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Five of a kind: Festive freebies

Appetites and wallets are in for a treat, as the annual food and wine festival offers a complimentary cornucopia.

Simone Egger

Stephanie Alexander, Rohan Anderson, Max Allen and Indira Naidoo will talk sustainable living and eating.
Stephanie Alexander, Rohan Anderson, Max Allen and Indira Naidoo will talk sustainable living and eating.Supplied

Wodonga Goods Shed Harvest Festival

Wodonga's atmospheric railway station building and goods shed (built in 1873) has been spruced up as part of a 10-hectare, 10-year urban-renewal project. The harvest festival will be the buildings' first job in their new role as community hub. In the Goods Shed, the Hume Murray Farmers' Market will be selling local produce: organic rice, Gundowring ice-cream, Milawa cheese and bread and Binderee Grove ciders (including quince cider). Chefs and winemakers will be selling tasting plates and tipples, and at sundown Chocolat screens at the site's outdoor cinema ($5 donation) - BYO seat. It's well worth the 3½-hour road or rail trip from Melbourne.
March 16, 10am-6pm; Elgin Boulevard, Junction Place, Wodonga

Flavours Human Library

Wodonga Railway Station.
Wodonga Railway Station.Supplied
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Instead of borrowing a cookbook from the Oakleigh Branch Library, borrow a person. Four walking encyclopaedias will be on loan, for 15-minute periods, each with a very particular area of specialisation: themselves. You might borrow Voula Garth, who can give you the recipe for and history of Greek Easter soup; Antonio Vazzana, who juggles Argentinian, Italian and Australian cultures; Lucky Kalonta from Indonesia, who knows a thing or two about perfect rice; and Krishna Arora, an alchemist with Indian spices. Head to the Oakleigh Music Festival on March 17 for the sequel; all four cooks will appear on the Flavours of Monash stage.
March 13, 2pm-4pm; Oakleigh Branch Library, 148 Drummond Street, Oakleigh (bookings close 5pm, March 12), 9563 4138

From plot to plate

Talk about a stellar line-up: cook, author, restaurateur and champion of kitchen gardens in schools Stephanie Alexander; writer and all-round crusader of modest self-sufficiency Rohan Anderson of Whole Larder Love fame; wine writer and aficionado on biodynamic wines Max Allen; and author, journalist and presenter Indira Naidoo. Hear them talk about sustainable living and eating in Victoria, each bringing their perspectives to the table. Afterwards, mosey over to Gusto!, the State Library's excellent culinary history exhibition, open till 9pm.
March 14, 6-7.30pm; Experimedia, State Library of Victoria (enter from La Trobe Street), 8664 7099

Murchison Tomato Festa

Celebrate the harvest with Murchison's 700 residents at the inaugural Tomato Festa. On the banks of the Goulburn River, 160 kilometres (a little less than two hours' drive) from Melbourne, Murchison is Victoria's vine-ripened tomato-growing capital. On Festa day, there will be a big, roaming tomato, tomato bocce, a tomato slip'n'slide, tomato toss, tomato bobbing and a passata-making demonstration. The Lisa Miller Trio and Van and Cal Walker will be on stage, and food and wine from the area's producers will be for sale. Bob the Bee Man will be there, as will Longleat wines and Vazzoler cheese, and there will be olives, basil (tomato's best friend) and tomato seed growers with instructions on how to grow your own.
March 17, 11am-6pm; Stevenson Street, Murchison, 5831 4400

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Braybrook garden to plate

Nine kilometres west of the city, Braybrook is on the cusp of change. Its industrial base is in steady decline, and 25 per cent of its housing is public. But the seeds of change are being sown at the recently rejuvenated community garden - an open garden tended by volunteer and life-long resident Stephen Miles. He will show folks around the garden, and yarn about the 'hood. Food stalls representing the main cultural groups of Braybrook's residents (45 per cent of whom were born overseas) include African, Vietnamese, Bangladeshi and Polish. Stalls will be offering free tastings. Plus you can learn how to make hoppers, and have your hands treated with henna.
March 9, 11am-3pm; Braybrook Community Centre, 107-139 Churchill Avenue, Braybrook, 9364 9815

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