Local food-related events

Transition Thrive Training, Saturday and Sunday, July 26 & 27

A two-day interactive workshop, 9.15am for a 9.30 start to 5.30pm, Banyule Community Health, 21 Alamein Road, Heidelberg West. Bookings are essential, call Margot on 9432 4200.

Sustainable Macleod

The idea of the evening is to get together for some food and fun and chat about what to do in the next year apart from the veggie swap. Bring along some food to share at a pot luck dinner, 6:30pm, Monday July 28, 5 Fairlea Avenue, Macleod.

Thrive Community Garden, Diamond Creek

This Sunday, 27th of July, at 12 noon, please come along to the first working bee and picnic bbq on site at 31 Watkins Street. They are planning to build a few compost bins and spend some time mapping out where earthworks need to happen. There will also be a celebration of a $2000 grant received from Nillumbik Shire Council.

All Nations food forest planting day

Celebrate National Tree Day by attending and helping to plant trees at All Nations Park in Separation Street, Northcote, opposite Santa Maria College, this Sunday July 27, 1-4pm. Learn about different varieties of medicinal plants and fruit trees and how to plant them. For more information, contact Jules Martin on (03) 8470 8435 or jules.martin@darebin.vic.gov.au.

Edible workshops at BAAG

• Saturday, 26 July – Grafting fruit trees.
• Sunday, 27 July – Winter fruit tree maintenance.
• Tuesday, 29 July – Gardening in schools professional development.
• Saturday, 2 August – Successfully growing edibles by seed.
• Sunday, 3 August – Backyard berries and vines.
• Thursday, 21 August – Log-grown shiitake mushrooms.
• Sunday, 24 August – Build a small water garden.
• Saturday, 30 August – Preserving with citrus.
• Saturday, 30 August – Veggie gardening for absolute beginners.
• Sunday, 31 August – Bush foods: grow and cook.

For more information see their website.

Other food activities/information

Kimchi

Here is a comment from a participant of a recent workshop showing how to make kimchi.

“Kimchi takes a lot of chopping of different ingredients- much more complex than sauerkraut (and pre-soaking in salty water overnight) and it is much less salty than sauerkraut so am hoping it pickles in the right way and doesn’t go off.”

One for October section of your diary

The popular On the Hill festival is being held on Sunday 26 October 2014 with Made on the Hill celebrating all things created and produced locally! The theme for 2014 is ‘characters and imaginary creatures’. The following categories may appeal to Local Food Connect folk:

• Fresh produce – edible fruit, eggs and vegetables.
• Baking to the ‘characters and imaginary creatures’ theme – decorated cakes, sponges or biscuits etc.
• Baking general – cakes, slices, biscuits, tarts and pies.
• Preserves – jams, sauces, fruit, pickles, relish, liqueurs etc.

Local food-related events

Local SGA POD activity

Montsalvat, Eltham and fruit tree maintenance, Sunday July 13. Head gardener Jo Douglas will share some of her gardening knowledge and some of the Montsalvat gardens’ stories with members of the group. Come prepared to move some mulch and prune some fruit trees. RSVP meredith@baag.com.au or phone 9439 8750.

Bellfield Community Garden

In it’s recent budget, Banyule City Council has formally approved $40,000 of funding to establish the Bellfield Community Garden on Oriel Road (opposite Ford Park, near the corner of Banksia Street). Some fencing and watertanks might appear soon. If you want to be involved, hold a plot, or just hear what’s going on, send an e-mail to bellfieldcommunitygarden@gmail.com

Bulleen Art & Garden food gardening classes

Check out the many classes for July and August here.

Eltham Farmers’ Market is on this Sunday July 13, 9am – 1pm

There are lots of activities happening (aside from being able to purchase good fresh food!). Pete the Permie will be giving a grafting demonstration and will have rootstock for sale; chef Bek McMillan from Gourmet Living Fine Foods, Templestowe will be giving a pasta cooking demonstration; and Pablo Naranjo will play classical guitar. For more details, see the Farmers’ Market page. The new Monty Community Group Gardening Almanac will be for sale at the LFC stall for $5. It is beautifully presented with very helpful and local information.

We are looking for more volunteers to help at the LFC stall at future markets. The normal time slots are 9-11am and 11am-1pm, but can be flexible. If interested, please contact Fay at fay.loveland@gmail.com or phone 0405 790150.

Local Food Connect AGM

Details of this event will be forthcoming soon. In the meantime, if you would like to be more active in the group, there are several roles on committee that may interest you – president, vice president, secretary, LFC News writer and Food Swap coordinator, as well as event organiser, displays creator, photographer, schools link, small business link, fund raisers, cooks, growers and so on.

There are several projects well and truly happening – food swaps, farmers’ market, planter box establishment, website, facebook page and the local food directory, all of which, of course, need support. Join LFC now to be able to vote or join the committee.