Thanksgiving the Rock Farm way

Sometimes it's hard to see progress. Particularly if you're living through a process. We don't see the rate at which our children grow until someone shrieks "look how tall he is now" across a room. Growing out a hairstyle or growing a baby takes 400 times longer when you live it because you don't see the daily, incremental nudges that stack up to make a whole lot of change or an entire human in miniature form.

This is how it is with the Farm. For a year now we have been digging, shaping, rebuilding and tidying but sometimes it doesn't feel like we've actually achieved all that much. All that changed for me this week when, after being totally inspired by what the clever folk at Castle Farm Cafe have done with a big metal barn, we hosted a Thanksgiving meal for 17 friends in the former milking parlour.

Since we moved here nearly one year ago, there are only really two things that I have missed: a bath (oh to wallow daily in hot water with wine and magazines!) and a space to entertain in! In our old house our 8 seater table would often stretch to 12 or 14 with kids perched on stools at the corners of the table and an assortment of untidy chairs formerly banished to the garage, hosed down and scrambled in last minute to seat extra guests.

A group of friends old and new came to celebrate a great year with us in a building that was, when we moved here, full of milking equipment and rusting metal. Looking at the picture of how it was then and what we scrabbled together last weekend I have truly realised how much we have achieved. It is now nearly a year since we moved here and there are no end of corners that have been tidied and made good...more on that in December. With an oven that came out of my brother in laws kitchen, a Fire hood from my mother in laws new house, some German beer festival tables and a rope light or two we transformed the metal milking parlour from this:

Before

to this:

On the strength of this meal we have been granted permission to host Christmas in The Milking Parlour so watch this space for mark two complete with Christmas tree and decorations galore as well as Barefoot in the Milking Parlour supper clubs in the Spring!