all look after the village, the village looks after everyone.

💔 🩺 🩹 Self-Focus Can Trap Suffering

When people constantly circle:
my pain
my story
my wounds
my symptoms
my survival
etc
they can become stuck there.

Purpose shifts attention and when energy moves into caring, building, nurturing and creating, the brain changes. The woes of the "self" fade into the background and the vitality for life returns.

It is in the letting go of the unhealthy habits fashioned by lifetimes on the treadmill that true peace, joy and healing happen.

As the paradise grows and the infrastructure is in place, those with the skills and experience in healing techniques can offer assistance to both those in the community and those outside, all for free.

🌱 Everyone Has A Place

In healthy ecosystems, every part contributes.

Our vision is similar; each villager offers what they can, and the whole community becomes stronger through shared effort. There will be permanent community members and those who come and go. Some have material wealth to offer, others come with skills.

When the infrastructure is complete and the food production flowing, people will naturally shift to their areas of skill and preference but, in the building phase, there will be many jobs where we all have to muck in to get things moving fast.

Unless provided internally, we will contract out the larger earth moving projects and possibly building projects depending on the skills of those present.

🌞 The Greatest Abundance

The greatest abundance is not money.

It is the good heart with its virtues of:

compassion
respect
full responsibility
generosity
empathy
community spirit
etc

These are the qualities that we all need to work on to create and maintain the atmosphere of Ironbark Farm Aust.

Nurturing these qualities in our lives and those around us will be the hardest work we do but also the most necessary.

Taking full responsibility for our thoughts, feelings and actions is the only way to avoid exclusivity, privilege, drama, blame and victim mentality. How you show up each day is up to you and you alone.

We make sure that decisions are made from these qualities and not from the darker emotions of fear, doubt, uncertainty, distrust, etc. This is how we dampen the ego and suffocate narcissism and "What's in it for me?"

🌱 Character Grows In Healthy Places

When people live in a culture of shared care, beauty, contribution, and full responsibility, the qualities of compassion, empathy, respect, patience, and generosity often begin to grow naturally.

Healthy environments help bring out the better parts of our true nature. That inner wealth can then ripple outward into families, communities, and wider society.

🌍 Why This Matters Beyond Us

Ironbark Farm Aust is not only about one place. It is about creating a practical model that others can learn from and adapt in their towns, regions, and communities. Real change often begins locally.

When one place becomes healthier, more beautiful, and more connected, it inspires others. This is not just about us. It is about being the living example that ends chaos, conflicts and wars.

🔧 What Support Will Help Build

Your support can help establish:
building sheds, bathrooms and accommodation
water systems and earthworks
billabongs and regeneration works
gardens, orchards, and organic food production
pathways, roadways, bridges, and community areas
tools, fencing, and materials
wildlife habitat restoration
renewable and sustainable systems

Everything contribution helps turn vision into visible reality.

🤝Who We’re Seeking Right Now

At this early stage, we are especially looking for benefactors who may or may not be practically involved, and grounded, capable people who resonate with the vision and want to help build it in practical ways: gardeners, builders, growers, organisers, mechanics, carers, creators, problem-solvers and steady-hearted contributors are especially welcome.

The priority is establishing the physical and organisational foundations of the project. First we build the sanctuary and then the sanctuary can serve more widely.

We are therefore seeking people who are currently stable, responsible, practical, and ready to contribute meaningfully to land regeneration, infrastructure, food systems, and community building. They will also need their own accommodation as the infrastructure on the property is currently limited.

We welcome people who sincerely want to participate and contribute. However, we are not equipped to safely support mental health crises, violence, substance abuse, or behaviour that harms others or the land.

As the project matures and the right support structures emerge, we hope to expand into a broader sanctuary that can assist more people in deeper need.

In a world full of conflict and division, building something life-giving is a radical act.

Turning damaged land into paradise.
Turning isolation into community.
Turning scarcity into abundance.
Turning despair into participation.
Turning mediocrity into magnificence.

This example can inspire others to do the same wherever they are, creating the opportunity to end homelessness, poverty, malnutrition, disadvantage, disconnection and abuse. We are creating a powerful atmosphere where villagers feel good about their lives and are inspired by the direction of the community projects they are involved in.

Please note that this is a clean living project; no alcohol or drugs. We are long-term vegans but do not expect everyone else to be, although there will be discussions about diet. We became vegan because we could not kill another animal to eat them, or have anyone kill animals for us. We do have a dog and a cat who eat meat so there is some compromise and hypocrisy there, and we are still learning and growing.

Through many years of gardening using the mycelium networks thriving in deeply mineralised humus we were able to produce seedlings full of nutrients because their root systems were tapping into the mycelium networks where all the colloidal minerals are transferred into their fibres. When we eat fresh food raw, or lightly steamed, our bodies absorb what they need from the nutrients available to them and begin to heal. When it comes to healing, there is no one-shoe-fits-all because we are all unique.

When we eat an apple from an uncorrupted forest, we are eating the whole of the forest because the information in the mycelium highway brings the information of the whole of the forest into that apple. The synergy, the total, is greater than the individual parts. This can be achieved in food forests and no-dig gardens by creating an ecosystem emulating the forest.

💔 🌿 🌍 🌞 🌱 LEGAL VINDICATION

In December 2025, after a 36-month legal battle in the NSW Supreme Court Equity Division, including 10 months deliberation, Justice Michael Meek delivered a comprehensive 150-page judgement fully vindicating Arthur and Fiona Cristian and the Kindom Village vision.

The judgement found clearly:

Arthur and Fiona are not cult leaders
Arthur is not a Sovereign Citizen
There was no unconscionable conduct
The Kindom Village purpose constitutes a valid charitable trust meeting the public benefit test under Australian law
All funds gifted to the project were gifted freely and legitimately for community purposes

The judgement is publicly available as Arambatzis v Cristian [2025] NSWSC 1606.

🌱 Invitation

If this vision speaks to you, we invite you to support, share, or connect to help bring it to life.

Together we can help create a place where peace replaces chaos, beauty replaces neglect, and the good heart is cultivated through how we live.

The first stage came about when the land was provided, the 26.8 acre land of Ironbark Farm AUST, on the 21st October 2022. The Title Deed is in Fiona's name for the time being until it is transferred to the Land Trust. When we arrived, we brought with us a large amount of equipment and have since added to and improved it, to the value of $100,000 AUD to $150,000 AUD.

As a second stage, and after 43 months of mostly intense cleaning up of the land and sorting out numerous other issues going on in this property, we are now raising $150,000 AUD to complete some other, primary projects necessary for the progression of Ironbark Farm AUST:

- the building of a 27m x 8m Wide Span Shed with a 3.2m to 3.9m gabled roof - click on this link https://loveforlife.com.au/LFL62.html to view 3D animated images.

Through gifts of roughly $53,000 AUD provided in 2022, Fiona purchased the BlueScope, Colourbond shed (delivered) including all the glass sliding doors, windows and screens that have been paid for but not yet manufactured or delivered, and other things such as two large solar vents.

This first large shed was designed to be a solid, quick-build, multi-tasking facility to cope with many different stages and needs we will be dealing with as we gradually transition from being a solo family in The System to a family that is part of a community-village.

- the shed will need landscaping (including retaining walls) and fit out, including plumbing, electrical, a minimum 15kw solar system ($8,300 AUD already spent towards this off-grid set up).

- the completion of a self-contained, free standing, community bathroom unit that needs some improvements

- implementing many metres of root barriers for the community kitchen gardens and orchards located near the house so we don't have to take down too many gum and eucalypt trees

- setting up the trusts and foundation/limited company which will incur some hefty legal fees

- purchasing and setting up a 40ft shipping container to be used as temporary storage when the current single garage is dismantled to make way for the new shed. The garage will be saved for future use.

A pledge of $35,000 AUD has been made, to be received in August 2026. This pledge will go towards getting the pad and concrete slab of the shed ready, and then more gifts are required to erect this new shed, unless we have people around us with the knowledge and willingness to help us erect it ourselves.

Until the land trust, charitable trust and possible foundation/limited company is set up, Fiona has opened a bank account to receive gifts to keep everything accountable.

Australian ANZ SWIFT BIC Code: ANZBAU3M
Account Name: Fiona Caroline Cristian
IBFA Temp Trust Account
BSB (Branch Number): 012804
Account Number: 811875572

Every contribution helps build a real-paradise example of a healthier future.

Arthur & Fiona Cristian
Ironbark Farm Aust
597 Temagog Road
Temagog NSW 2440
Australia
0418203204 Int: +61418203204

More information covering our backgrounds, our social media platforms, the Land of Ironbark Farm Aust and the Mid North Coast region we live in can be found in our 2006 loveforlife.com.au website.

The Green GardenersHi, I am Fiona Cristian of The Green Gardeners. I have been gardening in the Macleay Valley since Feb...
06/05/2026

The Green Gardeners

Hi, I am Fiona Cristian of The Green Gardeners. I have been gardening in the Macleay Valley since February 2023, helping clients with veggie gardens, ornamental gardens, shelter belts, soil regeneration, garden design and some simple landscaping. My experience prior to moving to the Macleay Valley was building garden beds and growing food in deeply minerally enriched soil full of mycelium networks, microbes and organic nutrients in a colloidal format.

I w**d, prune, mulch, plant, transplant, compost and trim across the wider Kempsey region, including Crescent Head, South West Rocks, Kundabung, Hat Head, Dondingalong, Aldavilla, and Kempsey itself. I work alone or alongside clients as they prefer

I have an ABN and business insurance.

Please send me a message or give me a call on 0408 978 404 to chat and arrange a time for me to come and have a look at your garden.

Fiona

The Green Gardeners

It’s been a busy time for me over the last year with many different jobs for my regular clients and occasional short ter...
03/05/2026

It’s been a busy time for me over the last year with many different jobs for my regular clients and occasional short term work.

I’m continuing to tame the jungle at Netherby Guest House Kempsey by covering the w**ds with cardboard and topping it off with a thick load of wood chip. Sections done earlier are holding up well, with only a few w**ds coming from between the rocks.

I’ve also been planting another lot of trees in shelter breaks on a regenerative farm in Summer Island for one of my long term clients. We have been planting tea trees, casuarinas, swamp mahogany and native hibiscus, helping to stabilise the bank in the river paddock and create shade and shelter in the other paddocks.

In Aldavilla, I have helped transform a chaotic vegetable garden into an orderly space with IBC tanks cut in half and used to create many raised garden beds. Lots of wood chip in between to keep the w**ds at bay.

If your garden is becoming overwhelming or you just need a hand, please contact me through FB messenger or text me on 0408978404 and I’ll be in touch.

Fiona Cristian

The Green Gardeners have been busy over the last few months. Jobs have included helping a client prepare her garden for ...
07/10/2024

The Green Gardeners have been busy over the last few months. Jobs have included helping a client prepare her garden for a property sale in West Kempsey, an on-going job of unearthing an English style garden - gardenias, camelias, azaleas, magnolias, hydrangeas - from under morning glory and other vines and w**ds on an old property in Crescent Head that has been used as an Airbnb for years but now has new owners who want to bring the property back to life, giving a huge Lily Pilly hedge its 6 monthly trim, and helping a client with physical limitations create an abundance of colourful flowers in her small, West Kempsey garden. Coming up is an all day job in Rollands Plains wrestling with a large, overgrown vege garden on a farm and a top up of tea tree mulch in beautiful, subtropical, Hat Head garden. See if you can guess which job is which from the photos!

A big w**ding session at a house in South West Rocks where couch grass was invading the beds in the front garden, entwin...
25/06/2024

A big w**ding session at a house in South West Rocks where couch grass was invading the beds in the front garden, entwining itself through the bushes and flowers. We pulled it all out, giving the plants a chance to breathe again. Now is a good time to get rid of all the overgrowth as the grow back is not so fast in winter.

This job of laying a path of pavers through a lawn to create a pathway to the cottage was done over three visits to one ...
17/05/2024

This job of laying a path of pavers through a lawn to create a pathway to the cottage was done over three visits to one of our regular clients in Dondingalong. On the first visit, we worked with the client to set the pavers out in a line that would both look appealing and avoid the areas with the most tree roots! On the second visit, we marked around each paver and then dug a hole so the paver sat in the hole more or less level with the lawn, enabling the grass to still be easily mown. Once a tractor bucket of river sand had been dropped off for us, we went back a third time and laid a bed of sand for each paver to ensure it didn’t rock. Then we packed sand tightly around the edges to wedge them in. We were very pleased with the end result and the pavers will only look better as the grass grows back around them. The path really adds to the cottage feel of the property.
Please give us a call if you have any jobs in your garden that you would like us to attend to, from clearing and w**ding to projects like this one, we are happy to tackle almost anything! 0408 978 404

The Green Gardeners spent two very productive mornings with Lesleigh Altman in South West Rocks. Lesleigh has turned her...
15/05/2024

The Green Gardeners spent two very productive mornings with Lesleigh Altman in South West Rocks. Lesleigh has turned her small back yard into a thriving mix of ornamental and vegetable gardens, with four bantam hens providing manure and eating scraps. The first time we were there, we moved a collection of bromiliads to a new home, clearing the bed they were in, pruning the remaining plants, adding a mix of soil and compost before mulching and planting walking Irises. We then continued w**ding, topping up and mulching along the side of the garden.
On the second visit, we helped Lesleigh with her vegetable garden, w**ding, pruning and topping up the soil. Lesleigh’s garden is a great example of how you don’t need a lot of space to produce some food for the family.
Lesleigh has a YouTube channel where she gives garden advice - if you would like to check it out, here is the link:

https://youtu.be/e7Ukv7QqEaU?si=uUx5ZnLa0u5faNoP

If you would like some help to get some veges growing in your garden, we can help you. Please message us or call us on 0408 978 404. Happy gardening!!!

How is your garden going? The Green Gardeners have been busy in many gardens in the Macleay Valley over the last few mon...
06/05/2024

How is your garden going? The Green Gardeners have been busy in many gardens in the Macleay Valley over the last few months where w**ds have got out of hand, trees and shrubs have needed pruning and garden beds have needed improving and mulching.

We have helped with vege gardens, laid some turf, built some garden edging, transplanted and potted.

We can help with soil improvement, composting, mulching and plant selection.

If you would like to get a vege garden going, we can get you started.

Whatever your garden issues, we would love to come for a visit to see what we can do to help.

Please call Fiona on 0408978404 or send a message to The Green Gardeners https://www.facebook.com/thegreengardenersmacleayvalley

Lesleigh Altman wrote to The Green Gardeners Macleay Valley 6th May 2025, "So grateful for these ladies! They saved my garden and my sanity when things were at a ‘low’. What a lovely way to spend the afternoon with these lovely ladies. Thankyou! You have re-energised me (my garden says ‘thanks’ as well)."

https://www.facebook.com/fiona.cristian.33/posts/pfbid02DE8D231A71L2X9Q4DmaJbyHo6q3yz83zT5BiahEcv584tJLqkwtASGkdEXM7mfC9l

Continuing on from the vege garden in the last post, we went into the fernery which had w**ds throughout many of the pot...
04/05/2024

Continuing on from the vege garden in the last post, we went into the fernery which had w**ds throughout many of the pots, plants that had outgrown their pots and some that had died. We w**ded, trimmed, threw out, repotted, cleaned the floor and rearranged everything, stacking up now empty pots and putting left over soil in a few big pots ready for future use. The fernery went from being chaotic and overgrown to neat and tidy, with plants looking comfortable and happy in their now peaceful environment.

Address

Ironbark Farm 597 Temagog Road Temagog
Kempsey, NSW
2440

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm
Saturday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+61408978404

Website

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