I'm Jo Thierfelder and my business Edgefield Communications (formerly Finesse) is a communications consultancy in Western Australia working to promote a healthy, sustainable, resilient food system. My interests lie in the overlapping circles of food, sustainability, permaculture, regenerative farming and environment. I am passionate about helping reconnect people with real food and leaving a better environment for future generations.
My work in communications and marketing helps organisations reach their potential and their audience by co-developing strategic business goals and creating clear, structured pathways to reach them. From media engagement to digital and print collateral, I can provide the marketing tools that organisations need and manage implementation of the process.
I have journalism and permaculture qualifications and broad experience in writing, communications, marketing, PR, project management and stakeholder engagement.
Author: Edgefield Communications
Bush booze: Indigenous Australian botanicals make a splash in Italy
Lemon myrtle, wattle seed, sea parsley, bush mint: they’re not the usual ingredients you’d expect to find listed on the back of a bottle of rum, gin or an Italian-made Indian Pale Lager. But this is some of the uniquely …
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Italy beckons Western Australian indigenous youth in cultural food exchange
I’m thrilled to see my first news article about Terra Madre published on the official Terra Madre Salone del Gusto website. Click here to read the full article. A love of bush food and country unites West Australian indigenous youths …
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Countdown to Terra Madre 2018
Check out my very first published video below (eek!). I’m taking the plunge into video to truly capture the incredible atmosphere, noise and colour that a million or more visitors are likely to create at Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2018. …
Citrus sunshine
If you need a ray of sunshine in the depths of a dark and stormy winter in Perth, simply plant citrus trees. Ripening throughout the winter season, the fresh, sweetly acidic, zinging flavours dance across your tongue and seem almost …
Portland’s hidden urban farms
Hidden a mere 15-minute drive from downtown Portland, in the city’s North East, is the unexpected semi-rural neighbourhood of Cully, which is brimming with urban farmlets growing food, flowers and the deep roots of community. It’s a gem in this …
Fifty Shades of Green
I fell in love with Oregon all over again. Marrying an American means travelling back to the States to visit family is a semi-regular occurrence and one that happily sates my wanderlust. However, it’d been five long years since the …
Italy Mark II: Terra Madre 2018
I’m a big believer that if you open yourself up to opportunities and focus your energy in a chosen direction, the universe will provide. The trick is to recognise those opportunities when they float past and grab them with both …
Cider, Fire + Biking: A perfect Hills weekend
It’s Sunday night of a delightful Mother’s Day spent biking through John Forrest National Park. The house is quiet except for the peaceful bubbling and burping of fermenting cider bottles and I’m reflecting on a perfect family weekend in the …
Flying high at Blue Sky Festival
Mundaring comes together to celebrate community and promote sustainability True to its name, the Blue Sky Festival was a sunny affair, in more ways than one. A demonstration of the power and joy of community, this local sustainability festival was …
Fecund figs
Ooh, it just sounds sexy doesn’t it? And figs, they look like, well, we all know what they look like. But pulling apart a soft, ripe fig, warm from the sun and tasting its sweet flesh…it’s a revelation. Summer’s bounty …
I pomodori magnifici
Getting into the spirit of all things Italian is easy when you’re harvesting these magnificent beauties from your garden. Oh how I love this time of year in my garden when all the hard work comes to fruition! It’s been …
Good things come to those who wait
…or so the time-worn adage goes. And so, we will work, save and wait another year to go to Italy. I always knew it was a crazy ambitious goal: to move our family to Italy for a year and for …
Fruits of our labours
The relentless heat of a Perth summer is easier to bear when the work you put into your garden starts to bear fruit, literally. Plum-tastic Two years in a row now, we’ve been rewarded with a deluge of plums from …
Urban and Regional Food Declaration
During a chat with the Director of the Food For Thought Festival in Albany, I was given a copy of the “Urban and Regional Food Declaration” produced by Sustain: The Australian Food Network. The Declaration seeks to promote the local production …
Albany offers Food For Thought
My family and I recently took off on a four-day road trip to Albany, five hours south of Perth, ostensibly to attend the third annual Food For Thought Festival, which was held on Sunday in the Town Square. The Food …
Proud of our local Waste Champions
I’m thrilled for my friends Jeannie and Amanda, co-owners and founders of the Wasteless Pantry, who recently won yet another award for their advocacy work and innovative retail business. I feel rather lucky to have this bulk food store in …
May the Micro-Force be with you
I am a fan of the SBS TV program Gourmet Farmer and I remember an episode from last season I think when Matthew Evans explored the benefits of adding microbes to the soil in his veggie patch. He ran an experiment …
Milk kefir grains by snail mail
I imagine all sorts of weird and wonderful things are sent by snail mail but this has got to be one of the strangest packages I’ve received: milk kefir grains sent via Australia Post from Wongan Hills. I recently …
National Fair Food Week 7-16 Oct
What is Fair Food Week? Coordinated by the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA), Australia’s Fair Food Week shines a light on our new story of food. From the 7th-16th October 2017 you will discover events across the country that will attract, intrigue and entertain …
Embarking on a year of gastronomic discovery in Italy
I’m saying it out loud, I’m writing it down, I’m telling friends and family, yet still it seems like a delicious fantasy. A wildly adventurous, unashamedly romantic, ridiculously out-of-the-box idea that maybe, just maybe, we might manage to pull off. …
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