SEAWINDS Nursery has a new team member who’s jumped into the manager role.

Manager Daniel Currie began at the nursery recently and said he was well prepared given his background in the nursery industry and community services.

“I come from a nursery community. A lot of my friends own and run nurseries in Melbourne, so I've got connections to the nursery game,” he said.

Mr Currie said he moved to Portland from the Dandenong Ranges three years ago.

“I come from the Dandenong Ranges outside of Melbourne, a very big nursery community, I think I was there for 15 years before I moved down here in the first year of COVID.

“I was at the department (of Families Fairness and Housing) before this.

“To be fair, I’m enjoying being out and about again.

“It does crossover this job and there's a lot of my community services experience and studies that comes in handy here as well.

“I love it here and I love the community, it's got character, plenty of personality, plenty to see and do.

“I certainly love the wildlife here, particularly the birds. The number of birds down here is amazing.”

Seawinds Nursery is a not-for-profit business associated with Kyeema Support Services, providing supported employment and wholesale service to the community.

Mr Currie said it was a wonderful operation, giving employees opportunity, a challenge, and benefiting them greatly.

“I've been relying on the staff here to show me what they do and how to do it, and they've been fantastic with that. It's all pretty new to me still,” he said.

“I have only been here a month, so I’m still finding my feet and learning how things have been done for all these years, because I don't want to come in and upset the applecart.

“Everyone enjoys coming here, that's for sure, me included.”