Nydia Needham

Nydia Needham is an accountant, avid gardener, and author of Creating Your Permaculture Heaven. Raised Bed Gardening the Permaculture Way, as well as A Spoonful of Soil Helps the World Go Round. There is certainly no room for getting your hands dirty as an accountant. In fact, long hours at a desk crunching numbers and data is a mentally exhausting job. Even though it’s one Nydia loves, it’s safe to say she wouldn’t remain sane without her permaculture heaven! Gardening for Nydia is like the yin to her yang career. Having grown up in the country, Nydia’s grew up with gardening and had a strong feeling of where her roots were, but like most adults, work and responsibilities took over and she found herself being sucked into the corporate world with just a little time for her fruit and vegetable patch in the garden. But life has a way of teaching us the most valuable lessons. Nydia became more and more concerned about the environment and the impact humans were having on the planet with the extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides. This wasn’t just on a commercial level. Even in her home village, people weren’t taking advantage of the natural resources around them. This saddened her, and she wasn’t alone. Along with a close friend, Nydia began researching alternative gardening methods that worked with nature rather than against it. This is when they both discovered their connection to the permaculture principles. Despite living in the city, Nydia took all of her learning and applied it to an allotment. Nydia and her friend gradually turned their allotment into an oasis where birds and insects could thrive, organic food grew, and both women could escape to peace and feel energized. Aside from permaculture and gardening, Nydia is a big fan of learning Spanish, travel, and photography. Her new-found passion is sharing what she has learned in the garden with others who want to achieve the same benefits while making the planet a better place.