The Testing Grounds are located next to the Arts Centre in Melbourne. Photo courtesy of Josh Robenstone.
On Sunday night, I was fortunate enough to join 49 other growers at The Melbourne Growers’ Feast, at the Testing Grounds in Southbank.
The event was organised by Grow It Local as part of the Sustainable Living Festival.
Vanessa from Pope Joan had only 24 hours to plan and prepare the feast. Photo courtesy of Josh Robenstone.
The Grow it Local Melbourne campaign began in January, when they distributed 500 packs of Diggers Seeds to encourage backyard, balcony, windowsill and community gardeners.
Growers were encouraged to add their patch to the Grow It Local Website. Fifty of the most, creative, enthusiastic and ingenious small space farmers, were selected to drop-off their produce, at one of three locations on Harvest day. This produce was supplemented using Grown & Gathered’s locally grown produce.
Within just 24 hours, chef-extraordinaire Vanessa Mateus from Pope Joan did a sterling job of planning and turning the home-grown contributions into the Local Growers’ Feast.
Costa’s “Philosophical Pep Talk” was very inspiring. Photo courtesy of Josh Robenstone.
The menu was extensive, and as you’d expect tomatoes and zucchinis featured heavily. Our favourites were the Broken Figs with Passionfruit, Cucumber, Feta and Mint, and also the Rhubarb and Berry Tarts.
A few glasses of Good Brew’s Kombucha was a delicious accompaniment to the meal.
Costa Georgiadis gave us all quite an inspirational “Philosophical Pep Talk”. He encouraged us to inspire our friends, family and neighbours by sharing our growing stories with them.
Congratulations to Grow it Local and the Sustainable Living Festival for organising such a successful evening. Well done, and thank you to all the fantastic growers, who generously donated their produce for the feast.
