La Vendemmia della Porchetta, roughly translates to Festival of the Pig. After spending the 2017 harvest in Umbria , Central Italy, Sam Renzaglia wanted to recreate a local celebration of prized regional produce, typical of many towns throughout Italy.

Bosworth Falls road in O’Connell is becoming an area of rich agricultural production. There is a wide variety of different operations along this short stretch of road and we all support each other as best we can.

"Happy Pig", a unique business run by neighbours Grant and Helen, has naturally evolved over the past four years, growing and keeping it local! At all times they have maintained their core focus- that being the welfare of their animals. The farming is not intensive, they practice regenerative agriculture and the pigs are free from hormones, antibiotics and drenches. They simply raise happy, pasture raised Berkshire pigs that are free to roam and forage.

The Renzaglia family, Grant and Helen have been friends for some time now and we all enjoy eachothers' products immensely. It was only natural that we were to organise an event together at some point.

We are incredibly lucky to have two of our most talented, young, local chefs working together to make this event happen; Hugh Piper and Richard (Richie) Learmonth.

Hugh has been working in restaurants since the tender age of 16, making the jump to the kitchen at 19. He cut his teeth in venues in Sydney and abroad including Astrid y Gaston in Lima which was considered the best restaurant in South America for many years. He went on to be the Head Chef of award winning wine bar, Dear Sainte Eloise in Sydney. Having recently moved to Orange, he's excited to be working so closely with such a wonderful array of growers and producers.

Having grown up and trained in New Zealand, Richard has long had an appreciation for great produce and true seasonality. After developing his skills in some of Sydney's finest restaurants Richard grew to lead teams in highly rated kitchens such as Porteno, Restaurant Pendolino and the Unicorn Hotel. Inspired by the fresh bounty of the Central West he made the leap to Orange where he loves to showcase the natural riches of the surrounding region with a refined country Australian cuisine that is driven by seasonality and local produce.

Tickets include a choice of 3 meals made from the best of our local produce:
• Happy Pig Toulouse Sausage, braised lentils, brassicas & horseradish
• Spit-roasted pork, Farmer Doug's spuds, grilled new-season spring vegetables, salsa verde.
• Slow-roasted miso glazed pumpkin, Farmer Doug's spuds, grilled new-season spring vegetables, salsa verde.

There will be a limited number of extra goodies available for purchase on the day.
We're very grateful to work with Kris Schubert on music. He will not only be playing for us throughout the day but has been generous enough to organise a number of other local talents to fill the air with their musical delights.

So we present to you this celebration of what many consider to be a magic animal, the animal that many cultures say is all edible. We plan to celebrate the hard work that Grant and Helen put in to producing such an amazing product, day in day out and pay respects to the life of an animal raised with such care. We are neighbours that share a similar ethos - a common love of keeping it simple, respecting the environment and supporting of our community.

Thank you
Mark, Sandy, Sam and Paul.