SERIES 36 | Episode 33

We meet Mara Ripani, who feels she has found her dream home on a 15-acre property in Central Victoria, where she shares her Italian heritage through kitchen workshops and using produce from the garden.

Mara and her family came to Australia from the east coast of Italy and her background shapes the food she cooks, how she welcomes people to her home and of course the name of the property – Orto, which means kitchen garden in Italian. She and partner Ralph now have two daughters of their own and new traditions are being made.

She watched her own parents growing food and gardening and has built on that knowledge herself since leaving home. There are tussock grasses and Mediterranean plants immediately around the house in what she calls the bee garden, but beyond that

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