What a night to remember! Even a little bit of off and on drizzle couldn’t stop 40 of our followers from coming to the farm to enjoy a night of friendship and food at our first ever Farm To Table Dinner event. Nor did it dampen the spirit of the evening at all.
We can both honestly say that we were simply blown away by the energy level, interaction,and enthusiasm of everyone attending.
It will always amaze us that people drove from far and wide, some as far as 4 and 5 states away to enjoy the evening!
We wanted this event to focus on exactly what Old World Garden Farms is all about – home-grown food and friendship.
In honor of that theme, all of the food came from either our farm, or from local sources in and around our community. In fact, all of it within 30 miles of our farm!
The evening started off with appetizers – including a selection of local cheese made by Pearl Valley in Fresno, Ohio, and fresh breads made by Lucky Cat Bakery from Granville, Ohio.
The dinner started with a serving of vegetable soup from our garden, cooked for 8 hours in a cast iron kettle over the fire pit. Next, came salad picked fresh that morning from the raised rows of our garden – including kale, romaine, arugula and spinach.
Next for the meal was a choice of locally raised beef or chicken from Olde Village Meats in Frazeysburg, Ohio, along with potatoes and fresh green beans.
And on each table, a selection of wonderful local wines made by our friend Kathie and Larry from Buckeye Winery from Newark, Ohio.
And finally for dessert – It was a serving of Mary’s homemade apple crisp, made with a few of our own apples in the mix – and a scoop of ice cream from the Velvet Ice Cream Company, made right here in Licking County.
More than anything, and certainly more than the food, it was one amazing evening to spend with so many wonderful people!
And on that note, last but certainly not least, we owe a huge thank you to all of our incredible volunteers who worked tirelessly to pull this event off!
We are so fortunate to be surrounded by so many wonderful people who stepped up and volunteered to give of their time and energy.
To Dustin, who was the grill master for the evening, and to his wife Nikki who jumped right in helping to prepare and serve – Thank You! you are both amazing people. To Jeff – thank you so much for sending the OWG logoed glass mugs for everyone to take home. They were a big hit – and looked great on the table!
To Mary Anne and Carlton – thank you so much for helping us prepare the day before and for all of your work the entire evening! Carlton, you have a job as our Gator Driver anytime you want! And to Mary Lee and Tim – thank you for everything yesterday – we loved having that extra last minute help!!!
To Arlen, what can we say, you showed up and simply went right to work helping everywhere! We are so lucky to have you as a friend! To Nolan, our youngest – thank you so much for taking time out to take photos, set up the music, and fill in everywhere!
And finally – to our amazing neighbors Mark and Beth, and Bev and Craig – all we can say is that we are simply blessed to have such unbelievably incredible neighbors. These four people graciously volunteered the minute they found out we hosting the event, and we simply couldn’t have pulled it off without them! They absolutely showcase what being a neighbor is all about – we love you guys!
We also were very blessed to have Erica Coffman, (Erica Kay Photography), as one of our guests. Erica is the photographer for our Raised Row Gardening book that will be released next February, and she graciously volunteered to come and capture the night for us in photos.
She will be posting a link in the coming weeks for everyone to see her work from the night – and we will be sure to pass along!
Here is a look below at some of our own photos from the evening courtesy of Nolan, and if you attended, please feel free to share any photos on our Old World Garden Facebook page or via email to us at thefarm@owgarden.com
Thanks again to everyone that attended – Jim and Mary Competti
