Cultivate / transitive verb
1: to prepare or prepare and use for the raising of crops; also: to loosen or break up the soil about (growing plants)
2a: to foster the growth of <cultivate vegetables>
2b: culture
2c: to improve by labour, care, or study: refine <cultivate the mind>
3: further, encourage <cultivate the arts>
4: to seek the society of: make friends with
Cultivate has come to serve a multitude of meanings to me.
Cultivate is at is the heart of my landscape architecture and urban design consultancy. Historically, my landscape architecture and urban design projects have been significant and international award winning government and intuitional projects - including The Australian Garden, Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne, (undertaken as member of the Taylor Cullity Lethlean studio). This expertise is supported by 10 years as a sessional Landscape Architecture lecturer and design critic at RMIT and Melbourne University, of which the past 4 years have focussed on delivering within the Masters of Landscape Architecture streams.
Having an established reputation amongst the industry and clients through this experience in significant public realm and high end residential has manifested in me a passion for sharing knowledge through my teaching.
Cultivate now represents the distillation of this knowledge for the purposes of sharing more intimately. At Oak and Monkey Puzzle I share my landscape architecture and small-scale productive agriculture, alongside insights with others via teaching and consultancy to further cultivate ideas in others.
Oak and Monkey Puzzle is a special place to visit and learn. It has evolved into a rich and diverse creative hub. It engenders a warm sense of real community, sparks dynamic conversations, fosters collaborative connections, cultivates creativity and provides a place for meeting of the minds.
Cultivate is also at the core of what Oak and Monkey Puzzle represents – a slice of productive land where we can grow and harvest food and botanicals and use them collaboratively in the spirit of edibility, creativity, community, hospitality and in celebration of bounty.
© Copyright Natasha Morgan 2015