By now we have all most certainly heard of or participated in the 150-mile diet, or any number of variations that might go along with its particular radius. There are entire communities, towns, and restaurants that have taken the challenge or continue to do so on a day-to-day basis.  There’s even a magazine that does it.

Sunset Magazine started their James Beard Award winning blog after realizing that their city block of headquarters was prime for experimentation. They already had a test garden onsite, including several fruit trees, and decided to walk the walk and talk the talk of the booming Locavore movement here in Northern California. The One Block Diet was born, and with it a series of feasts to highlight their growing, cooking, building, beekeeping, brewing, and any number of other homesteading projects. Sunset staff now finds themselves broken into teams, spanning beer to cow to even saffron. They take on everything imaginable to continue to embellish, expand, and promote the delicious possibilities available to a local diet.

And now you can step it up a notch too. On the heels of their just released book, The One-Block Feast, Sunset is holding the One-Block Party Contest for the rest of us to rise to the challenge. The idea is basically to gather friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers together to grow, cook, and eat food together. Taking part in a community built and grown project, with a big party at the end as a goal, will ideally prove how fun and satisfying locally minded food sourcing really is. Plus, it’s great press. Your prize, aside from a free copy of the new book to use as a guide, is a feature in an upcoming Sunset issue and blog plus $500 cold hard cash to spend on anything you want (except for imported, highly processed food products, we would hope).

To enter the contest, write up your party plan, including what plants you plan to grow, what kind of food projects you want to do, some original recipe ideas, and the names of everyone involved.  Email your entry by March 30^th to oneblockparty@sunset.com or send it to Sunset Magazine, 80 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (Attn: One-Block Party).

If you are selected as a finalist you will need to name your group, take photos of the garden as it is being planted and every month until harvest time, and document any other projects in the same way as well. You will also need to create some recipes, write them up, and take a picture of the finished product. Make sure someone remembers to capture the party via photo or video to seal the deal. Your complete project needs to be submitted by September 15th. The winner will be notified by September 20, 2011.