OFFER?

Uki has a family fun and BBQ day with garden tours, BBQ breakfast and lunch from the smoker, chef talks and cocktail bar.

famously lived in a barrel and once replied to Alexander the Great: “move to the side, you’re blocking out my sunlight,” when he was asked what could be done for him. If that retort wasn’t immortality inducing enough, then how’s the wily old philosopher’s response to the great general’s comment, “If I were not Alexander, then I should wish to be Diogenes.” To which Diogenes shrugged, “If I were not Diogenes, I would still wish to be Diogenes.”

Wanting for little, if not getting by without needing one solitary thing more, isn’t just the essence of simplicity, it is evidently the reason and rounded rhetoric behind why such an approach to life is so worth adopting. None other than Isaac Newton once professed, “Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy… Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.”

A notion that could very well have summarised what prompted the American Henry David Thoreau to venture into the woods of Massachusetts for two years in the 1840s and write his book ‘Walden’, which became one of the great odes to simplicity, and living as nature intended. It personally affected me after reading it that I booked a flight to America 12-years ago just to retrace his enigmatic footsteps, not to mention his trail-blazing thought lines at Walden Pond.

As if it were a query that could mount serious doubt on anyone’s focus, purpose or agenda, Thoreau once surmised, “Our life is frittered away by detail… So, simplify the problem of life, distinguish the necessary and the real. Probe the earth to see where your main roots run.”

The Harvest Food Trail offers a unique opportunity for you to meet with local farmers, producers, growers, distillers and chefs to celebrate and experience all the incredible food & beverage the Northern Rivers has to offer. It includes farm tours, behind the scene insights, free tastings, chef workshops, fnedining, BBQ lunches, distillery and brewery tastings and so much more!

So what is on offer over the weekend 6-7 May 2023?

The Oyster Shed overlooking Birds Bay is offering the freshest of oysters with local fnger lime paired with a drink. Multi-award winning Potager restaurant is offering a lazy Sunday lunch with a three course menu. Enjoy garden views, great food and good old-fashioned hospitality.

Sunshine Sugar is opening up fve of their sugar cane farms across the Northern Rivers. Enjoy a frst hand introduction to the NSW sugar industry which has been a thriving agricultural sector in the Northern Rivers for over 150 years.

At the amazing Tweed River House you can enjoy an afternoon soiree on the riverside lawns taking in the river and hinterland views.

The Gin Experience is featuring handcrafted cocktails along with a tapas style menu and gin masterclass at Eungella. More award-winning restaurants with Pipit offering a special Coastal Fine Dining menu over the weekend where guests can glimpse the whole cooking process and Mavis’s Kitchen at

Over to Lismore LGA the Café at Nimbin Bush Theatre have curated a special Harvest Food Trail three-course lunch, featuring produce from their garden, with members of their food community providing insight into food production and a local musician entertaining guests.

Nimbin Valley Dairy is offering a tasting of their cheese range, along with a talk and farm tour and explanation of the Australian artisan cheese industry. Kids can enjoy a sausage sandwich, yoghurt and fruit on the farm tour.

Stockpot Kitchen in Lismore city has a WHOLE HOG HO DOWN; a whole pig sourced from local farmer Cromwell farms will be smoked on site with a feast of sides and a dessert sourced from their farm garden and locally. The event will be a buffet style family backyard BBQ with local Lismore rockabilly band “The Linelockers” playing and a full cocktail bar.

Misty Creek Agroforestry in Booyong have a curated picnic BBQ of farm grown chicken and produce, a farm tour and a discussion on regenerative agriculture while all weekend Dhezi Deli in Bexhill will showcase an endless waterfall of exquisite cheeses and gourmet delights from the local area.

For more farming action Marquis Macadamias and Avilla Farm in Alstonville have a macadamia tour experience, where you can learn about the cultivation and harvesting of this amazing nut, while enjoying the natural beauty of Avilla Farm.

Five Sixty Farms in South Gunurimba have an organic experience on their microgreen property and will be creating lunch with Secret Chef utilising their produce, with an informative look at microgreens hosted by their director who will advise on the benefts of organic food and the scientifcally proven studies of potency that microgreens offer for inner wellbeing.

Byron Shire is jammed packed! This year the Harvest Food Trail launches on Friday with a special taster event and bush tucker food experience. You will be able to learn all about foraging, cooking and growing Australian Native Foods with three of the most formidable and talented local women as well as experience the famous Mullumbimby Farmers Market – which showcases the region’s fnest local producers and artisan products.

Santos Organics in Mullum and Byron have a farm-to-plate experience with an organic seasonal sample plate while showcasing their favourite local producers and artisans offerings. Australia’s Manuka in Tyagarah are opening their honey farm where you can learn about natures antibiotic and superfood; Manuka Honey.

Over at The Farm in Ewingsdale a collaboration with Three Blue Ducks offers a unique behind the scenes tour to learn about sustainable farming practices and a walk through their syntropic farming system, along with a tasting of seasonal produce from the food forest, pastries from Bread Social and coffee. Ready for a relaxing beverage, Stone and Wood and 100 Mile Table invite you to their Beers and Bites experience. Enjoy a tapas-style menu full of juicy, local ingredients matched perfectly with fresh and fabulous beers, while Barrio are doing what Barrio does best with a special barbecue event featuring local pork from Bangalow Sweet Pork.. Enjoy BBQ pork neck and coleslaw rolls and Pork ribs with Oomite glaze while nearby at Lord Byron Distillery you can drop in to visit the family owned distillery and taste their world class rums with a special food pop-up.

Brookfarm at McLeod’s Shoot are opening their orchards with founders the Brooks offering a farm tour and talk on the regenerative transformation of the family farm. Witness the fourishing local biodiversity and the positive impact it has had on the production of nutritious gourmet muesli, granola, premium nuts and snacks, in an environmentally responsible way. While there you should visit Cape Byron Distillery to enjoy an afternoon of spirits, music, friends, and food. Explore the rainforest with a Brookie’s G&T in hand, they will also be slinging delicious burgers. For those enjoying a fne-dining experience Forest have a long, lazy lunch. This special event will hero the mouthwatering Bangalow Sweet Pork with each of the three-courses will be paired with a curated range of wines.

In Bangalow, Common People Brewing Co have a specially designed Harvest Food Trail set menu. You can enjoy a thoughtfully curated menu of three delicious courses with perfectly paired beers or wines.

Harvest in Newrybar have a special Sunday lunch overlooking the gardens with some of the fnest food, Australian wine and cocktails in the region. At Zentveld’s Coffee Farm you can start your busy day with a coffee on an actual coffee farm. Enjoy full Barista service with pastries on the deck and a guided walk through the coffee rows also in Newrybar Duck Creek Macadamias are offering free tastings with their farm gate open.

In Richmond Valley you could begin at the Casino Farmers Market to experience all of the fabulous foods, fowers and fun that the Richmond Valley has to offer. There will be chats with farmers and artisans while sampling a range of their products as local musicians showcase their talents.

At Gracemere Farmstead in Yorklea you can tour the property to gain and understanding of the benefts of regularly moving of their different animals. There is so much to see and do with farm produce available for sale at the end of the farm tour.

At Mongogarie Olives you can visit the family owned olive grove, with 1,300 olive trees producing extra virgin olive oil, table olives and olive tapenade and Richmond Mushrooms in Evans Head are opening their doors with a tour of a commercial mushroom farm, nestled on the edge of the Bundjalung National Park.

This year there is a special fnale event at Sugar Beacdh Ranch in Ballina with a fun-flled afternoon with a special performance by ‘The Buckley’s’. Tickets include access to the ranch, a delicious plate and welcome drink with bar service available.. BYO picnic rug, umbrella and chairs.

“The Gold Coast is proud to have been home to this very special multi-award-winning festival for the past 22 years. If you haven’t already got enough reasons to visit the Gold Coast, here’s another! Where else can you see some of the world’s best rhythm and blues musicians just steps from some of the globes’ best stretches of beach.” –Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate. You won’t miss a beat of this beachside blues extravaganza with the upgraded festival app providing the perfect companion to your Blues on Broadbeach

• Blues on Broadbeach returns for its 22nd annual festival.

• Blues on Broadbeach 2023 will take place across four days from 18-21 May 2023.

• The festivals is held on the Gold Coast in the beachside destination of Broadbeach.

• Blues on Broadbeach hosts a line-up of more than 65 acclaimed international and homegrown artists.

• The festival will take place across 16 stages, including both outdoor and indoor venues across the Broadbeach precinct.

• Produced by Major Events Gold Coast,