You can nibble local food -- and drink local beverages -- at this year's Spring Farm Dinner. The event, a fund-raiser for the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA), will start with a reception at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 30, at the Rivers Club in One Oxford Centre, Downtown.

The $75 per person dinner is a five-course meal paired with local wines and beers all produced by local farmers and artisans and prepared by local chefs. It's at 6:30 p.m., followed at 8 by speaker Sally Fallon, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to nutrition.

She'll be in town as part of the Farm to Table Conference on March 31.

Richard Morris, author of "A Life Unburdened," will speak at the conference, held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. that Saturday at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild/Bidwell Training Center on the North Side. The event, sponsored by PASA and American HealthCare Group, brings together local farms, food businesses and wellness providers to emphasize to consumers and companies the benefits of eating locally grown food.

"You expect people to exercise, but if they're consuming the wrong calories -- calories that aren't the healthiest -- it's really counterproductive," said David Eson, director of Western Pennsylvania programs for PASA. This conference expands on its work to help people "Buy Fresh, Buy Local."

There will be a chefs' panel including Chris Jackson of Six Penn Kitchen and Bill Fuller of Big Burrito Group. There will be a farmers' panel including Ron Gargasz, Don Kretschmann and Barb Kline (of Mildred's Daughters Urban Farm).

Other local speakers include author Will Clower (on the Mediterranean diet); the Post-Gazette's Doug Oster with Jessica Walliser who do "The Organic Gardeners" radio show on KDKA Radio; and the Pennsylvania Resource Council's Corinne Ogrodnik (on rain barrels and composting).

Admission is $25 for event if you register before March 15, $35 thereafter. That includes a healthy local lunch provided by Mung Dynasty, the South Side's indoor sprouts farm, and Sewickley's Green Chef Deli.

Register for both events at www.pathwayswellnessprogram.com/Farm_Registration.html or call 412-563-7807 .

Many of the Farm to Table exhibitors also will be set up at the Pittsburgh Home & Garden Show March 9-18.

PASA plans more events for later this season, including farm tours.