Full Circle
Words and Images_ Simone Gonzalez
KATRINA MACALLAN’S HANDMADE SOAP AND ECO GIFT BRAND, APPLE AND RADISH IS IMBUED WITH A NOSTALGIA FOR THE PAST AS WELL AS AN INHERENT CONNECTION TO THE NATURAL WORLD.
Tracing Katrina’s footsteps around her near 6 acre Tamborine Mountain property, with faithful Kelpie-Colly, Jinxy in tow, and one may deduce that it takes surprisingly few ingredients to make up a well lived life. With an easy manner and an infectious laugh, it’s clear that the Apple and Radish owner relishes in her nurturing connection with the land and its inhabitants, in what could be described as a generous giving and an abundant receiving. It seems there’s a peace to be found here.
Seduced by the call of the wild 20 years ago, away from the hustle and bustle of city life in both Brisbane and the Gold Coast, Katrina and husband, Ian bought their little piece of mountain paradise some 14 years ago with a long term view to renovate and update it. Although a process still in the making, there’s a genuine spirit of place at their modest three bedroom cottage, with its unique layers of history and quirks developed over the years, it is enfolded by the vastness of open space, flanked by towering cedar giants, where the couple and their four teenage children spill out easily into the natural beauty of the surrounds.
“I had dreams of having chickens, jersey cows and vegetable gardens and this idyllic life where the kids get so excited,” Katrina says. “But because they have grown up with it all they don’t get excited. They definitely help a lot. They generally all pitch in and help do chores. As they get older though, they’re starting to appreciate it more and they’re starting to realise that not everyone has this.”
Despite the dizzying whirlwind of a former life with four growing children all under the age of 6 years, Katrina has always remained acutely aware of their environmental footprint as a family. Choosing sustainable options wherever possible, from growing veggies, collecting eggs from their clutch of chooks and sterilising buckets of milk from their beloved Jersey cow, she was nevertheless disheartened by how much rubbish was still being discarded from the family home. To counteract tendencies of feeling overwhelmed for the often deteriorating state of the natural world and the epidemic of plastic pollution, Katrina would often ask herself what further action she could take for her family just to reduce the output of their waste.
“So that’s when I decided to find out about bees wax wraps, learn how to make bees wrap and started making those,” Katrina says. “I also always wanted to learn to make soap. Most of commercial soap is based on palm oil and that’s where a lot of deforestation is happening to grow palm oil trees. So I thought well we can do better than that. I can make soap. So that’s something I wanted to do for us and it just sort of grew organically from that. It was never well - I’m going to change the world. It was instead - this is really important to me and this is how I want to live. There wasn’t even an intention to sell it.”
But like many creative endeavours which set seed in the heart, are nurtured by both passion and pride and come to blossom organically - they begin to spark the interest of others and generate potential on a more commercially viable level. After blogging about her life for a number of years and evoking a positive reaction from readers after making some of her creations at home, a serendipitous process has bought the Apple and Radish brand to its bricks and mortar store also on the mountain, which has now been established for three 3 years.
Katrina’s reflects back as a young girl growing up on the Gold Coast to where her family would enjoy outings up to Tamborine Mountain to play at Staffsmith Park on Southport Avenue and her mum would visit an antique shop only a stone’s throw away on the same street. In what seems to be an affirming nod of approval by fate, that same shop is now the place where Apple and Radish is based, which directly connects to her husband, Ian Mac Allan’s boutique lawyer office.
Far from being a fully fledged store at first, Apple and Radish teetered into fruition as the space began as a place for Katrina to homeschool one of her daughters for a time, answer the phones for her husband and to put some of her creative wares on display. “Originally I thought if someone comes in and occasionally buys a beeswax wrap or a soap - well it gives me an excuse to keep making it. It was really just an outlet otherwise I would have been buried under all this creative stuff! But the community has been so supportive - the response has been amazing.”
With a background in naturopathy and having held a practice on the Gold Coast prior to mountain life, a well trialled and researched process has informed the making and presentation of all her hand made products which sees the use of only quality natural ingredients without the use of any plastic packaging. The Apple and Radish range comprises of Katrina’s signature handmade soap range, bath bombs, shampoo and conditioner bars, bees wax wraps and fabric food covers - the latter two proving to be an excellent option for wrapping lunches and covering food, which can last 12 to 18 months, are fully biodegradable and can be placed straight in the compost at the end of their usage.
Struck by an epiphany one day, Katrina came to realise that the use of water in many products such as shampoos and conditioners produces the unnecessary need for plastic packaging, heavier weights in transport and higher energy consumption. Katrina soon discovered that by omitting liquid from the process, she still had the ability to produce a high quality product with a lot less environmental impact. “When you put the water in it it makes it look like it’s more - well there isn’t actually more in it - the solid is more concentrated so it’s still the same amount. It’s not soap - but different ingredients. We actually don’t need that liquid at all. It’s still going to wash your hair beautifully.”
As a core value for the Apple and Radish brand, sustainability also continues to be an integral part of everyday life for Katrina on the mountain. Currently planting a rainforest on part of their property so as to increase biodiversity, restore habitat and create a wildlife corridor, Katrina also prefers to let the natural ground cover of clovers, wildflower patches and grasses weave in and around her veggies and flowers so as to attract more bees and butterflies to increase nectar offerings and enhance overall pollination. Katrina has also started a small worm farm at the office for the easy disposal of her husband’s coffee grounds after being previously discarded in the general waste bin there and ensures that any food waste overall goes straight to either the chickens, the compost or the dog.
Acknowledging that while in a perfect world it would be ideal for us all to be able to grow, sew, bake and make everything, Katrina admits that expecting every family to do all this is not entirely realistic, as individuals around the globe have skill sets in many diverse areas and is generally not sustainable in terms of energy and mental health and the different ways and places in which we all live. “As individuals we absolutely do need to make better choices but there also needs to be systematic change where those choices are easy to make - like our food packaging - why is it not all biodegradable? It exists!”
Impassioned when speaking of the gender inequality of where these individual responsibilities often lie she says it too often falls in the hands of busy mothers and women. “They are often already making a living, having their own business, raising their children and now making and growing everything and going across town to a different shop and to the Source to get everything in bulk and in paper bags. Yes we can do all that but why should we have to work so hard to keep our family safe and healthy and work so hard to choose food that isn’t poisoned and food that isn’t wrapped in plastic? It has to come from the top down as well otherwise we can’t win on our own. There needs to be systematic changes without guilt being attached to our everyday purchases. Things are generally getting better - but why do we have to work so hard to put healthy food in our mouths? We need more choices that are more in alignment with the health of the planet.”
Katrina however remains optimistic about the future and takes great faith in nature’s incredible regenerative powers, marvelling at the plethora of examples of its ability to restore itself across many countries during the Covid pandemic, all the while acknowledging that one needs to look no further than in their own backyard to see the phenomenal power of nature on display. “Unlike in everyday life where it feels like it’s all us - like in business or making a cake, in the garden all we have to do is plant the seeds and tend to them,” Katrina says. “The rest is a much greater force at work. There’s magic in nature everywhere if we look for it.”
The Apple and Radish owner agrees that it’s this highly refined intelligence of Mother Nature which is proving to offer exciting possibilities especially in the new realm for sustainable material exploration and suggests that there are many solutions that lay waiting there for us if we are willing to explore them.
Currently there are developments in the area of biofacture which is the growing of objects and making of material culture using biological processes. There have been examples of clothes grown from algae and vessels made from bacterially grown cellulose with some big brands currently exploring mycelium packaging - the growing of the fibrous cells of mushrooms. “Microbes can populate in such a short amount of time - they can mutate very quickly and there are also some promising examples of plastic eating bacteria,” Katrina says. “I think microbes will save the planet.”
Sharing in the often fluctuating nature of her journey as a fully fledged creative, which she admits can encompass the highs, the lows and everything in between, Katrina says it’s always worth reflecting on the greater meaning that Apple and Radish embodies. “Sustainability is why I started and is why I do what I do. It really is a core value to be as kind to the planet as I can. I think even if my business doesn’t make a million dollars or whatever - I still believe it holds a lot of value for people who come in. It gives them a sense of ‘oh, it does matter - there is something I can do and someone else who cares.’ And they start to wonder ‘if I did this well I’m not on my own - it’s not futile.’ And for the people that are already of that mindset - it’s like reassurance for them or a little bit of further education. It’s exciting, because there’s a growing number of people who are really passionate about doing this also.”
Apple and Radish;
40 Southport Ave, Tamborine Mountain, Qld 4272
katrina@appleandradish.com.au
www.apple-radish.com
REFERENCE:
‘Radical Matter: Rethinking Materials for a Sustainable Future’
by Kate Franklin and Caroline Till