"We were looking for something different," Maguire says. "We thought about a hobby farm to change our lifestyle and then we thought 'we don't have these skills. We don't know animal husbandry or how to grow food, we need to keep our jobs'."

She and her husband work in media. Together they have two children.

Once she found Shepherds Ground, she realised it was exactly the concept she was looking for. Located in Butterwick, near Woodvillle, the project aims to build a rural village of homes and a farm on 200-plus acres for sustainable food production.

Everyone who lives at Shepherds Ground works on the farm plan to determine how they share the land. It operates on a case-by-case basis; for example if someone wants pigs they put in a proposal about space, fencing and water sources. It's the same from cabbage to cows.

Currently Shepherds Ground has plans for 27 houses in total with additional plans for two share houses to potentially facilitate older people, farmers or student accommodation. The Maguires' was the fifth house built on the land. Six homes are complete. Four more are being constructed.

Maguire is interested in beekeeping, and she has neighbours she can learn from. Members contribute a few hours a month toward the farm and village and that can be maintenance, upkeep, tree planting and environment or company administration. For instance Maguire is on the board.

"There's different people doing different things," Maguire says. "Ultimately, we're trying to create a village economy, swapping and exchanging skills, even if its skills that don't relate to the farm."

(She also has some chickens and is interested in growing and showing people the benefits of industrial hemp.)

They built the four-bedroom, two-bathroom house with the help of her family and the Shepherds Ground community. It's an off grid hempcrete home, with lots of recycled hardwood and secondhand items like doors and furniture.

Melbourne architect Greg Burgess designed the masterplan for the village and designed some of some of the houses (the Maguires had free access to the plans). People use it as a template and rework it, saving money and time. All the designs lend themselves to hemp construction. The Maguires tweaked theirs with the help of a local architect.

Goodwood Constructions built the frame, and Hudson Doyle of Hemp Lime Constructions came on to build his first hemp house.

"In terms of the material itself, it's got great sustainability benefits. Hemp sequesters a huge amount of carbon. That carbon is locked up in the hemp in the building. Hempcrete offers really great insulation and reduces energy consumption long term," Doyle says. "In terms of building health, hempcrete is a breathable material which helps to regulate the humidity in the building. It creates a healthy internal atmosphere, reducing molds and funguses."

To make hempcrete, he mixes the hemp shiv (the woody material from the interior core of the plant) with lime and casts with mold. The hemp for the Maguires' house was grown in the Hunter Valley. The lime was imported from established hempcrete makers in France.

Before they moved in, the Maguires lived down the road from Shepherds Ground. They started building their house in September 2019. They moved in at the height of COVID as their work had momentarily dried up. It seemed like a good time to work on the home. The kids had a 277-acre-playground to occupy them while school was closed.

They brought everything from where they were living before, but they'd already downsized and were working towards a waste free lifestyle. The house, like the other properties, is completely off grid. It's a rainwater home with solar power and composting toilets.

"It was a massive change for all of us," Maguire says. "The kids love it. We all love it, but they embrace it wholeheartedly. It's such a great lifestyle for them, instead of a backyard, they come home every day and have access to the acres and swim in the dam. They can ride their bikes and build mountain bike tracks, plus there are other children."