About Me
Stephanie Hafferty MCIHort
Organic Gardening and Homesteading
Welcome! My name is Stephanie and I am an organic gardening and homesteading expert.
I’m an award winning garden and food writer, edible garden designer, public speaker and qualified educator. With many years of practical growing and homesteading experience, I specialise in teaching people organic gardening and homesteading skills – how to grow your own food year round, affordably and using sustainable wildlife friendly methods.
I enjoy creating recipes for using all those gorgeous harvests, and foraged ingredients too, including seasonal meals, drinks, preserves, home and body care.
Photo credit: Jason Ingram
Being outside in nature has always been a pleasure. Raising three children on my own, on a very low income, certainly makes one inventive. This inspired me to learn how to grow food year round. Frugal and resourceful, I enjoy discovering more ways of growing, cooking and making products for the home whilst spending as little money as possible.
Hobbies outside the garden include wild swimming, especially in the sea, paddleboarding (I am not very good!), hiking, reading, crafting and going to the theatre. I love eating food someone else has cooked!
I live in Ceredigion, Wales in a 120 year old cottage, on about half an acre on a hillside. Also here live our two cats Lilwen and Twm and four Welsh harlequin ducks.
For gardening updates, recipes and more, see my You Tube channel, Substack newsletter, and social media including Instagram and Facebook.
Contact me for more information, request a media pack, or to discuss a commission.
My Homestead Garden
In March 2021 I moved from Somerset to Ceredigion, Wales and started a new productive homestead on just under half an acre. This abundant, productive garden is being created on a budget, and almost entirely on my own. Every year I add more growing areas. So far in 2025 there’s a new 10 x 25 ft polytunnel, to increase undercover space (the other tunnel, which is 14 x 45 ft, was erected in 2021) and a rather eccentric potato growing tower made from found materials and sheep fleece.
Creating the garden has to fit around my full time work (and osteoarthritis!), so it a realistic garden with some bits that are named “wildlife areas” because I haven’t been able to get round to them yet.
I run courses and workshops from the homestead, and share updates on my social media, blogs, You Tube and Substack newsletter.
Sustainable Organic Gardening
A leading permaculture and no dig gardening expert, I have been growing my own for over 30 years in home gardens and allotments, and working as a professional kitchen gardener, edible garden designer and consultant for over 17 years.
Growing with nature is very important, encouraging biodiversity and creating productive spaces which produce lots of food and look beautiful, whilst also creating a sanctuary for all kinds of wild creatures.
I am known for my practical, informative, down to earth and affordable gardening advice. Naturally thrifty, I try to do everything as cheaply as possible – preferably for free. My shed is filled with stuff that might be useful one day (or according to my children “Mum, do you really need that?” !
Organic Gardening and Homesteading Writing
I am a freelance writer, writing about gardening, food and homesteading skills for national and international publications for over 15 years. A best selling and award winning author, I was shortlisted for Practical Journalist of the Year in 2024 and Environmental Journalist of the Year in 2023.
I write monthly columns for Kitchen Garden Magazine and Amateur Gardening Magazine, and freelance for publications including Gardeners’ World Magazine, Gardens Illustrated Magazine, Bloom, The Organic Way, Permaculture Magazine, and Grow Your Own.
My first book No Dig Organic Home and Garden won Practical Book of the Year, and has sold over 35,000 copies. Plant based recipe book The Creative Kitchen features over 100 seasonal recipes, using ingredients which can be grown on an allotment, and has sold over 10,000 copies. My next book will be published by Frances Lincoln in spring 2026.
Practical Homesteading
Homesteading is an umbrella term for increasing your resourcefulness and self sufficiency, wherever you live. For me it is about becoming more self reliant, which doesn’t mean having acres of space. I used to do tiny scale homesteading in an urban flat with just a windowsill to grow on.
My interest in homesteading skills has its origins in books I read as a little girl, and I used to play games involving many of the skills I use now in my day to day life with Playmobil and Lego. Like many British people born in the 1960s, I was also influenced by TV shows including The Good Life and children’s programmes The Clangers and the Wombles (so much recycling and repurposing!)
In my late teens I found an old wine making book in a charity shop, originally published in the 1950s, and discovered you could make wine using fruit, veg and foraged ingredients. This encouraged me to learn foraging skills too.
In my early twenties I started to research ways of making my own products using natural ingredients as I became increasingly allergic to many additives in most household cleaners and body care products.
Here at my homestead in Wales I make as much as I can from what I grow and forage, aiming to be as self sufficient as possible. As well as food, drink and preserves I make herbal remedies, homecare products, natural dyes, crafts, and much more. All of the recipes and techniques are affordable and help save money.
I am not off grid, and I definitely don’t grow or make everything. Coffee, chocolate and tea don’t grow very well in rural Wales!
Organic Gardening and Homesteading Talks and Events
I am an experienced public speaker and event host, in the UK and internationally, from large events to small garden groups. I also offer talks and workshops for businesses.
Events include: The Blue Peter Garden “Discover Soil” at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, BBC Gardeners’ World Live, Toby’s Garden Festival, RHS Wisley, RHS Hampton Court, RHS Bridgewater, Harrogate Flower Show, Carlow Food Festival Ireland, the Royal Welsh Show, Permaculture Gatherings, the Royal Bath and West Show and many, many smaller events, gardening clubs etc.
Edible Garden and Homesteading Consultancy and Design
I offer edible garden design and consultancy, ranging from how to create a productive edible garden from scratch to updating existing spaces. All of my work uses organic no dig methods, and includes wildlife friendly, permaculture techniques which can adapt to a changing climate. I have created edible gardens for businesses, private estates, Contact me to discuss your needs.
Visiting ‘my’ kitchen garden at Stavordale Priory, TV presenter Kevin McCloud said of my work: “This is not just a labour of love, it is a labour of brilliance and expertise.”
My work has included designing, creating and managing edible gardens for community projects, on private estates (clients include Sir Cameron Mackintosh and Michael Le Pour Trench at Stavordale Priory, and Niall Hobhouse at Hadspen House, now The Newt in Somerset), for internationally acclaimed art gallery Hauser and Wirth Somerset and restaurants (including Roth Bar and Grill and At The Chapel, Bruton), edible gardens for pub restaurants, advising Michelin starred chefs’ allotments and creating a large RHS show garden.
Internationally, I have advised kitchen gardeners in Ireland and was part of a team advising the staff at Babylonstoren.
I worked for many years in market gardens, including setting up a new market garden from scratch, and have visited many amazing market gardens across the world.
Show Garden Design
Designing and creating a show garden is a great adventure and I have been fortunate to create them in many different kinds of locations, from a key RHS show to small off grid festivals.
In 2021 I co-designed the RHS No Dig Allotment Demonstration Garden for RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival. The driving force behind the venture, I project managed it for over 18 months including working on the build. I practically lived on site for over three weeks!
This was the first RHS show since the covid lockdowns started in March 2020. The design needed adapting on site in line with the latest covid regulations. I also liaised with the BBC for the TV broadcasts, press, and arranged the speakers who shared their knowledge on the garden.
In 2024 I created a micro show garden for the new Horticulture Village at the Royal Welsh Show (currently designing one for the 2025 show). Previous show gardens include the Royal Bath and Welsh Show, and several Sunrise Festivals.
Design for the show garden
no dig beds at the RHS No Dig Demonstration Garden at Hampton Court Garden Festival
TV and other Broadcasting
Television and radio work includes local and national radio programmes.
BBC Gardeners’ World, BBC TV coverage of my show garden, ITV and The Climate Show on Sky News.
BBC Gardeners’ World filmed here at my homestead for the Winter Special in 2022. The garden was only just over a year old.
It was ” a masterclass on how to grow a wide range of vegetables through all the winter months.” Monty Don said of my work: “Well that’s inspiring. I think everybody, even if we’ve grown vegetables all our lives, can learn something from that.”
This was the second time I had appeared on the programme. The first wassome years ago when I walked across the screen carrying a piece of wood!
BBC filming for Gardeners’ world
Memberships
I am a member of:
Chartered Institute of Horticulture
Guild of Food Writers
Society of Authors
Garden Media Guild
Awards
Finalist Practical Journalist of the Year 2024
Finalist Environmental Journalist of the Year 2023
Finalist GMG Blog of the Year 2020
Second prize, Glee Awards, Best Gardening Book 2019 – No Dig Organic Home and Garden
Finalist BOOM Awards 2019- Best Organic Blogger
Winner Practical Gardening Book of the Year 2017 – No Dig Organic Home and Garden
Contact Me
For more information, to request a press pack, or to arrange to work with me, please contact me here.