The grassroots community organisation is around half way through it's massive six month series of 70 workshops, events and talks to inspire and teach ways to lead a sustainable lifestyle.

For Blampied local Mara Ripani, the motivation comes in accessing a rich quality of life that is the antidote to consumerism.

"Gratification comes in these practices, whether it is fermenting, learning about your soil or growing beautiful vegetables," she said.

Ms Ripani hosted a vegetable fermenting workshop as part of the education series that sold out to 35 attendees on January 19.

She will return to Food Is Free to host a workshop on backyard chickens on February 23.

Ms Ripani said the upcoming workshop was an opportunity for community members to learn how to best look after chickens, whether it be at a large property or an inner city unit with a courtyard.

"The possibility of having chickens in your backyard is very high," she said.

"You don't need very much room and it is very easy to keep them but there are good ways of looking after them and bad ways of looking after them and I think sometimes backyard chicken gardeners forget to look after their chickens really well.

"Chickens have to be kept very interested. They are very dynamic creatures and don't like to be bored. It is not so much about size but it is about quality of size and what you are providing for them in a small space."

Ms Ripani is also behind Village Dreaming, a 15 acre farm in Blampied built to educate visitors on how to establish their own kitchen garden and how to make the most from their harvest.

She said she was passionate about educating others to be skilled in self-sustainability because she wanted to share the joy and connection to place she had experienced.

"The permaculture movement is reminding people how deeply exciting life is outside of that spending, consumer culture - having chickens, growing vegetables, making your own food and creating a home that is really vibrant and interesting, rather than eating at your local fast food joint," Ms Ripani said.

More than 500 people have attended Food is Free workshops since they began in October.

READ MORE: Food Is Free begins massive workshop series on gardening, food and lifestyle

Food Is Free founder Lou Ridsdale said she was hoping that number would more than double by the end of the workshop series.

"It has been really gratifying to see how the community has taken up the workshops," she said.

"The aim was to have diversity and hopefully have something for everyone; whether you come in from a basic level or you want to learn more.

"We want to keep showing people how easy and fun it is to live a self-sufficient lifestyle but also give people the tips and tricks on how to do it and do it in a fun and meaningful way."

Upcoming workshops include Little Sprout's children's gardening, botanic art drawing and worm farming, with a number of twilight talks and film nights on the schedule.

Visit Eventbrite or the Food is Free Facebook page to see the full list of workshops and to purchase tickets.

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