Summer Harvest Festival Success

We held our annual Summer Harvest Festival at the farm last Saturday (August 26) and participants were relieved to discover that the rain showers in Waverly and Cedar Falls did not extend northeast to Tripoli and the Genuine Faux Farm.  If you want some proof that there was, in fact, activity on the farm you can view this neat time elapse video recorded by Charlie Figura.

As a self-diagnosed introvert, I can tell you that my desire to go through with the festival decreased as the time for it to start came closer.  It has nothing to do with the effort to set up nor is it an indication that I wasn't looking forward to seeing many of my favorite people.  It's just the nature of an introvert such as myself.  I was actually relieved to find another person who put the feeling into words for me (ironically, while we were both AT the festival).  Of course, once the festival started, it was fine and both Tammy and I enjoyed seeing all of the wonderful people enjoying themselves at the farm.  It always helps for us to see the farm through someone else's eyes.

The fences came out yet again this year to provide us with an artificial 'sidewalk.'  We don't really have much sidewalk for our sidewalk chalk, so the fences just had to do.  And, apparently, there were a few artists in the group this year.  Our thanks to Charlie, Sophie and Max for setting these up for us.

But, there was more sidewalk chalk work going on than that!  Abby and Kate helped out prior to the festival start and made sure the green flairbox was made to look cool AND be a sign for those arriving that they were in the correct place.

 And, they made sure each side had something of interest.

 And, I mean.. .EACH SIDE!  Nice!

 Jean, Kyle and Abby arranged to create a batch of painted rocks of an appropriate size so our younger visitors could participate in a painted rock hunt prior to the serving of food.  At least one participant claims to have found "lots" of rocks.  When asked exactly how many, she proudly stated that she found "hundreds."  Another participant told Farmer Rob that he found rocks too.  When asked how many, he decided it was time to get into the green cart and go for a ride.  I guess we'll never know how many it was.

Before the festival started, we had some help from Clans Figura and Clan Peters getting tables ready and pop-up tents in place.  A clever washing station was also rigged up for use and many more hands were willing to set up chairs, carry out plates, slice tomatoes (and other veggies) and do other things that made the event so much easier to get going.

A good crowd gobble will get most anyone to smile!

A small group took a guided tour of the farm while others grabbed a Scavenger Hunt sheet and did their best to see if they could find all of the items.  The chickens and the turkeys had a fair share of admirers as did Soup and Inspector.  In fact, Soup enjoyed the attention of some special friends (particularly Oliver).  The Sandman was conspicuously absent (but not surprisingly so).  Sandman did, however, show up just as the last people left at the end of the festival (also not surprising).  For a spokescat, he sure does a fine job of acting a bit like an introvert!

Once again, the green carts were a hit.  I am afraid that Tammy and I just see them as... um...  green carts.  But, who knew they could be a source of great entertainment?

Ok, we did because we've seen it at nearly every festival.  While the two of us get irritated with them because they go through wheels like no one's business, the kids who visit can't resist their pull.  And, yes, a bit of pulling of kids in carts did ensue.  Until...

Emma and Max to the rescue

I am beginning to think that the kids have something here.  Whenever Tammy and I are feeling a bit down at the farm, we should just take turns being pulled around in a green cart.

Tammy did an extraordinary job getting the turkey roasted and prepared.  She also got the lemonade, tea, water, dishes, etc etc  ready to go with some willing hands to keep it all together.  Ben and Sam were kind enough to help us out by picking up extra buns when we figured out we may have underestimated the need for more of them.  Rob was more of the outside clean-up guy, doing his best to consider what areas should be made off-limits and what things needed to be 'hidden' so small hands and bodies would not be put at risk.  But, the great thing is that the adults shared the responsibility of looking out for everyone's children.

We enjoyed meeting new people who came as guests of some of our CSA members and we're pleased that people think enough of the farm to introduce others to us.  It is possible we had as many first time visitors as we had returning visitors this time around.

The food shared by those who participated in the potluck was excellent and I suspect very little food went home.  The turkey was mostly gone by the end of the festival and most of the s'more makings were also used up.

While we do have some clean-up work to do at the farm (as of this writing on Sunday), we were gifted with the efforts of several people who made sure things were picked up, tables wiped off, tents down, chalk picked up from the ground and numerous other things. This was all done while Rob and Tammy were doing their jobs as hosts of the event.  We can't tell all of you who helped in any number of ways how much we appreciated it.

Here's to an enjoyable Summer Harvest Festival in 2017 and here's to hopes of an even better one in 2018!