Why the Sandbox Acre?

The world is changing, and uncertainty will always be part of our future. We believe resilience comes from preparing today — securing some basic needs, learning new skills and creating multiple ways to support ourselves and our community.

The Sandbox Acre puts this idea into practice.

While the remaining 19 acres stay productive through collaboration with local farmers, we are using one acre as a real-world innovation laboratory to develop a smart, perennial food forest.

The goal is to produce food for people while exploring whether suitable crops and by-products can also provide useful resources or supplementary feed for neighbouring farms. 

Future produce could support our own needs, direct-to-customer subscriptions, local businesses or charities, creating both food security and new sources of small-business revenue.

We don't know exactly what will work — and that's the point.

We will experiment, measure and learn, exploring what grows well, what people value, what can be produced sustainably and how technology can make small-scale farming more productive and resilient.

Our vision is simple: create more options for the future — for food, income, local farmers and the wider community.

What have we done so far?

🟢 October 2025 — 20 Acres Acquired

Roar Forever acquired 20 acres in Raglan, Victoria, providing the foundation for the Raglan Smart Farm project. Checking it out after settlement!

🟢 March 2026 — Sandbox Acre Designed

The first one-acre concept was developed, combining food production, water, solar, poultry, aquaculture and smart technology.

The orchard trees finalized in O1 are:

• Chestnut — CH1
• Mulberry — MUL1
• Walnut — WAL1
• Cherry — CHR1
• Fig — F1a, F1b, F1c, F1d
• Plum — PL1, PL2, PL3
• Persimmon — PE1
• Apricot — AP1
• Apple — A1 to A6
• Pear — P1, P2, P3
• Hazelnut — HZ1, HZ2
• Quince — Q1

And outside the main orchard block, near the utility pocket, we are also keeping:

• Dwarf citrus — CIT1, CIT2
• Banana — B1, B2

🟢 April 2026 — Remote Monitoring

The first off-grid remote camera system was installed, providing live visibility of the property and establishing the foundation for future smart-farm systems.

📸 First live image from the paddock:

And first timelapse is below - watch the full playlist to checkout more content

🟢 May 2026 — Roar Forever Observatory

The Sandbox Acre is also a place to experiment with remote operatable telescope to capture beautiful Victorian night sky. The first experiments with remote astronomy and astrophotography began using a Seestar S30 Pro smart telescope. 

We captured, a timelapse of smallest full moon of 2026 - Rare Blue Moon!

If you are interested in a Seestar telescopes, you can support this project and save on your purchase by using our affiliate code ROARFOREVERSTUDIOS at checkout.

🟢 June 2026 — Council Engagement & POC Planning

During June, a pre-application meeting was held with the local council to discuss the long-term Smart Farm vision. The meeting provided valuable planning guidance, helping identify key planning considerations before significant design or planning expenditure is committed.

Based on this feedback, the project will continue with an agriculture-first staged approach, with the immediate focus on planning and developing the 1-acre Smart Farm Proof of Concept (POC) - The Sandbox Acre.

Technology trials also continued during June, including evaluation of the remote monitoring system, satellite internet and off-grid power system ahead of their planned deployment on the property.

Discussions are also underway with local farmers regarding ongoing agricultural production across the remaining 19 acres, complementing the staged development of the Smart Farm POC.

🟢 August 2026 — Dam Cleanup

Too easy! We had a top-notch local farmer pitch in and help us sort out the dam cleanup. Getting this water infrastructure squared away is a massive win for the project and has us stoked for the next stages!

What next?

We'll begin with the shed. Once that is in place, we'll progressively add water storage and irrigation, growing infrastructure, solar power, remote monitoring and other smart-farm systems.

We'll keep adding, testing and improving — bringing more of the Sandbox Acre to life, one step at a time.

So much to do, see the draft below - scary! Need help!