August, in 22 Pictures
we did not do secret restaurant in august of 2011
I was away for half of the month of August, visiting college friends in New England. Those college friends were beginning The Runnymede Project, a farm/homestead/arts organization in North Hampton, New Hampshire.
This page about my time at Runnymede exists because the gorgeous vegetable bounty, communal atmosphere, frequent visitors, and constantly reunited friends was sort of like a perpetual Secret Restaurant. Less fancy, more spontaneous, more collaborative– but similar all the same.
I did a lot of cooking in New Hampshire, primarily with one large electric pan. Nearly every afternoon, I would start work on dinner like an old fashioned farm wife, while others continued building projects or went to the beach.
These communal meals we ate were all over the place– mashed turnips with fresh goat's milk and butter, rainbow chard and spiced red beans, covered in sunflower seed/thyme gravy; grilled cheese sandwiches with grilled corn on the cob; candied carrots; a mediterranean feast; rosehip jam from wild rosehips gathered nearby; broccoli with cheese sauce made using lobster butter... Some of these photos show food I didn't even have a hand in making– the point is that everyone was sharing the freshest, best foods at the best time of year to be eating right out of a garden.
19 of these 22 photographs were taken on with a 1970s Canon 35mm camera by Aria Mikkola-Sears. The other 3 were taken by me and don't have borders. Enjoy.
