8th Annual Canberra Harvest Festival Celebrates Local Food

The Canberra Harvest Festival took place on Saturday March 19th at the Canberra Environment Center, drawing large crowds of people to the celebration of local and organic produce.

Now in its eighth year, the Harvest Festival is a showcase of locally grown food from Canberra and the surrounding areas. Hosting stalls at the festival were Farmer Brown’s free range eggs, based in Hall, who supply eggs to a variety of restaurants throughout Canberra and proudly say that even if their eggs don’t look perfect, you know they came from happy chickens; Fig Tree Farm, located in Wee Jasper, who were selling freshly harvested vegetables and home-made preserves; Canberra Urban Honey, who not only sell home-grown honey but support and teach the art of backyard bee-keeping, and many more.

There was also the award winning Jasper & Myrtle ‘bean to bar’ chocolate, who started hand making gourmet chocolate seven months ago and were excited to be attending their first Harvest Festival. The Franklin Road’s homemade chutneys and sauces that are made with farm-grown produce and as owner Richard Dowling attests, are so good he puts them on everything.

Organic wine, hand poured soy candles and pre-loved clothes and books were also available in the many market stalls. Throughout the afternoon were a series of instructional workshops on subjects such as composting and keeping a bee-friendly backyard, and the opportunity to talk to the local growers in the Australian National University’s sustainable gardens, accompanied by wood-fired pizza.

The Canberra Environment Center has seen more and more people coming to the festival every year, says one of their spokespeople, Rebecca.

“The sustainability workshops are being booked out, and in fact they even have waiting lists of about 20 to 25 people, which has never happened before. The community’s really engaging with the idea of local and sustainable produce and practice.”

The Harvest Festival will return next year, but in the meantime the Environment Center offers plenty of workshops on growing, making and appreciating sustainable and local produce. The schedule can be found on their website.