Calendar of once-off events
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
Menu: BBQ and salad.
Cook Indian by the creek came into existence with the idea of breaking the myth that Indian cooking is complex and difficult to nail. In each session, they will share their traditional recipes and go through the step by step cooking process. The classes are held in a private kitchen.
Create six animal cupcakes with Jess, from Norma Rose Cakes, and learn how to colour buttercream icing, rolling fondant and cutting fondant shapes. Suitable for children 5+.
Registration by phone (9716 3361) or email.
Create six animal cupcakes with Jess, from Norma Rose Cakes, and learn how to colour buttercream icing, rolling fondant and cutting fondant shapes. Suitable for children 5+.
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.
Louise will lead you through the techniques and importance of incorporating good gut health into your diet. You will sample and learn how to make fermented foods such as pickling, exploring the art of fermenting your own vegetables, and how to easily introduce these and other fermented foods such as miso into your diet for better gut health. After the class, enjoy a guided Edible Forest tour.
A behind-the-scenes tour of the 10 step chocolate making process at Ratio Cocoa Roasters. Followed by a guided chocolate tasting.
Tasting plate can be adapted to non dairy / vegan, please advise on arrival.
What you will learn:
- How to preserve fruit and vegetables for use in the future.
- How to bottle preserves.
- The selection and sterilisation of jars.
Join Lucy Marasco to learn the basics of preserving, including the importance of sterilisation techniques, as well as the opportunity to try out some traditional and modern preserving recipes.
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.
Learn the fundamentals of preserving vegetables as pickles or lactoferments. Michelle Hegarty will guide you through the fundamentals of pickle making whilst making pickles for the Home Harvest Picnic. Marina Bistrin will teach you about lactofermentation and its health benefits whilst making sauerkraut for the Home Harvest Picnic.
Go for the full day or just for the morning or afternoon.
A light lunch will be provided and participants will also receive a free gift of an Eltham Farmers’ Market shopping bag.
Take two 150-200ml jars with corrosion-free lids for your take home samples, your favourite knife, an apron and closed shoes.
They will cover how to select the right system for your home and common problems. To help put your knowledge into practice, you will visit the worm farms on site at Kathleen Syme and do a health check on those systems.
This festival is on Saturday, 1st February, 11am-8pm and Sunday, 2nd February, 11am-5pm.
Brewers Feast is a boutique craft beer and food festival, made by beer and food lovers for beer and food lovers. It will feature around 30 breweries (including cider, wine and gin as well as beer). There will also be food and live music.
Throughout the day, there will be craft beer education classes, exploring the tastes and flavours of beer pairing with food, cheese, confectionery and other foods. Enjoy free samples while learning more about your beer.
Unpack the mysteries of hive architecture, lean to build your own equipment, and get expert advice on using beekeeping tools. The topics to be covered will include:
- The pros and cons of different hive styles such as top bar, Warre’, Langstroth and poly.
- Different foundation styles and how to use them.
- How to assemble Langstroth beehive boxes and frames.
- Swarm bait hives/rescue boxes/nucleus hives.
- How and to use beekeeping tools like wiring jigs, frame making and painting jigs.
Led by Benedict Hughes. Participants will get to take home their first assembled and wired beehive frame.
A behind-the-scenes tour of the 10 step chocolate making process at Ratio Cocoa Roasters. Followed by a guided chocolate tasting.
Tasting plate can be adapted to non dairy / vegan, please advise on arrival.
What you will learn:
- How to make a Danish dark rye wholegrain loaf of bread.
- Understand the timeline and stages to create the bread with minimal effort.
- How to make and care for an authentic Danish style sourdough starter cult.
What you will get:
- Recipe and workshop notes.
- Sourdough culture to care for.
- Dough for two loaves of bread.
- A discount on a professional quality bread tin.
Facilitator: Ninna Katrine. This workshop will teach you the secret to caring for your sourdough starter and walk you through the process of baking your own wholegrain dark rye loaf. This popular Northern European style bread is difficult to source in Melbourne, so why not bake your own.
Participants will be limited to 8 to maintain an informal interactive format.
A worm farm can be one of the best ways to dispose of food scraps and, at the same time, produce vermi-juice (worm tea) and vermicast (worm castings) for use on the garden. Learn how to set up a worm farm and the easiest methods to manage and care for these most hard-working of creatures.
This workshop will cover both the theory and practice of worm farming in a household setting. It will be useful for those wishing to recycle household food waste in order to produce worm products for use in the improvement of soil in gardens and pot plants.
Discounted worm farms will be available for sale on the day.
This festival is on Saturday, 1st February, 11am-8pm and Sunday, 2nd February, 11am-5pm.
Brewers Feast is a boutique craft beer and food festival, made by beer and food lovers for beer and food lovers. It will feature around 30 breweries (including cider, wine and gin as well as beer). There will also be food and live music.
Throughout the day, there will be craft beer education classes, exploring the tastes and flavours of beer pairing with food, cheese, confectionery and other foods. Enjoy free samples while learning more about your beer.
What you will learn:
- When to prune common fruit tree varieties.
- How summer pruning differs from winter pruning.
- Pruning techniques to promote fruiting and tree health.
Presenter: Paul Gale-Baker from Macleod Organic Community Garden.
Learn how to do all your kitchen basics including butter, nut butter, almond milk, cheese and bread.
The food trucks offering vegan food who sometimes attend include: Bomba Wood Fired Pizza; Curry Up Now; Lady Rawsome; Paper Plains Food Truck; Pierogi Pierogi; Super Taco;Taitas Falafels; The Real Jerk Food Truck; Vegilicious; Von’s Vegan Bake House; Woking Amazing; and YAY foods. See their Facebook page for the specific list of trucks on a particular day.
You will learn how to make your own yoghurt, kefir and kombucha. Have some fun and experiment with soft kefir cheese and gut healthy fizzy drinks. Conclude the class with a guided tour of the Edible Forest. Optional extra: purchase a kombucha pack for $25 to take home and continue your fermentation; the pack includes a 1 litre jar, flip top bottle, gut health book and muslin cloth.
What you will learn:
- The A-Z of growing native fruit.
- Handy hints and tips from an experienced native fruit grower.
- When to harvest native fruit, and different ways to use it.
Presented by Karen Sutherland, of Edible Eden Design. Native produce plants – or bush food – are becoming increasingly popular. Whilst many native fruits can’t be grown in Melbourne, some can. You’ll learn how to grow, harvest and use such fruit, with a particular focus on what can be grown in pots.
In recognition of World Cancer Day, find out about the importance of nutrition and your gut health. Are you what you eat?
Every Friday for 9 weeks.
This 9-week hands-on course is ideal for people considering a career in horticulture. No prior experience is necessary.
Working as a team with fellow participants, you will gain a broad overview and practical, hands-on experience such topics as:
- Introduction to plant recognition.
- Propagation.
- Planting.
- Soil properties.
- Environmentally sustainable work practices.
- Career pathways/further study in the horticulture industry.
You will spend a lot of time outdoors (getting your hands dirty!), along with some time in the classroom learning basic theory and exploring study pathways.
The course will be run by Justin Calverley.
A behind-the-scenes tour of the 10 step chocolate making process at Ratio Cocoa Roasters. Followed by a guided chocolate tasting.
Tasting plate can be adapted to non dairy / vegan, please advise on arrival.
What you will learn:
- How to get started with backyard beekeeping.
- How to maintain a healthy hive, the wonders of swarms and how to keep them in check.
Led by Benedict Hughes. Topics to be covered include: the biology of a bee hive; how to maintain a healthy hive; and how to extract honey. Weather permitting, they will open a hive and have a hands-on demonstration.
Join Elley Chan as she takes you through the process of making dumplings, including creating delicate dumpling dough, flavourful fillings and how to pleat & fold.
This workshop will help you identify different insects in your veggie patch, undertake surveillance for these insects, and identify insect pests that pose a threat to your produce. There will be presentations from AUSVEG and Agriculture Victoria, and a garden walkthrough (if weather permits). The workshop will be followed by light refreshments.
Brought to you by Local Food Connect (LFC) and North East Ranges Permaculture (NERP).
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.
This fair is all about showcasing local businesses and community groups that support the residents to live more sustainable lives. Shopping local is both good for the environment, as you reduce the energy required to transport and often package a product, but it also bolsters our economy and supports local families.
There will be market stalls, plants for sale, live music, kids activities, food vans and guest speakers. The stalls will include local community and environment groups, plus sales of handmade wares, second hand clothes, upcycled items and re-usable items. The speakers will speak on tiny homes, green homes, solar and wayapa wuurrk.
Facilitated by Kelly Meredith from Under The Pickle Tree. Learn how to make and store homemade roasted rice powder, essential in Thai salads; how to make Thai chilli jam from scratch; and how to smoke poultry using a bamboo steamer.
Menu: daikon and quail egg salad; poached prawn salad; and Thai pork and eggplant salad.
What you will learn:
- The fundamentals of fermenting milk.
- Coagulating milk using both starter cultures and rennet.
- Cutting, draining and moulding curds.
What you will get:
- Recipes and notes.
- A tasting of the cheeses made.
- A 20% discount on cheesemaking kits and equipment.
Presenter: Jacqueline Bender.
The EZ Veggie cooking group will show you how to make tasty, healthy, vegetarian dishes and will offer tastings during the session.
Registration essential.
This is a two-session workshop, with the two sessions being on Tuesday, 11th February and Tuesday, 18th February, both 6.30-8.30pm.
Tutor Taariq Hassan. Learn how to cook a healthy North West Indian vegetarian meal from scratch using authentic ingredients.
Menu for the first session: daal (spiced lentil stew); raita (seasoned yoghurt based dip with chopped salad vegetables); and muttar chaaval (basmati rice boiled with peas).
Learn how to make your own kombucha (a fermented probiotic drink). This workshop will cover the history of kombucha, how to make it, what can go wrong and why. You will also learn about the health benefits, such as the detoxifying and anti-inflammatory effects. Includes tasting of some flavoured Kombucha and comprehensive instruction handout. On the night, you can buy your very own ‘scoby’ with starter tea, for $30 (cash only), so you can get started brewing at home.
You will learn how to make your own yoghurt, kefir and kombucha. Have some fun and experiment with soft kefir cheese and gut healthy fizzy drinks. Conclude the class with a guided tour of the Edible Forest. Optional extra: purchase a kombucha pack for $25 to take home and continue your fermentation; the pack includes a 1 litre jar, flip top bottle, gut health book and muslin cloth.
Join Heide gardeners David, Katie and Alice as they discuss the history and working cycle of the two kitchen gardens at Heide. Includes a produce-inspired tasting and glass of wine.
Cade will teach you how to prepare, mince and cook tomatoes as well as safely bottle and pasteurise so that the sauce will be safely kept under vacuum for up to a year.
Registrations essential.
Learn to prepare simple meals with other blokes under Pieter’s guidance. Enjoy a shared meal and conversation to finish the session.
A behind-the-scenes tour of the 10 step chocolate making process at Ratio Cocoa Roasters. Followed by a guided chocolate tasting.
Tasting plate can be adapted to non dairy / vegan, please advise on arrival.
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.