Banquet in a Field - Intro to From the Farm Friday

On Tuesday I was invited to enjoy a fantastic meal in the middle of a field

- A Banquet in a Field -

The lovely Katie Pinke and volunteers of CommonGround made this event possible - CommonGround is a group of women who are passionate about agriculture and their main goal is to help consumers understand that there are real people behind the food they eat and it doesn't come from a factory! {I think this is a group I could volunteer for}

This was the 2nd Annual Banquet and it was held at Peterson Farms Seed. Guests were shuttled out to the field where the food and refreshments awaited. Live food plots were planted to showcase what crops can be grown right here in North Dakota and if that wasn't enough there were appetizers at multiple stations to showcase how delicious the different crops {and meats} can be!! {the potato croquettes were at the top of my list}



One Bushel of Duram Wheat makes 210 servings of Pasta || 96% of North Dakota's Barley is used for Beer

North Dakota grows over 2.7 billion pounds of Potatoes each year and has 30 Thousand Farm & Ranch families

My Farmer wasn't busy combining yet so he got to come with me to the event and enjoyed farm chat with producers from around the state - it is always nice to hear how things are going for others that aren't in your immediate area. I was excited to chat with a few bloggers who were also hanging out in the field for the evening!

Food was prepared by the husband/wife team: Tony & Sarah Nasello along with some NDSU BBQ Bootcamp cooks. Local FFA chapter leaders helped serve the food, including our hometown Lisbon member! As you can see from the images below the food was a.m.a.z.i.n.g!

Menu ||
Primo Piatto- Tony's Handmade Gnocchi Pomodoro 
Intermezzo- Chilled Watermelon Cube with lime juice
Secondo Piatto- Carved Beef Tenderloin with Horseradish Cream Sause
Contorni- Easy Potato Salad, Pickled Radishes & Beets, Rustic Italian Cucumber Tomato Salad
La Dolce- Sarah's Honey Vanilla Ice Cream (served in a Belgian Cookie Cup)

The seating arrangement was designed to engage people of non-agricultural backgrounds with those who lived and worked in it every day. At our table was Nancy Jo Bateman, the executive director of the ND Beef Commission, fellow blogger Amanda & her husband, and Peterson Farms Seed employee Kristi Schultz. Amanda and I took the normal jokes from our husbands for taking too many photos of our meal while we all enjoyed chatting about farming and current events!

Can't beat a ND Field Sunset

I want to give a giant Thank You to Katie for inviting me to this unique dining experience and I hope I can be part of it again next year! This event made me proud to be from this state and equally proud to come from a farm family while continuing on with my husband as the 4th Generation with his family farm!

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Even though I am immersed every day in farming at my job and live on the farm I still find myself not knowing much about what's going on around me at the farm. Well, that is about to change and I've warned Steven he is going to get more questions from me soon!! I am introducing From The Farm Fridays. This will include some kind of farm update from me every Friday - this could be short posts with photos of my backyard cow friends or long posts on harvest. I hope these will educate you and also keep me more informed with what is going on in my backyard!!

Thanks to Amanda for the photo 

*PS I will be inviting any farm ladies to link-up and join in on From the Farm Friday*

Have a great weekend and if you ate today … don't forget to Thank A Farmer!!