Uninvited guest rattles outdoor harvest dinner

Every September, supporters of local nonprofit Seed to Table gather outdoors on its farm to eat, drink, and be visibly merry. For a few years now, the question preceding the Fall Harvest Dinner has been: Will there be smoke?

This year was a little more complicated. Guests wondered: Will there be smoke? And rain? And lighting?

About 200 attendees arrived on a hot evening to a festive scene. Long, communal tables were set with linens and sunflower bouquets. Somewhat smoky air lent the landscape an amber glow. Sisters locals socialized and greeted new people, listening to live music, sipping kombucha and wine.

The farm-curious arrived, too, from around Central Oregon. They expressed amazement at the beauty of the natural setting and the complexity of operations they'd seen on the farm tour.

"It's so beautiful," said a young man from Bend, visiting the farm for the first time.

Photo by T. Lee Brown

A visitor delights in raindrops falling on Seed to Table's fall harvest dinner.

As folks settled down to their meals, prepared by FEAST using organic vegetables grown on the farm, an uninvited guest made a dramatic appearance: thunder. It rumbled from the mountains all the way past Seed to Table and out into the high desert.

People laughed-some more nervously than others-as clouds roiled and thunder murmured. A smattering of raindrops hit the tables.

"I'm so glad our misting system came on just in time to cool you all off," joked Seed to Table's founder and farm director Audrey Tehan, who was giving a speech from the trailer-bed stage.

When the next stretch of rain pattered down, some in the audience hooted and clapped. Shelley Anderson, a visitor from Bend, had just flown back to Central Oregon from New Mexico.

"I want rain!" she exulted, raising her arms to the skies. "It was so dry there."

The evening appeared to go off without a hitch: patrons seemed jovial, staff looked pleased, and the patters didn't build into a serious rainstorm. Lightning didn't strike, and the thunder rolled on to its next dining engagement, with or without a formal invitation.