A Locavore Party

Kim and I are celebrating 30 years of marriage this April. I am also turning 50! We decided that we'd celebrate this at Easter time, so that there was plenty of time for people to travel - my family is spread from Central Qld to Northern NSW, and Kim's is as far as Western Qld and Western Australia, so people need a little time to travel.

Because it was my party I decided to do a themed party - no colours or costumes - Local Food would be the focus. I'm not going to be a Nazi about it, but I am going to endeavour to have all the meat and produce as local produce. I can source quite a few vegies locally and of course we have all the meat you could want, so it's not too hard really.

The menu, very loosely (because it will depend on what I can get this weekend) will be spit pig, roast beef and roast turkey. Sides will be potato bake, tossed salad and a roast vegie salad. Nibblies of prawns, salami and cheese etc.

Some of the usual suspects for these things will be hard to source locally so I have to allow for a few things.

• Potatoes aren't available locally at the moment, so I will be subbing sweet potatoes. Luckily our local guy has had white sweet potatoes, so I think I will fool the kids!
• There is not much in the way of salad greens around at present, except hydroponics, which I don't normally like to eat. However, this weekend I will just have to suck it up and buy some hydroponic lettuce - at least it supports a local farmer. I have been trying to grow lettuce for months now and every time I plant seedlings, the heat just kills them. I have finally managed to get some endive to survive, and so along with some Ceylon spinach I might have enough for a few salads. However people are staying all weekend, so I need some back up stuff too.
• Roast veggie salad is easy, as I can get zucchini and tomatoes  and I have eggplant growing. I also still have some local onions and local garlic.

Desert will be pavlova, fruit salad, cheese (quark) cake and choc macadamia cake and my cream, so 80% of the ingredients will be from here or the local markets.

Bread will be homemade. My brother is coming from Gunnedah so I've asked him to bring some bread flour - it's milled in Gunnedah - that's local to him. My sister is bringing the prawns - they are local to her. Another brother (if I remember to ask him) is bringing cheese from the Sunshine Coast - that's local to him. I also have two brothers bringing home made cheese and I have a little bit of homemade cheese too. We will be making our own dips - from my quark and other local and homegrown things.

Anyone who is travelling is encouraged to stop at any road side stalls too - but that is another topic for another day.....roadside stalls are my favourite stop when travelling!

So eating locally is not hard, it just requires thought.....and staying away from supermarkets. To shop local, you need to go to the local markets, local butchers or greengrocers may also support local farmers. Remember to ask when you are shopping. The more we ask for it, the more likely shopkeepers will take notice.