The Heirloom Harvest Dinner: Part 1

I've been wanting to write this post for about a month now. I'm not sure if it was the idea of blogging about such a monumental experience or just laziness that has caused me to put it off until now. Probably a little of both. But I really wanted to give this experience the props it deserved, and I knew that was gonna take time.

It all began with a quick trip Zach and I took to NH in mid September for the third annual Heirloom Harvest Dinner at Josh and Jean's (Zach's brother and sister-in-law) farm in Stratham, NH. We drove up on a Friday afternoon and home again the following Monday morning. It was a whirlwind trip, to say the least. But what an amazing weekend full of new experiences, gorgeous weather, delightful people, and delicious food. Because the dinner was in the barn of the house Jean and Josh live in, my camera and I were able to get a behind-the-scenes look at everything that goes into making this dinner possible.

Rumor has it Saturday morning a bunch of volunteers showed up to clean out the main part of the barn in preparation for setting up tables for the dinner Sunday evening. Zach and I had work to do, so we headed off to Panera Bread in the morning to work on our laptops. When we got back later in the afternoon, the barn was spotless. These volunteers are amazing! And fast! You can see the barn is ready for tables here...

Speaking of volunteers, they were coming out of the woodwork all weekend. People were scurrying about all day Sunday setting up tables and decorating the space to the nines. Then more volunteers showed up late Sunday afternoon to serve the five-course dinner to all us lazy, non-volunteering folk. In fact, this event is so popular, they actually have a waiting list for volunteers! What a fabulous "problem" to have. It's really encouraging to see how passionate people are about local food.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. So, as I said, Zach and I got back to the farm in the afternoon to find the barn clean and ready for decor the next day. Since everything was done for the day, we all decided to go check out the pigs. Here's Jean and Josh with their happy-as-a-clam pigs.

Then we went for a walk in the woods down to the pond. The light was beautiful.

That evening, we had dinner with some of Jean and Josh's neighbors and friends. Since we had already set up the tables on the second level of the barn, Jean suggested we eat dinner there. So all fourteen of us gathered around and enjoyed a delicious spread of homemade casserole, roasted eggplant, mixed greens salad and a decadant desert from a bakery in Boston. And lots of wine and beer too, of course. Everyone was so generous and lovely.

After dinner one friend brought out his stash of paper lanterns. I had never seen anything like them before and grabbed my camera as we headed out across the street and into the dark field. By now it was around 11PM - perfect for lighting things on fire. Everyone got a lantern and we passed around a lighter to light them. Then, one by one, we released them into the sky. It was a magical evening.

Stop by tomorrow for the second installment of our barn dinner weekend experience, where I'll share lots more photos.