Writing and Gardening? Maresi!
It turns out that both plants and careers grow in Vasili’s Garden.
I found professional writer Paul McFadden getting his hands dirty.
A plant nursery isn’t the kind of place where I’d expected to come across a professional writer. After all, writing and gardening don’t seem to have much in common at first glance. However, Vasili’s Garden (located in Coburg) is exactly where I found former Professional Writing and Editing student Paul McFadden. Although he simply started out as a proofreader for the nursery’s Vasili’s Garden to Kitchen magazine, Paul has managed to work his way up into a position where he gets to make use of and enjoy his love for both writing and gardening.
Vasili’s Garden is run by Vasili Kanidiadis, a local Greek-Australian television personality and gardening expert who has been hosting his own TV show since 2002. Just like Vasili himself, the nursery is lively and colourful, full of plants and customers looking for help with their latest gardening project. There’s even a small cafe, which is run by Vasili’s daughter, Eleni. After spending half a day amongst the plants, I sat down with Paul in his office to find out more about his two passions.
like Vasili himself, the nursery is lively and colourful, full of plants and customers
Paul’s office is located in a small, cosy building at the back of the nursery, where both the magazine and TV show staff work. The two teams work quite closely together, as the same guests that are featured in each episode of the TV show are frequently featured in the magazine. I notice a whiteboard over in the corner, which is covered with scheduling information and filming locations for the show. Three workstations have been set up. Aside from Paul’s, one is occupied by Jason, the magazine’s graphic designer. The third station is currently open to anyone who needs it, and has been since their full time bookkeeper left and Vasili decided to outsource the job.
Although the production of the magazine is largely Paul and Jason’s responsibility, Vasili still has a significant amount of input. He gives Paul and the other staff an idea of the kind of articles he’d like to have in each issue, and he puts together a bunch of tips that are featured in his own personal section at the front of the magazine. Vasili’s distinctive catchphrase, Maresi! (a Greek word which Paul says translates to ‘I like it!’), is present in everything he’s associated with. This includes the TV show, the magazine, and even the name of his production company. Paul points this out to me as I flick through the pages of an old issue.
I’m aware that Paul has studied the same course that I’m currently finishing, so I ask him for more details. ‘I started in 2003, and finished in 2006', he says after turning his office chair around to face me. ‘I was studying the Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing at Victoria University’s St Albans campus. I actually started the course soon after leaving high school, but dropped out the first time, and ended up working at Angus and Robertson for four years. After that, I worked part time at Readings bookstore. It was at that point that I decided to go back to study. I really wanted to write a novel, and ended up finishing one while I was still studying.’
Paul frequently liaises with the magazine’s team of contributing writers, and makes sure that every page of the current issue has someone assigned to it. He’s currently working his way through the latest issue of the magazine, carefully doing some final proofreading before it goes off to the printers tomorrow. Despite the fast approaching deadline, the atmosphere in the office is calm. This is the second time that he’s has done a full proofreading of the issue, and by this point it’s a pretty casual process, mostly consisting of Paul calling across the office to Jason to inform him of new changes.
The magazine is published quarterly, which allows the team to take a short break between issues, time that they use to relax and focus on their gardening instead. Paul loads up a document on his computer, showing me the magazine’s simple style sheet, with a few uncommon word choices noted. For example, they use ‘vegie’ rather than spelling it with the double ‘g’, because that’s Vasili’s preference.
Paul put his hand up to do the proofreading for the first issue, and the rest is history.
‘How did you end up working at Vasili’s Garden?’ I ask. Paul smiles. ‘My last job was at an employment agency for mentally disabled people, and they were working on a local gardening project at the time. I live nearby, and I was already a regular customer at Vasili’s Garden. I decided to do a survey at Vasili’s Garden about which plants people were most interested in, to work out how many of each plant we’d need, and then I applied for a grant from the council. Unfortunately, I was rejected.’
That’s where Vasili stepped in. He heard about the project and decided to back it. With the addition of Paul’s tax cheque for the year, he was able to gather the required funds. He quickly became friends with Vasili, who was in the planning stages for the first issue of the magazine at the time. After Paul pitched an idea for making tomatoes ripen faster by using the chemical that ripe bananas give off, Vasili decided to feature it in the first issue. Seeing an opportunity, Paul put his hand up to do the proofreading for the first issue, and the rest is history.
The proofreading work ended up merely being the tip of the iceberg, as Vasili was also looking for someone to do various jobs around the nursery, and Paul was only too happy to help. ‘What do you do around Vasili’s Garden?’ I ask, and he chuckles as he says ‘It’s easier to tell you what I don’t do!’ He then goes on to list all of his responsibilities, and there’s a lot. Aside from working on the magazine, he contacts guests and books them in for Vasili’s TV show, does research for some of the TV show segments, handles mail orders for the nursery’s online store, and helps out at the counter, serving customers. ‘It’s an admin role, basically’, Paul concludes. ‘I also take phone calls, and answer customers’ questions and queries. If they’re having problems with their garden, I help them out.’
Paul also edited Vasili’s daughter’s recipe book, and contributed some content to it too. The nursery’s website also has a monthly electronic newsletter, which Paul creates and uses to share tips from the hosts of the TV show, and articles that Vasili has written. People subscribe through the website, or while they’re in the nursery.
So that Paul can continue to work on the proofreading, he organises for me to take a tour of Vasili’s Garden — an offer that I’m only too happy to accept. Looking around the nursery, I’m impressed by the sheer variety of items that are on display. There’s a wide range of colourful pots, a large area filled with shelves of seed packets, a kitchen area with utensils and cutting boards made from sustainable wood, along with recipe books and nutrition information, and that’s just the beginning. Various organic grooming products are carefully arranged in an alcove, and there’s a small selection of organic food available for purchase, in addition to the cafe which serves healthy meals and freshly made smoothies. Naturally, there’s also heaps of vibrant plants everywhere you look, both inside and out in the garden area.
‘What I love most about working here is the fact that I’m finally putting my education to use’, Paul tells me as I return to the office. ‘I love both writing and gardening, the people here are friendly and great to work with, and it offers me opportunities that I couldn’t have anywhere else.’ This has even included doing voice over work for TV ads for gardening products. Vasili is more of a friend than a boss to him. He goes out for drinks with him, and he basically considers Paul his personal assistant. Paul finds Vasili’s passion for gardening inspiring. Vasili spends 50 weeks of the year at the garden, and is only away from it once a week to do filming for the TV show. Paul spends his free time in his garden at home, devoting every Saturday to it, and his current project is the creation of a large herb garden. He rarely watches TV, and when he does, it’s usually DVDs of Vasili’s show.
As I get up to shake his hand, Paul looks me in the eye and says “I look at this as a dream job, even though I never would have expected to end up working in a place like this.” That really sums it up, for me. Although we don’t always know where we’ll end up in life, if you keep following your passions, amazing things can happen. Paul is living proof of that.
