corn roast 2017

Last weekend we hosted one big potluck picnic at our farm. It was a gathering for families, to celebrate family and marriage. Our greatest goal for the evening was for families to make a memory together at our farm and for husbands and wives to drive home feeling encouraged and motivated to pour into their marriage. It think both goals were accomplished.

When each clan arrived we sent them on a family scavenger hunt. We used Bible Verses as the clues to direct them to the next destination. And once they arrived at a destination there was a family mission they had to accomplish. For my own sake, I'll post the scripture and missions in another post so I can use them again sometime. It was a fun way to introduce everyone to our farm and people seemed to enjoy the family missions.

There were a bit over 100 people here, and half of them were children. But it didn't feel chaotic or busy. Everyone sort of spread out all over the farm. We roasted a whole lot of sweet corn on the grill and enjoyed one massive potluck. It didn't dawn on me until the moment I walked through the line that I had thrown my dream party: a potluck at my house! I love a potluck!

When each family arrived we asked them to guess the weight of the rutabaga we had just picked from the garden. Each family had to make a group guess and the winners were the Ring family below. Guess what they won? The 11.8 pound rutabaga!

After dinner we had three couples share their marital wisdom and encouragement for couples with young families. I cannot say enough good things about the content shared. It was so motivating to me, and encouraging. My mom and dad were one of the three couples...the will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in December. FIFTY YEARS!

Rory and I worked really hard on this gathering and we worked so well together. One night we were up late as he cut out a bean bag toss in the shape of our barn and I sewed bean bags with barnyard fabric. And we were having so much fun. At one point he said, "this is called a corn roast. have you ever roasted corn?" Neither of us had. So we experimented all week with how long to soak the corn before you put it on the grill. We shredding chicken breasts 10 days in a row that we cooked in the crock pot. Rory had spread sheets of things that needed to get done that were in 8pt font. We worked hard and could barely put a sentence together the next day.

Huge thanks to my folks who helped with set up, flowers, my kids and table setting. We had awesome volunteers and worked them hard. We are grateful and thankful and look forward to hosting another mass picnic next year.