Food

Grow Your Own Food

Each residential cluster surrounds a productive community garden and the entire Ecovillage will be surrounded by small scale intensive farms. All land within the Ecovillage will be organically managed and all water needed for food production will originate on site.

Community Gardens

At the heart of each residential cluster is a community garden, linked by cycling and walking paths, which will provide the primary vegetable production area within the Ecovillage. The water sensitive design of the community gardens includes a rain garden for stormwater treatment and provides an overland flow path to protect the surrounding lots from flooding in an extreme storm event.

The community gardens will be developed along permaculture principles with an area of at least 20sqm per person allocated for vegetable beds, which is sufficient for the community to be largely self-sufficient in seasonal vegetables. Foundational infrastructure and major landscaping will be put in place by the developer, but the micro design of the community gardens will evolve with the input of residents. However, we envisage areas for orchards, poultry and stormwater treatment areas as well as a garden / tool shed, a shelter such as a gazebo that will act as a meeting place, with the potential for a greenhouse / aquaponics system. Fruit trees will be planted along the paths to provide an attractive, shady environment.

These dedicated path networks, which link all houses and community gardens to each other and to the Village Square, will mean that residents and visitors can safely traverse the whole village by bicycle or on foot (or by wheelchair or pram) through beautifully landscaped gardens, with minimal interaction with cars.

Food Hub

The Food Hub is the heart of our fair food distribution network, a collective space for organic growers to wholesale, retail, process, and value add their fresh food produce. This commercial site located in the Village Square will likely be built once the Ecovillage has been fully developed. In the early years of the Ecovillage, growers will be able to sell their produce directly to residents through organic growers’ markets held in the Village Square.

For more information, visit the Food Hub page.

Agricultural Lots

Approximately 25ha of prime agricultural land surrounding the Ecovillage has been set aside for 15 certified organic, small-scale, strata titled farm lots. They will be owned by Ecovillage residents and worked to produce food, which can be processed and sold in the Food Hub or local markets. These lots are strictly zoned for agriculture and will not have residences. They are suitable for a wide range of niche organic crops, such as market vegetables, blueberries, cane berries, citrus, pome fruit, herbs, garlic, avocados, etc. Some people just want their own private food forest! Each agricultural lot is provided with water at the gate from the dams at a rate of 5 megalitres per hectare, which is basically enough water to grow just about anything.  

For more information, visit the Agricultural Lots page.

Edible Landscaping

The Witchcliffe Ecovillage Commons company will collectively own 42.95ha of community open space outside of the community cluster gardens, which will include the three Ecovillage dams, three conservation areas, wastewater treatment vegetation areas, a perimeter walking track, olive and nut trees, wood lots, and a mix of native and productive trees for all to enjoy and share.