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Mara is an experienced writer and photographer, whose work has appeared in magazines and publications around the world. Contact us if you would like to interview Mara or have her write a piece for you.
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Millie visits cooking and garden educator, Mara Ripani, on her home farm in Blampied, Village Dreaming. Mara is keen to share one of the most special traditions from her Italian heritage—the baking and sharing of Panettone, which is Italian for ‘big bread.’ This is a great recipe to preserve the spring glut of eggs into a delicious baked good that will keep for months and is perfect to share with loved ones around the holiday time. Thanks to Mara for sharing her recipe for sourdough Panettone!
Mara is a photographer, cook, grower and Pip Magazine writer who is living the homesteader dream. In this podcast, she chats to Pip Editor Robyn Rosenfeldt about the simple rituals of her daily life. She also shares her journey to the country.
“People are particularly interested in how we grow soil,” Ripani says, her term for the process of regenerating the earth through recatalysing microbial activity. “We grow pasture as a sacrificial crop and dig it back into the soil. It’s like creating compost directly in the soil.”
According to Blampied foraging enthusiast and sustainability educator Mara Ripani, there’s a growing interest in edible weeds.According to Blampied foraging enthusiast and sustainability educator Mara Ripani, there’s a growing interest in edible weeds.
“I spent probably a good two years dreaming; what will I do on the property? Who will I be? And then it became obvious that I would continue what I was doing, but from my home and from all that environmental education, all the skills I’ve learned over the years…I would share them on my property.”
Ms Ripani grew up in an Italian family that migrated to Ballarat when she was nine-years-old. She said her mother had always preserved and fermented food, but she only began herself after leaving home in her 20s. “I spend so much time in the garden and I get a huge harvest. I want to maintain the harvest through the seasons.”
Everything Mara Ripani and Ralf Pfleiderer grow on their farm they hope to share in some way – their learnings, harvest bounty and cooking and preserving skills.