Christian Monahan is laughing as he recalls the moment seven years ago when he decided to make some big changes.
“I was in the bathroom one morning getting ready for work. I went to put on some aftershave. I was really into aftershave at that time! I found myself looking at all the bottles lined up in the bathroom. I added them up and realised I had three thousand dollars’ worth sitting there. That’s when I thought to myself, ‘This is fucked!’”
Christian grew up watching The Good Life, a ’70s comedy about a couple who break from the rat race and begin a self-sufficient lifestyle in their backyard. “I really loved it,” he explains. “It was always in the back of my mind to do something like that.”
Fast-forward 25 years and he’s doing just that. On three acres in Victoria’s spa country, he grows his own organic fruit and vegetables, raises chickens and sheep, and even trades eggs for cakes with his neighbour as part of an informal barters market.
On finding himself the ‘go-to guy’ while working in a Templestowe nursery, Christian decided to start uploading YouTube videos on organic gardening and self-sufficiency. “You don’t want to preach it, but you want to help people who have similar interests,” he explains.
Now, with nearly six thousand subscribers to his YouTube channel, over one and a half million views and hundreds of emails from people seeking advice every week, The Produce Garden is a thriving international community. He spends his weeknights giving advice online and writing articles for magazines and blogs. He lectures at Melbourne Open University and is about to publish a book, The Produce Garden—A Beginner’s Guide to Self Sufficiency, through Odyssey Books.
“I wanted to put down everything I’ve learnt over the years,” he explains. “Start small. Think about what you’re going to use. Then, like a fire, it’ll grow”.
Good advice from a man who started with just two plastic pots on his parents’ roof.
Find out more about Christian’s work at The Produce Garden, or join his communities on YouTube (theproducegarden) and Twitter.