About Us

Hello! We are Oberon and Lauren Carter. We live, work, write, garden, learn and play with our three kids near nipaluna/Hobart in lutruwita/Tasmania.  Spirals exist in nature and in ancient cultures and traditions all over the world. They represent birth, growth, change and expansion, new knowledge, seasons and cycles - life! And gardens are places we cultivate for nourishment, clean air, biodiversity and beauty. In short, we're cultivating a life here that sees us grow, change, learn and leave things better than we found them.

In 2015 our family undertook a 2 week challenge to live without creating landfill or recycling waste. We found it was much easier than we expected, and we’ve carried on making no landfill or recycling waste since. In 2019 we wrote a book about our experience, ‘A Family Guide to Waste-Free Living’ (published by Plum/PanMacmillan), containing family recipes and a basic blueprint for waste-free family life. As permaculture designers and teachers, we offer workshops in permaculture, waste-free living, and celebrating our natural environment, as well as a design and mentoring service. We also give talks for schools, community groups, businesses and festivals, and provide waste free audits for small businesses. Get in touch if you’d like us to help you!


We respectfully remember the muwinina, whose homelands we now live upon here in lutruwita. We are grateful for their care of the land and for the deep knowledge their descendants carry.


Reviews of 'A Family Guide to Waste-Free Living'

"Who do we turn to and work with when it comes to the challenges that we face? The tone and quality of our incoming information needs to be digestible and happily, A Family Guide to Waste-free Living is beautifully pitched and delivered... This book provides the ingredients to create a new normal. It’s all about a personal and family project to do and share together. To grow in ways that you didn’t realise you could grow or flex or change. Real change is felt; it is believed. Lauren and Oberon share their stories in a way that you want to hear again like a song that becomes an ear worm... A Family Guide to Waste-Free Living will make its way quickly onto your best-of playlist. A classic hit that you will replay and share long into the future!" ~ Costa Georgiadis

"A Family Guide to Waste-Free Living (which) is coffee-table gorgeous... and full of great tips for reducing household consumption and its detritis... The authors have taken great care to avoid preachiness... The guide is a wonderful resource for anyone setting out on a waste-reduction journey or deepening a commitment to cutting back on overall resource use. It is not only inspiring and well written and designed, it portrays the whole shift as a wonderful, bonding family adventure..." ~ Amanda Ducker, TasWeekend.

"This book is one family's guide to reducing waste in our lives. It's not judgemental; they're not telling us what to do, they're just giving us information, advice, recipes and projects we'll need to start making change... this book gives you both the inspiration and the information to make a start right now." ~ Robyn Rosenfeldt, Pip Magazine

"A Family Guide to Waste-free Living... is a gentle, encouraging and very persuasive how-to manual for beginners and waste-free warriors alike, with lots of ideas, tips and recipes... But beyond tips and recipes, what I really appreciate about this guide is the out-of-the-box thinking that has guided the Carter family... Lauren and Oberon and their three daughters show that it is possible to make different choices, and therefore make it possible for us to make those choices too." ~ Jo Roberts, Earth Garden 

 

We can come to you


We give regular talks and workshops on waste-free living. In 2019, Oberon has spoken at Festival 21, and appeared in-conversation with David Holmgren and Su Dennett about their book, Retrosuburbia. We've given talks and demonstrations at schools, Rotary clubs, bookshops, libraries and community groups, and Lauren and Oberon have appeared in-conversation with Sustomi in Hobart, and in Melbourne with Erin Rhodes and Robyn Rosenfeldt for Pip Magazine. We've facilitated Waste-free Masterclasses with Hobart's Resource Work Co-operative and are regular guest teachers at Good Life Permaculture's permaculture design courses.

Oberon is an experienced speaker and facilitator, having spoken to large audiences at festivals and conferences, taught at permaculture design courses and lectured at Melbourne University in Ecology. We find that there's lots of interest in Q & A sessions for waste-free living, and so we've spoken as part of panels, in conversation and in Q & A format, with our children joining in on occasion. Our eldest daughter, Audrey, also gives talks about her experiences growing up waste-free. We give practical demonstrations for making waste-free personal care, cleaning and food products, too.

If you're interested in booking us for a talk or workshop for your group or event, please get in touch with us at hello@spiralgarden.com.au. 

We're proud members and supporters of these organisations