About

Wagtail Urban Farm is South Australia’s own microscale market garden.

We’re located on half a house block in Mitchell Park, less than 10kms from Adelaide’s city centre.

The place is run by me – Steven Hoepfner – plus a small core team of workers and a dynamic group of volunteers.

We focus on hands-on education and delivering the freshest and most nutrient-dense veggies to our local community.

At our peak production, we grow enough fresh produce to feed eight families a week.

I first started working on the Wagtail block in late 2012. In June 2013, I was joined by Brett Young and Nat Wiseman. That’s when the farm got its name – after Nat noted the old willie wagtail always hanging around.

A couple years later, Nat moved on to form the excellent Village Greens of Willunga Creek one-acre market garden, a much larger space than we have here at Wagtail.

Since then, we’ve been lucky to have multiple sets of hands help keep stewarding little Waggie along.

As for me personally, I started growing stuff in 2010 when I accidentally spilt some birdseed on my lawn in a rental unit on the Gold Coast and corn seeds sprouted from the mishap.

Two decades on, I still get a kick out of every seed that germinates. There’s a pure joy in witnessing that transformation and then knowing the food is nourishing people’s bodies and lives.

I heard someone say once: “Be who you needed when you were younger.”

This is the dream for Wagtail. To be there, gates open, for anyone that needs help growing their own food.