If I had to create a perfect summer outdoor dinner, I don’t think I could do better than the one given by Elizabeth and Travis Harville over the July 4th weekend at Harville Farms in Byhalia, Mississippi.
I arrived before everyone had moved to the long tables set up crosswise on another part of the acreage. The scene was idyllic. Guests stood around in clusters and sat in chairs near the pond, dining on appetizers and drinking cocktails and beer. The weather, which had hinted at showers, was cooler than most July nights.
Everyone then moved to the tables, which were decorated with blooms from a nearby patch of flowers and vegetables. More flowers were arranged on “Old Blue,” the tractor parked near the eating area.
Heck. There was even an almost full moon — (a “waxing full moon,” according to the National Weather Service. The full moon was July 3rd.)
Billed as “Farm Dinner Party,” the event was a celebration of the 40th birthdays of Elizabeth and Travis.
As the invitation read, “There’s nothing we would love more than to break bread and celebrate with you, our favorite folks. We hope you’ll join us for signature cocktails and a farm-inspired, chef curated dinner in the field at sunset.”
Who could resist that invitation?
The cuisine was provided by Memphis chefs Mac Edwards, Jordan and Lee Anna Beatty of Busy Bee Catering, and Will Marvel.
So, how did all this come about in the first place?
“Travis and I love good food,” Elizabeth says. “We really love to go to restaurants and have an experience with really good food.”
And, she says, “It’s fun for me to have the experience where I don’t cook, but experience something I don’t normally cook.”
Elizabeth and Travis originally began growing garlic in Byhalia. “We began farming and selling our garden to P.O. Press (Public House & Provisions) when it was open with Jimmy Gentry,” she says, adding, “We fell in love with that chef-farmer type relationship.”
In 2019, they decided to move to their land in Byhalia. They wanted to grow more food as well as flowers for Elizabeth’s floral business, EH Blooms. Travis is owner of Coldspring Lawn & Landscape.
They began growing the basics, including tomatoes and cucumbers. They also began growing flowers — zinnias and dahlias.
“I had this dream to have dinner in the dahlias. Have dinners in this flower field.”
Then, she says, “It snowballed from a small dinner. We still wanted it to be intimate, but we wanted to include people in our lives that have been really significant and played an important part in who we are and where we are today.”
She and Maison McGhee, owner of Reverie Wedding Planning, began talking about doing a mock-up style shoot at the farm. “And it merged with the idea of us having a dinner.”
They invited 40 people. They wanted the experience to be “food from our farm, floral from our farm, and people we love out here.”
“Farm Dinner Party” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
The Harvilles provided the garlic, squash, basil, beets, and carrots. “The blackberries for the dessert came from the farm. And I had harvested honeysuckle and made a honeysuckle simple syrup that Leanne used for the dessert.”
She harvested the honeysuckle in spring. “When they made their first blush I made (simple syrup) and froze it.”
Elizabeth let the team of chefs take care of the rest. “I knew Mac because of his restaurant ventures. I have eaten at some of his restaurants.”
Appetizers were cured and smoked Lake’s Catfish Inc. crostini with caper tartar sauce, summer pea hummus with Jerusalem Market & Restaurant pita triangles, and street tacos with roasted Jalapeño salsa. The dinner, served family style at the table, featured sliced beef with pickled vegetables and chimichurri, pork loin sliced with citrus gremolata, chicken negimaki, and roasted potato salad, summer pea salad, grilled garden vegetables, corn salad, and tomato and cucumber salad.
Dessert was peach and blackberry cobbler. I ate four of those. Which, apparently, was the talk of the kitchen. They told me they had leftovers.
In addition to Lake’s Catfish and Jerusalem Market & Restaurant, the beef and pork were Home Place Pastures, chicken thighs from Marmilu Farms, peas from Whitton Farms, tomatoes and more peas as well as potatoes from Yia’s Homegrown Produce; and the crostini from The Ginger’s Bread & Co.
Asked his overall impression about the evening, Edwards says “I just thought it was magical: the ingredients, the food, the setting, the people. I had never met Travis until that night. He was every bit as great as she is.”
They didn’t purposely pick the date for the dinner to coincide with that almost-full moon, Elizabeth says: “We were trying to pick a date when we thought the food would be ready, but it wouldn’t be the hottest part of the summer.”
But, she adds, “I kind of appreciate that detail.”
