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
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.
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…
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.
Private Tours of ORTO Permaculture Farm
Private Tours of ORTO Permaculture Farm
Chestnut Forage & Chestnut Pappardelle Lunch
Chestnut Forage & Chestnut Pappardelle Lunch
How to Identify Wild Edible Fungi with a Forage Feast & Walk
How to Identify Wild Edible Fungi with a Forage Feast & Walk
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
This article was first published by Pip Magazine By understanding the principles that underpin passive heating design the building you create or...
Herbaceous perennial plants, what are they, how to care for them and their role in organic gardens
One day you may find yourself falling in love with plants and gardens and in the process discovering an entirely new language. Many plant nursery...
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...
Book Launch and Fruit Tree Grafting Workshop!
With Author Jade Miles and Graftsman Charlie Showers at ORTO Farm, Blampied. An exciting event with these wonderful humans! From Black Barn Farm in...
How to make cake using summer or winter fruit
In the freezer are containers full of boysenberries, raspberries and strawberries. In the winter garden, rhubarb! Pudding like cake with summer...
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...
“Staying on Mara’s farm is an experience we’ll never forget.”
~ Berna, Orto Farm Stay guest