Spring Dinner Farm Event

April 7, 2022

We had an exciting weekend of excellent food and even better company as we gathered with some of our neighbors here in West Alabama for our first Rural Studio Farm Dinner and Lecture Event!

A wide shot of the long table with guests sat around it and the sun's striking horizontal light projecting spears of light over the heads of the attendees

Rural Studio Farm has grown immensely in the past four years, and we have reached the point where we are refining and improving our practices even as the farm continues to expand. Production has increased each year, and there is no sign of this letting up. By all accounts, we have been successful at achieving the goals we set for ourselves when the farm was reinvented in 2019. Now, we wish to expand the scope of the farm toward engaging more directly with our community, to further develop our productive food system as a resource.

The garlic cloves are beautifully arranged for planting
Three women students display peanut plants they have just pulled, each thick with peanuts to be dried and picked
Morrisette house with rows of bright green cover crops planted out in the farm
A student collects ripe ears of corn
Eight harvest tubs are arranged, each with its own crop: red mini bells, mini eggplant, jalapenos, orange mini bells, Asian eggplant, tomatoes, yellow mini bells, and okra
The farm manager examines something against the backdrop of sweet potato vines
Three female students build concrete block-lined raised beds
A student uses a sprayer to apply foliar fertilizer to growing plants with a good view of the farm
A long shot of the greenhouse, showing several beds of multicolored salanova lettuce heads
A student picks peas while a second picks okra in the background
Many brightly colored flowers are in bloom with dense green foliage
A little girl helps to harvest some yellow summer squash

In order to expand, we felt we needed to establish new relationships and cultivate current ones with others in our community who might benefit from our growth. So we created a small event to bring folks together with a tour of our farm, followed by some introductions to and celebrations of our guests’ work. Most importantly, the evening culminated in sharing a fine, locally sourced meal together, courtesy of Brad Hart who flew in from Santa Fe along with his partner, and Rural Studio consultant, Johanna Gilligan.

A close-up of the sumptuous salad of local ingredients: pears, lettuce, pecans, beets, radishes, and celery leaves

This was an intimate gathering with few students, and it was meant to emphasize smaller-scale efforts in sustainable agriculture and investments in our local food system.

A guest serves herself some exquisite salad as the farm manager smiles, the sun shining brightly between them
A view of the long table tapering into the middle distance with people gathered and eating
A server, who is also the program director, smiles in a jaunty attitude as he cracks a beverage and chats with the guests sitting at the long table in the evening light
Two little girls laugh and play during the farm dinner with other diners enjoying themselves in the background
Serving of food in action
An outdoor gathering of people mingle before they are served dinner at a long table
A head-on view of the long table with a diverse grouping of people gathered on either side for an outdoor dinner
People sit in the waning golden sun at a long table to eat a fresh farm dinner outside on the Great Hall
The sun sets over the horizon as members of the community eat at a long table together on the Great Hall

The event unfolded outdoors on a beautiful Saturday evening. The sun shone with a gentle wind as Farm Manager Eric Ball guided our guests around the farm.

People mingle and mill about during an observational period of the farm tour
Guests participating in the farm tour form two rows of people gathered down the twin aisles of the glass-and-steel greenhouse
Gatherers cast long shadows in the afternoon light as the farm manager explains about various long-term and perennial plants growing on the farm
People cluster around the farm manager as they give a tour of the farm
People stand in quiet attention as the farm manager talks about various points of interest during their tour of the farm
The farm manager is talking as part of their tour around the farm
The farm manager stands in the field and talks to a ring of people being given a tour of the farm

Then, several of our guests participated in mini presentations about themselves and their work: Sarah Cole from Abadir’s Pastry and the Back Belt Food Project in Greensboro, AL; Meg Ford from Alabama Audubon in Greensboro, AL; Nicole Dugat from Schoolyard Roots in Tuscaloosa, AL; Jamie-Lee Steenkamp from Bois D’Arc Farm in Uniontown, AL; John Dorsey, as well as fellows Maggie Rosenthal, Bess Renjilian, and Ellie Hough, from Project Horseshoe Farm in Greensboro, AL; Olivia Fuller, the commercial horticulture agent for West Alabama, from the Alabama Cooperative Extension System; and Johanna Gilligan, who founded Grow Dat Youth Farm in New Orleans, LA. We also heard from Emefa Butler from C.H.O.I.C.E. in Uniontown, AL and Jovita Lewis, the Hale County Cooperative Extension coordinator. Finally, we were happy to have our friends, and fellow growers, Chip and Laura Spencer from Marion Junction, AL in attendance.

One can see the varied expressions of those watching a pecha kucha style lecture given by a guest
A side view of the farm dinner guests watching a mini presentation of another guest's work
A distant view of the guests of the farm dinner raptly watching a mini lecture by another guest
A guest delivers her pecha kucha-style lecture in front of a flat screen that displays her cycling images as she speaks

We had a fantastic evening together and are looking forward to seeing how the farm can expand with these invaluable relationships!

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