Samford Village is located in semi-rural Queensland northwest of Brisbane, Australia. It is adjacent to state forests and close to the North and South Pine Rivers. Several majestic mountains of the D’Aguilar Range enclose the surrounding valley, creating a place of great natural beauty.
Within the village community, the Samford Commons is emerging as a world class, innovative and exciting showcase for sustainable living. Under the direction of its skilled and committed Board, this not-for-profit, community owned company works with local entities and government agencies. These include creative artists, writers, photographers, schools and environmentalists. The fundamental mission of the Samford Commons is to create a place where new possibilities are nurtured that enable its residents to build a sustainable and resilient future. Multiple focus groups form innovative projects that showcase sustainable living, and one fine example is Millen Farm.
Since the appointment of farmer, Arran Heideman, Millen Farm provides a vehicle for urban farming education through workshops in permaculture, aquaponics, organic farming, poultry and bee keeping. As Mr Heideman commented, “Farming is becoming a thing of the past whereas it should be a thing of the future. Millen Farm will contribute to this future; demonstrate a better way of producing local food; educate the community on sustainable farming practices, and act as a training ground for young farmers. It is a way of re-establishing the worth of the farmer in our society.” An adjacent community garden is also in the pipeline. Samford Village members meet here to garden, to yarn about their patch or the season, swap their produce, or do some shopping at the weekly farmer’s market.
The Samford Commons unique School of Sustainability has become its classroom without boundaries. The ESTEAM programs: Entrepreneurs, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, lie at the core of its offerings. In addition, Millen Farm, learning trails, an arts precinct, festivals and the new Community Library all feed into this. Local schools are participating and are now part of a consortium of community members, business people and organizations.
A quiet nook at the Community Library
The recently opened stage one of the Community Library is available for sharing donated resources in a comfortable space for study and reading. Staffed by local volunteers, it occupies several rooms in the Blue Hut and has space for small group meetings and discussions. The Samford Writers’ Group meets here for its monthly meetings while folks gather to swap or borrow books, have a chat, or listen to story time.
Many interesting topics have yet to be explored so a visit to the Samford Commons home page on the web will provide further information. Across the top are a row of tabs and of special interest are the Education Topics featured under the Learn and Grow tab. Peter Storer has beautifully photographed a gallery of flora and fauna found throughout the Samford Valley. With all these local opportunities available to the residents of Samford Village, our community has become a great place in which to live.
That is cool 🙂
Thank you, Joshi.
amen to all that. Aren’t we blessed.
Yes, we are blessed in many ways. I particularly appreciate the community library, as books seem to get more and more expensive. There is a great selection here to browse through.
Sounds such a lovely community. I like the sign which asks “Are you a Commoner?” Such a good word, Commoner.
Thank you, Gallivanta for leaving your comment. There has been such a fine inclusion of the Commons Library for free books to be swapped or taken away for a good, quiet read. The urban agriculture focus has also been a great boon for our little community. Wonderful, what groups of commoners can achieve when they get together.
I would like to share something really amazing with you ! I recently stumbled upon a cool new project called “Natures” on planting Paulownia trees.
Check them out:
https://www.facebook.com/standforgreen/
#Standforgreen
Thank you, Liam. This is a beautiful site.