Well, howdy neighbour

Urban Reforestation’s Docklands Neighbourhood Day dinner on March 28 lived up to its name.

All the neighbours helped out – including those who were just minding their own business doing their weekly supermarket shop in Merchant St, Victoria Harbour.

Urban Reforestation has established Docklands’ community garden on the water adjacent to Dock 5 and was keen to demonstrate the sustainability benefits of sourcing local produce at the dinner it held in its shop in Merchant St.

Founder Emily Ballantyne-Brodie explained that her accountant Chris had suggested he knew a farmer not too far from Docklands who could supply a lamb.

So far so good.  And then Kate Watson sourced the spit, which later caused a stir as it was still happily revolving when council local laws officers busted a crime wide open because the device was still running beyond the permit hours – nice work heroes!

But before the lamb could be cooked, it had to be refrigerated.  Emily had bought a fridge that day, however the beast was too big.  

Vinnie, the Vietnamese baker and neighbour, came to the rescue.  Not only did Vinnie make room in his cool room, but he also made an out-of-hours special effort to come back and liberate the lamb to the cooks.

That’s where the real problems began.  Bryce the pianist got the coals fired up, but vegetarian Emily and co had no idea how to put the spit together.

So Joe, the Greek guy who was just doing his shopping at Safeway, saved the day.  

Out the back, Joe showed the girls how to impale a carcass on a massive steel skewer and provided the required muscle power.

But with a vital piece of the spit-puzzle still in their hands, the Urban Reforestation girls knew disaster was brewing.

Enter “the bearded guy”, another passing shopper, who turned out to be a butcher who set it all straight and even returned an hour later to carry out an audit.

The result was a dinner combing strong flavours, fine wines and wonderful company.