Welcome to Village Dreaming

A regenerative permaculture farm & cooking school on Dja Dja Wurrung land, in the central highlands of Victoria.

Share in our love of traditional cooking, sustainable living & togetherness via our hands-on workshops & our Orto Farm Stay straw eco cottage.

“Memories of the knowledge sharing, the foraging walk, the preparation, cooking, music and the eating will remain etched in my brain. Thank you.”

~ Paul Galea, workshop attendee

Learn pasta making at Village Dreaming
Learn artisinal skills at Orto Cooking School near Daylesford 1
Learn pasta making at Village Dreaming (2)
Traditional Italian cooking classes at Orto Cooking School
Village Dreaming facilitator Mara Ripani in her kitchen

Mara Ripani

I’m Mara, facilitator and co-founder at Village Dreaming. I inherited my food culture from my Italian parents. I’ve been growing my own food — and cooking, fermenting, dehydrating and bartering the harvest — for many decades now.

Picking a big basket of strawberries on the Village Dreaming permaculture farm

Permaculture farm

Village Dreaming is a 15-acre regenerative permaculture farm, kitchen gardens, orchard and wetlands near Daylesford. Our family has been here since 2015 — slow steps and incremental building…

Learning to make pasta at the Orto Cooking School, on the Village Dreaming permaculture farm.

Orto Cooking School

We love to share the ancient art of cooking the Italian way, plus fermenting, preserving and other simple ways to make the most of your harvest. Our cooking school also hosts workshops on soap making, sewing, mushroom foraging and passive solar design.

Upcoming workshops

Sustainability underpins our work and curates our class programming.

Join us for classes in foraging, sourdough bread baking, homemade pasta, edible weed feasts, wild fungi hunts, fermenting, food preserving, cheese-making and charcuterie. Plus natural dyeing using wild botanicals, braided rag rugs made from unwanted fabrics and passive solar design workshops with leading sustainability architects.

The straw cottage at Orto Farm Stay near Daylesford, Victoria

Orto Farm Stay

Stay in our strawbale eco cottage, near Daylesford

Lovingly furnished with found objects and vintage furniture, our straw cottage is cosy and comfortable. Enjoy a village-like atmosphere with beautiful views of Mount Franklin.

“We felt the warmest welcome from the moment we arrived. The accommodation was clean, warm and stylish. A truly amazing experience.”

~ Jodie, Orto Farm Stay guest

Latest from our farm blog

How to create a passive solar house

How to create a passive solar house

This article was first published by Pip Magazine By understanding the principles that underpin passive heating design the building you create or...

How to create a living fence

How to create a living fence

This article first appeared in Sanctuary Magazine, the 55th edition (with a few changes made here for my blog). A big thank you to editor Anna...

Cooking School

Cooking School

Family pasta and lunch event with pizzica folk dancing This photo captures a feeling...the very feeling that brought me here. A feeling of deep...

Learn natural dying techniques at Orto Cooking School near Daylesford

“Staying on Mara’s farm is an experience we’ll never forget.”

~ Berna, Orto Farm Stay guest

Foraging for mushrooms in Victoria
Children foraging for mushrooms in a forest
Harvesting foraged mushrooms during a foraging workshop
Children in a forest during a mushroom foraging workshop