THE CONSTANT GARDENER

For well over a century and a half, Victoria’s rural Bellarine Peninsula has been noted for its orchards, farms and vineyards. These days it’s enjoying something of a renaissance as a food destination with not only new restaurants springing up but also enterprises such as Encompass Community Services’ innovative farm in Leopold, gateway to the Bellarine.

Known simply as The Paddock, the farm is a not-for-profit project designed to engage people with physical, intellectual and psychological disabilities and train them for future employment.

The manager of the 3ha property, comprising kitchen garden, accessible gardens, orchard and fruit-growing fields, is Chris Evans (pictured opposite) who, like many of us, took a roundabout route to arrive at the job he loves.

Originally a tiler, he “got sick of that” and decided to study horticulture at Gordon Institute.