Local hits the big time with Book Launch

Many locals on the Sunshine Coast would have seen the lady on the right here, in all sorts of daggy hats and clunky work boots, sometimes a tad dirty from grubbing around in a garden, particularly the kids.  Leonie Shanahan has been helping little kids (and some big kids) on the Sunshine Coast understand the importance of growing food, and more importantly the nutritional value of the food you can grow yourself.

For many years Leonie has given unselfishly and for very little commercial gain (actually extremely little commercial gain, just ask her poor suffering husband Simon) to the likes of Permakids, various Organisations Workshops, and of course over a dozen schools, edible school gardens, here on the Coast.  This weekend Leonie will be at the Queensland Home Garden Expo in Nambour, and apart from giving her normal workshops in the Kitchen Garden she will also be launching her book "Eat Your Garden" Organic Gardening for Home & Schools.  This book has been a labour of love for Leonie and is the culmination of years of questions from kids, parents, teachers, and other gardening professionals, and those answers being put on paper for all to read and learn from.

I am proud to call myself a friend of Leonie's and know exactly how much this lovely self-effacing lady has given to our community here on the Sunshine Coast.  Besides wanting herbs for my cooking (which Leonie sorts out for me) I know next to nothing about permaculture or gardening, but remember my daughter (when she was little & sweet, SIGH!  those were the days LOL!) going off with Leonie to a Permakids and coming proud as punch with her potted seedling.  Kids nowadays don't tend to have big yards, or grandparents to teach them how to garden, one of the sad losses in today's society.  With childhood obesity being such a serious issue, luckily many kids on the Coast here have had Leonie to fill that void for them.

So if you see the lady in the daggy hat herself at the Expo this weekend, give her a pat on the back, better yet, buy her book and ask her to sign it, she will be tickled pink!