Well the Outstanding in the Field Dinner was a rousing success. After all the planning and preparing to host, things went off as well as we could have ever hoped for. The weather cooperated, as it was the coolest day in the last week or so.

My sister Fran and her husband Woody visited for the weekend. Along with some good family time, Woody helped us put up our new barn door the morning of the dinner. That, along with all the onions the CSA crew helped us harvest and fill the barn with gave the old timbers a new shine.

Things began on Saturday night when the OITF crew rolled onto the farm near midnight after a 14 hour trip from Colorado. The next morning they slowly roused themselves before quickly hitting full stride.

We walked the farm with founder Jim Denevan, discussing how to lay things out. He then mulled things over with his staff and they promptly set up the communal table in the field where it rose up and over a ridge. One of the guests said you could see the curvature of the earth.It was neat to watch their efficiency and timing. We really enjoyed their visit.

Next the restaurant crew arrived after working all night. They too went right to work. That included cooking the ribeye in a charcoal roaster. A picture of the roaster in action is here. This link has been shared with us from Bud Hirsch, who sat at the table with us and has linked an entire album of photos from the dinner.

150 people trickled onto the farm around 5pm for a reception and farm tour and electric tractor demo by Rebecca. We then sat down to a dinner in our field that included green bean lollipops; duck egg fettuccini with goose confit, chanterelles and cherry tomatoes; and roasted Majinola Wagyu rib eye, carrot gnocchi, onion, arugula, romaine with sweet vermouth and black raspberry. Jonathan Justus and his staff cooked an incredible meal. I get tired just thinking about all the effort they put into it. All of the guests seemed to have a wonderful time.