Joel – “I was born on the Gold Coast, grew up around Burleigh Heads. My Dad was a Potter and my Mum was the designer for the pieces he made. They started that business when I was born so from the time I was 6 months old we travelled down here to the Northern Rivers often to do the markets. I went to school at Burleigh up until Year 5 and then we moved to Cudgen in the Tweed Coast area. I started high school at Kingscliff High and in Year 10 I met Anita. Anita had just moved up there from Lismore. She was a Lismore girl.”
Anita – ” I went to the coast for some strange reason…I think to find this guy.”
Joel – “Anita just stood out to me and I asked her out immediately. We’ve been through everything together since then. I lived on the GC for a while, did a Stone Masonry apprenticeship and we lived with my Mum for a while. We got over the GC and Anita started Uni at SCU doing teaching. She said.. ‘Come on Joel, let’s move back here’ so we moved in with Anita’s dad in Lismore. I had a crack at University but it wasn’t really for me. I did Enviro Science and fell into bush re-gen and organic farming which I did for a while. I then started doing support work which I’m still doing. We are both doing support work. We bought our house here in 2012 and we’ve been renovating and gardening…”
Anita…”and encouraging our friends to buy houses next door. We now have friends in two of the houses in this street. They are also renovating and we’ve started a community garden in the paddock here. We have chooks and 2 dairy goats, Maisy and Maria named after our Grandmothers.”
Joel – “I have a massive family on the GC and we are deeply connected in the surf culture. That’s always been a part of my life. In 2015 I came up with as Anita calls them..another crazy Joel idea. I’m always trying to find ways of not working so hard but having money coming in and doing something creative as well as being environmentally sustainable. I always wear zinc and I was so over putting that goop on my face. It would sting my eyes and didn’t really work.”
Anita – “We started researching how toxic it is on our marine life. Joel’s really freckly so he has to wear something. Necessity drove the inspiration.”
Joel – “I started experimenting and getting my friends to try it. After a couple of years we refined it. At first Anita wasn’t really that keen on the idea but then she got on board and brought her nice, spunky element to it which made it accessible to all, not just surfers. We had it SPF tested and legitimised and that has been our little nest egg. We do the local markets, stock a lot of shops around the country and sell on-line. It’s called Sun and Earth Zinc.
I met Kate Stroud at Uni and Brendon through our inner circle. We were having a Pot Luck one night and decide we need a little film festival.”
Me ‘What’s Pot Luck?
Joel – “Our circle of friends all bring something to dinner at one house. We have a huge circle of friends and we do everything together. It’s really special. We were talking about getting a film night started. It grew from there. We wanted something different, intense for the film makers and making it accessible to all. You can do it on your phone, don’t need to be a pro film maker. That little baby has been growing too. We’ve had four now, two to the wider public and people are really getting into it. The next one is in September. We have had so much support. Brad at The Loft, Flock and Lismore City Council have all helped us so much.”
Anita – “So baby stuff! This is our second one. Last year we surprised ourselves by falling pregnant. We were really excited but then we miscarried at 8 weeks.”
Joel – “We weren’t really showing many signs, there was no morning sickness where as this one is here. It’s so strong and made it through this crazy time and still here with us. We’re nesting, organising the house and getting ready. We’re having conversations with Bron from the Lismore Birth House. Anita is heavily involved with birth as she’s a Doula. She’s been to a heap of births now so we have been surrounded with birth.”
Anita – “That was a year ago and we really wanted to keep trying and hoping. We found out a month ago that we were pregnant and I’m 9 weeks now. It’s still early but it feels right.”
Joel – “That’s my lifestyle in a nutshell really. I’m 31. I suppose we should get to the nitty gritty.”