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
How to Identify Wild Edible Fungi with a Forage Feast & Walk
How to Identify Wild Edible Fungi with a Forage Feast & Walk
How to make soap, extract essential oil & hydrosol
How to make soap, extract essential oil & hydrosol
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
Preserving for beginners
Preserving class Sunday 20th of June 2pm to 6pm at ORTO Farm, Blampied. I love foraging, I love growing and I want to make the very most of what I...
How to make soap
Lard and charcoal soap After five years of making soap I started to get that lovely feeling I get when I know that I have cultivated enough soap...
TOUR: building with straw, establishing a wetland, keeping chickens and making all things
Our wetland in Autumn Every year we host a tour or two, to talk with you about all that we have done, all that we have learned. Our home and farm...
Vegan Soap Lard Soap Making Class
Sunday 21st February 3-6pm at ORTO Farm Blampied, just outside of Daylesford. Using traditional soap making skills, it is possible to make a years’...
Strawberries cornflowers and volunteer fairies
Volunteer fairies are back! And I am so happy to have their support. At this time of the year the strawberry harvest is bountiful. We have been...
Welcome to ORTO
Our property is becoming a little more abundant each year. With hens and roosters and geese. Our hens have various homes. An enclosed run with deep...
“Staying on Mara’s farm is an experience we’ll never forget.”
~ Berna, Orto Farm Stay guest
