Calendar of once-off events
Given the current coronavirus crisis, it is unlikely that many, if any, of these events will actually be happening.
View calendars for specific types of event:
All events All once-off events (Cooking, Everything else, Free) Community gardens Food swaps Free meals Markets Farmers’ markets Garden clubs
What you will learn:
- The basics to successfully start fermenting vegetables at home.
- Ideas about creating your own fermented condiments.
- How to use fermented products in day to day life.
What you will get:
- Two jars of vegetables that you will prepare in class and take home to ferment.
- Samples of fermented products to taste in class.
- Notes and recipes.
Presenter: Monique.
What you will learn:
- How to create kitchen gardens.
- More about sustainability.
- How to design your own edible garden.
Presenter: Carol. Learn where to start, challenges, rewards, educational benefits and financial sustainability. This workshop would benefit those schools and other groups looking to create edible kitchen gardens for multi use.
What you will learn:
- How to make your own triple cream brie and gourmet feta cheeses.
- How to make ricotta cheese.
- About different cheeses.
Presenters: Janet Clayton and Charlene Angus from Cheeselinks.
Take along your composting, worm farming and food waste recycling questions.
What you will learn:
- Ways to create and look after your own Sourdough starter culture, flour to use for the best nutrition and results.
- Ways to knead sticky high hydration dough for a more authentic sourdough loaf, equipment needed to produce a great looking and tasting sourdough tin loaf at home.
- Ways to bake sourdough bread using a bread tin in a home oven, bread dough looks and feels like at its various stages of preparation and development.
What you will get:
- Comprehensive workshop notes.
- Sourdough starter culture.
- A discount on a professional quality bread tin.
Join Rick of The Life We Want as he demonstrates this age old process and introduces you to the equipment and skills required to get started baking at home.
Participants will be limited to 8 to maintain an informal interactive format.
What you will learn:
- How to make your own bread.
- How to make your own handmade pizzas.
- More about sourdough.
What you will learn:
- Handmade pizzas for lunch.
- Your own bread to take home and some leaven.
- Recipes.
Presenter: Ken Hercott.
Presenter: Lauren Kaszubski. Topics to be covered will include: how to reduce your waste, 4Rs; e-waste & life cycle analysis; organic recycling & food waste; simple actions, big impacts; litter and plastics; waste campaigns and actions; how to teach about waste; and create your own waste education activity.
Each course is 14 sessions over a period of a few months.
Presenters: Justin Calverley and Donna Livermore. The topics to be covered will include: permaculture, chook care, bee keeping, propagating, seed saving and community gardens.
What you will learn:
- Ways to create and look after your own Sourdough starter culture, flour to use for the best nutrition and results.
- Ways to knead sticky high hydration dough for a more authentic sourdough loaf, equipment needed to produce a great looking and tasting sourdough tin loaf at home.
- Ways to bake sourdough bread using a bread tin in a home oven, bread dough looks and feels like at its various stages of preparation and development.
What you will get:
- Comprehensive workshop notes.
- Sourdough starter culture.
- A discount on a professional quality bread tin.
Join Rick of The Life We Want as he demonstrates this age old process and introduces you to the equipment and skills required to get started baking at home.
Participants will be limited to 8 to maintain an informal interactive format.
This workshop will help you to reduce food waste at home. You will cook a vegetarian lunch together and learn to save money, get creative with veggies, be more adaptable in the kitchen, and learn about the wonders of compost.
If you are not able to attend the workshop in the morning, you are welcome to share a free lunch with them afterwards at 1pm.
A behind-the-scenes tour of the 10 step chocolate making process at Ratio Cocoa Roasters. Followed by a guided chocolate tasting. Then make your own milk or dark truffles with a selection of toppings.
A behind-the-scenes tour of the 10 step chocolate making process at Ratio Cocoa Roasters. Followed by a guided chocolate tasting. Then make your own milk or dark truffles with a selection of toppings. Then learn how to make vanilla marshmallow and create snowman hot chocolates in a jar. Finally, design your own inclusion chocolate bars from a selection of around 25 sweet or savoury toppings.
What you will learn:
- How to make your own fetta and haloumi cheese.
- How to make ricotta cheese.
- About different cheeses.
Presenters: Janet Clayton and Charlene Angus from Cheeselinks.
This is a two session hands-on workshop designed for the beginner veggie gardener. The two sessions are on Sunday 6th September and Sunday, 13th September, both 10am-3pm.
What you will learn:
- How to get the most from your garden and have an abundance of vegetables, fruits and herbs.
- Insights into seasonal produce growing.
- The skills and knowledge to create an abundant and productive garden.
Presenter: Donna Livermore.
What you will learn:
- What is biodiversity and why preserve it.
- How to measure habitat quality.
- Nature connection activities.
Presenters: Lorna Pettifer and Chris Ennis.
Each course is 14 sessions over a period of a few months.
Presenters: Justin Calverley and Donna Livermore. The topics to be covered will include: permaculture, chook care, bee keeping, propagating, seed saving and community gardens.
A two-day event on 12th and 13th September by the Australian Plants Society – Yarra Yarra. Sales of native & indigenous plants, books on related subjects, native flower displays, environmental displays, talks, demonstrations, workshops, giftware and refreshments.
The plant sellers are likely to include APS Yarra Yarra growers, Friends of Melton Botanic Gardens nursery, Goldfields Revegetation nursery, La Trobe Wildlife Sanctuary nursery, Natural Plantscape nursery, Sunvalley Plants Nursery and Vaughan’s Australian Plants.
What you will learn:
- How to work with seasonal ingredients and improve your culinary skills.
- About raw food fundamentals.
- About the dehydration process.
Presenter: Emma. In the workshop, you will: make savoury dishes; make sweet treats; eat a raw food lunch; and take home some sweet treats, recipes and notes.
What you will learn:
- Ways to create and look after your own Sourdough starter culture, flour to use for the best nutrition and results.
- Ways to knead sticky high hydration dough for a more authentic sourdough loaf, equipment needed to produce a great looking and tasting sourdough tin loaf at home.
- Ways to bake sourdough bread using a bread tin in a home oven, bread dough looks and feels like at its various stages of preparation and development.
What you will get:
- Comprehensive workshop notes.
- Sourdough starter culture.
- A discount on a professional quality bread tin.
Join Rick of The Life We Want as he demonstrates this age old process and introduces you to the equipment and skills required to get started baking at home.
Participants will be limited to 8 to maintain an informal interactive format.
What you will learn:
- The basics to successfully start fermenting vegetables at home.
- Ideas about creating your own fermented condiments.
- How to use fermented products in day to day life.
What you will get:
- Two jars of vegetables that you will prepare in class and take home to ferment.
- Samples of fermented products to taste in class.
- Notes and recipes.
Presenter: Monique.
The two days are Saturday 19th September and Sunday, 20th September, both 10am-3pm.
What you will learn:
- How to construct a wicking bed.
- An understanding of capillary action.
- Plants most suitable for wicking beds.
Presenter: Darren. This is both a practical and a theoretical course.
What you will learn:
- How to make your own bread.
- How to make your own handmade pizzas.
- More about sourdough.
What you will learn:
- Handmade pizzas for lunch.
- Your own bread to take home and some leaven.
- Recipes.
Presenter: Ken Hercott.
Presenter: Benedict Hughes. This workshop will provides you with an insight into the skills and experience required to safely and effectively manipulate a bee hive. Topics to be discussed will include: protective clothing and occupational health and safety; hive components and assembly; bee biology and seasonal management; legislation; diseases and pests of bees; extracting honey; inspecting hive for disease; purchasing hives; and other products from the hive.
This course is designed for both those new to permaculture and those thinking of undertaking a Permaculture Design Certificate. The two sessions are on Thursday 1st October and Thursday, 8th October, both 10am-3pm.
What you will learn:
- The concept of permaculture.
- The principles of permaculture and associated design methods.
Presenter: Donna Livermore. There will be examples from tiny urban gardens to suburban and rural permaculture properties showing how we can create resilient, sustainable systems that work with nature and the natural limits of our planet.
What you will learn: how to identify edible weeds; and how do use them in your everyday life.
What you will get: detailed handouts; and samples in class of prepared edible weeds.
Presenter: Monique Miller. Learn about seasonal edible weeds that thrive in Melbourne inner north, and gain knowledge about the plants’ culinary, medicinal and ecological uses.
This workshop will help you to reduce food waste at home. You will cook a vegetarian lunch together and learn to save money, get creative with veggies, be more adaptable in the kitchen, and learn about the wonders of compost.
If you are not able to attend the workshop in the morning, you are welcome to share a free lunch with them afterwards at 1pm.
Your tour, led by Nathan Stewart, a professional Doreen-based beekeeper from Maya ‘Xala Honey, will include suiting up in protective gear, lighting a bee smoker, and spending two hours as real life beekeeper. Initially, Nathan will give you some tips on what to look for inside a hive including how to spot the Queen and where to look to potentially witness the birth of a new worker bee. Then, together you will lift the lid of a busy hive, watch bees at work creating honey, pull out a frame of honey ready for extraction, and get up close with more than 100,000 bees! After the lid is closed, you will sample some of the honey direct from the hives while enjoying a refreshing honey tonic.
A behind-the-scenes tour of the 10 step chocolate making process at Ratio Cocoa Roasters. Followed by a guided chocolate tasting. Then make your own milk or dark truffles with a selection of toppings.
A behind-the-scenes tour of the 10 step chocolate making process at Ratio Cocoa Roasters. Followed by a guided chocolate tasting. Then make your own milk or dark truffles with a selection of toppings. Then learn how to make vanilla marshmallow and create snowman hot chocolates in a jar. Finally, design your own inclusion chocolate bars from a selection of around 25 sweet or savoury toppings.
What you will learn:
- How to make your own goats cheese.
- How to make ricotta cheese.
- About different cheeses.
Presenters: Janet Clayton and Charlene Angus from Cheeselinks.
What you will learn:
- How to identify and harvest bush foods.
- How to grow and maintain bush foods in the home garden.
- How to incorporate bush foods into everyday recipes.
What you will get:
- Handouts and recipes.
- Lunch and afternoon tea.
Presenter: Belinda Kennedy. Tour the CERES bush food gardens, learn how to identify, grow and maintain a variety of local bush foods, gain knowledge of bush foods from further afar – tropical delights from the north, peppery spices form the south. During the workshop, you will learn how to incorporate bush foods into simple, tasty and nutritious meals, desserts and snacks. The group will make a bush food inspired lunch and afternoon tea – all food prepared on the day will be vegetarian and vegan friendly.
What you will learn:
- Foods which make your brain brighter.
- How to incorporate brain powering foods easily into your daily diet.
- Foods that can build and protect your gut microbiome and clear brain fog.
Presenter: Melanie Leeson, from Mettle + Grace. Learn how to create healthier versions of your old favourites. The dishes will be packed with nutritionally dense vegetables and all will be gluten and dairy free. The menu includes: vegan cream cheese; oat + mesquite crackers; beet sauerkraut; chickpea salad with orange tahini; coconut + turmeric pie; and miso puffed balls.
This workshop will introduce you to growing better quality, nutrient rich produce at home even if you only have a tiny growing space. It will include: selecting your crops; transforming your soil by focusing on the soil food web; an introduction to soil minerals & going beyond NPK; creating nutrient rich composts; fertilising your plants for maximum nutrition; and harvesting and preparing produce to maintain nutrients.
What you will learn:
- How to make your own bread.
- How to make your own handmade pizzas.
- More about sourdough.
What you will learn:
- Handmade pizzas for lunch.
- Your own bread to take home and some leaven.
- Recipes.
Presenter: Ken Hercott.
What you will learn:
- Ways to create and look after your own Sourdough starter culture, flour to use for the best nutrition and results.
- Ways to knead sticky high hydration dough for a more authentic sourdough loaf, equipment needed to produce a great looking and tasting sourdough tin loaf at home.
- Ways to bake sourdough bread using a bread tin in a home oven, bread dough looks and feels like at its various stages of preparation and development.
What you will get:
- Comprehensive workshop notes.
- Sourdough starter culture.
- A discount on a professional quality bread tin.
Join Rick of The Life We Want as he demonstrates this age old process and introduces you to the equipment and skills required to get started baking at home.
Participants will be limited to 8 to maintain an informal interactive format.
What you will learn:
- Choosing varieties.
- Garden set-up.
- Common problems.
Presenter: Carol Henderson. Topics to be covered include: how to choose which tomato varieties to grow; whether to grow from seed or seedling, in pots, raised beds or directly into soil; when and how to plant and tips for success; training growth with stakes, cages or string vs free range; pros and cons of pruning and how to do it; preventing common problems; feeding; and crop rotation.
Your tour, led by Nathan Stewart, a professional Doreen-based beekeeper from Maya ‘Xala Honey, will include suiting up in protective gear, lighting a bee smoker, and spending two hours as real life beekeeper. Initially, Nathan will give you some tips on what to look for inside a hive including how to spot the Queen and where to look to potentially witness the birth of a new worker bee. Then, together you will lift the lid of a busy hive, watch bees at work creating honey, pull out a frame of honey ready for extraction, and get up close with more than 100,000 bees! After the lid is closed, you will sample some of the honey direct from the hives while enjoying a refreshing honey tonic.
What you will learn:
- Indian cooking.
- Improved culinary skills.
What you will get:
- An Indian feast
- Recipes to take home.
Presenter: Aditi Daware.
Presenter: Benedict Hughes. This workshop will provides you with an insight into the skills and experience required to safely and effectively manipulate a bee hive. Topics to be discussed will include: protective clothing and occupational health and safety; hive components and assembly; bee biology and seasonal management; legislation; diseases and pests of bees; extracting honey; inspecting hive for disease; purchasing hives; and other products from the hive.
What you will learn:
- How to make and maintain their own beeswax wraps.
- Learn skills that are transferable to the home environment.
- Bundling techniques.
What you will get:
- Take home your beeswax wraps.
Presenter: Emma Grace. You will learn how to make and maintain their own beeswax wraps for keeping food fresh and hygienic without the use of single-use plastics such as cling-wrap. This is a hands-on workshop where participants will make their own washable and re-usable ready-to-use beeswax wraps.