Harvest worthy of the table

August has been glorious so far. Harvests have been colorful and abundant, but we hardly have time to harvest because we are preparing for a special event here. We are going to be featured in Su Casa Magazine sometime this winter and they are coming to do the photo shoot at the end of this month! The article will focus on the combination of sustainable home building and homesteading. I find the whole thing hilarious, because if you know us you also know that our house and farm do not fall into the glossy-magazine-worthy category of homes, especially in their day-to-day condition. And when we moved into the house almost 3 years ago it was still unfinished and we basically haven't touched a thing since then. We were burned out on construction and wanted to focus on developing the farm.

But this upcoming article has motivated us to work on the house again, and so has something else. Our dear friend Jesse is a talented carpenter/artist who created some beautiful features for the house, including these screen doors that appeared in this photo for an article in the local paper:



Jesse's style is very organic and he uses recycled wood, both of which suit our home and our tastes perfectly. Well, when I found out about the shoot I remembered a gorgeous dining set that Jesse had made and got the idea to feature it in the house for the magazine article. He thought it was a great idea, so last weekend he brought it down. Oh man, it is so beautiful in here!!!!! I feel like one of those movie stars who gets to borrow expensive jewelry for the Oscars. It makes me a little nervous too because the kids can be hard on furniture, but so far they are being very careful with it. I will be so sad when we have to give it back, because it really looks perfect in this house.

So last weekend we pulled in a big harvest and the food was so beautiful that I just had to put harvest and table together for a photo. Actually several:




And here is Jesse with his masterpiece (and mother nature's).

I didn't take any wide shots of the table and chairs in the house because the rest of the house still needs to be de-cluttered and spruced up. You'll just have to wait for the magazine for that!

The harvest and table have also inspired me in the kitchen. Later that day Scotty and I shelled a bunch of lima beans (king of the garden and Christmas):



Here he is demonstrating his technique:



I made the most amazing Indian food dinner that night. I made a lima bean and tomato curry with green cayenne peppers that was delicious. I also made palak paneer, which is a creamed spinach and cheese dish that is popular in Indian restaurants. But I made mine with swiss chard from the garden and homemade paneer from raw milk. It was absolutely amazing. The meat was beef kebabs from our beef, marinated in fresh tomatoes and spices. Chris grilled those to perfection. To top it all off we had an old friend and Chris' dad join us for dinner and music. It was a terrific evening.