“Tech-crunch nut with an avid plant care side,” is how 61-year-old Bronwyn Holm describes herself.
“I was very unusual back in the day, I had a bookcase under a window in my bedroom full of indoor plants and often cared for mum’s fernery making sure it was watered.
“This was not common for a teenager then,” she laughed.
Bronywn was born in Esk, had her formative years in Rosewood, then moved to Ipswich in 1970 with her family.
Daughter to the “local plumber,” Bronwyn attended Saint Joseph’s Primary School and Saint Mary’s High School in her teenage years.
“The 70s and 80s was a great time in Ipswich,” she said.
“It was about community. Parents knew each other and we would ride bikes to each other’s houses, families did things together very regularly.
“And many knew the three ‘Holm,’ girls including myself and my two sisters, Madeleine and Lauren, both from our peers, school friends and also as Alice and Dick’s granddaughters who had a significant reputation in the Lockyer Valley.”
According to Bronwyn, the Holm family name has played a significant role in the agricultural industry within Southeast Queensland.
“Eggert Holm, my great, great grandfather was the master winemaker at Hermitage Estate Wineries [Dalwood Estate] and moved to Toowoomba, where he opened the Holm Wine Vaults in Ruthven Street,” she said.
“He held one of the first wine sales license in Australia.
“He was a viticultural expert of great experience and spent considerable time in giving advice on the management of vineyards, the treatment of diseases and on all matters connected with viticulture and vinification.
“So, there’s a strong history for our family in the region.”
After graduating high school, Bronwyn left the region, attended art college, and landed an internship as a graphic designer in Washington in the United States of America.
Bronwyn continued working in media and when she returned home to Australia, she landed a role as a creative director in the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
She worked with numerous environmental scientists which catapulted her interest in the health of the planet and its soil.
“This was an influential moment within my timeline,” she said.
It was in this role, where Bronwyn tapped into her teenage years when she was looking after her mother’s fernery and used a home-made natural superfood for plants or “a biological fertiliser,” now called, Earthfood.
“I learnt about syntropic farming and regenerative farming.
“And I was particularly encouraged when I received letters from Prince Charles to continue with my own practice of microbial ‘fertiliser’ resulting in soil and earth health.
The encouragement pushed her to continue her ‘Earthfood,’ endeavour as a plant food achieving high yields and protecting crops against pests and disease in a natural way.
“Earthfood contains a diverse range of micro-organisms designed to replace and replenish the soil’s natural ecosystem and increase the plant’s natural defence against pests and disease.”
Reflecting upon her vibrant career in graphic design, media and now agriculture and innovation, Bronwyn said she owes many thanks to her time in the National Parks and Wildlife Service as well as to the Holm family for paving the way for her.
“We can all play a role in regrowing healthy soil, which is one of the most powerful ways that we can stop land degradation and begin to mend the damage done,” she said.
