One of my personal goals this year is to try to do a better job of connecting with others interested in local foods, gardening and small scale farming. I took a small step today by inviting local current and past participants in the Dark Days challenge and other local, local food bloggers up to the house for a potluck and seed exchange.
Seven took me up on the offer and arrived with local and homemade treats, spouses and friends. It was a nice afternoon of visiting the hens, having a bite to eat, talking about gardening, cooking and life in general and seed exchanging. It was great to see familiar faces of those I’d met before and new faces of those I hadn’t.
Of course, I utterly failed to take many photos. Really. I always find myself too caught up in the moment to grab the camera. The only ones I took are of the remains of the squash/carrot/apple soup above (based on Ed’s recipe and my Dark Days feature of the week), the apple cake I made, one of Rebekah in the kitchen, and one of the seed packets spread across the dining room table.
I might not have the photos to prove it was a great afternoon, but hopefully some of those other shutters clicking away do. If you’ve got pictures, drop a note in comments with a link – I’d love to see them.
In the meantime, it was so wonderful to get to see the faces behind Feasting in the Skagit Foodshed, Old Dog…New Tricks, Devouring sEATtle, Hip Chick Digs, Hendrick Homestead, Eighth Acre Bounty and Music and Cats. Of course now there are new local food sources to track down and recipes to secure. And even more, new plans to be made.
Thank you to everyone that came, not only for the food and the treats (and a couple of fab hostess gifts!), but also just for being open to the idea of showing up at an afternoon gathering of strangers from the internet. It is our willingness to go beyond our traditional boundaries, to redefine friendship, to meet new people and exchange ideas that enriches our lives and those of others. Plus, I didn’t have to watch that silly football game because I had a better offer 
Thank you! It was lots of fun and great to meet everyone! There really is a benefit to being able to get together and discuss and share ideas with like-minded folk. Hopefully we can do it again sometime.
Oh, I wish I was local and could meet you all. I think that your idea really captures the spirit of the dark days. Plus, both those recipes – I’d dive right in. The squash soup will be on my menu this week.
As Mangochild, we are not local to you. However, we can reach out to others in our own community and let them know the issues we address of trying to live sustainably.
What a lovely event! Also not local but am glad you all had a great time!
The soup was delicious (as was all the food we had on Sunday) and so beautiful in that terrific green pot.
oh, man… I wish we could have been there. Sounds like you had a blast.