Ursulas explores paddock to plate

High Valley Dawn offers off the grid opportunities for environment-conscious eaters

TASTY TUCKER: Piper Rose, centre, enjoyed a freshly picked carrot during St Ursulas excursion to High Valley Dawn permaculture. Picture: contributed

Year 9 students from St Ursulas enjoyed a tour of the High Valley Dawn Permaculture farm, as part of their Social Science unit, 'Biomes and Food Security'.

High Valley Dawn is set on 57 hectares overlooking the Capricorn Coast, with a thriving market garden and a food forest in its infancy.

St Ursula's College students toured the High Valley Dawn permaculture farm as part of their Social Science studies. Picture: contributed

The vision for its future includes housing for short- and long-term residents, a temple and wedding venue, and a community education centre.

Piper Rose, Year 9, said she found the tour very informative and learnt key ideas about sustainable farming.

"High Valley Dawn has a really natural, tranquil atmosphere," she said.

Visitors were interested in the farming methods used at High Valley Dawn. Picture: contributed

"Modern farming methods that use sustainable, self-sufficient techniques were explained to us, and we were shown a lot of different vegetables that were grown using those methods."

The permaculture farm grew out of a desire to source local, organic food for the nearby paddock-to-plate restaurant, Beaches Rosslyn Bay.

Its paddocks have grown as a result of volunteers including WOOFERs (Willing Workers on Organic farms), who swap 25 hours a week work in exchange for accommodation, meals and cultural exchange with locals.

"We learnt about the benefits of organically-grown, chemical-free fruit and vegetables," Piper said.

"My classmates and I picked some carrots during our tour; they tasted so good!"

Originally published as Ursulas explores paddock to plate