Season's Tastings At Rabbit Crest Farms
Updated: Sep 29, 2022
Greenville, South Carolina Dinner Photographer
On a perfect Sunday evening this past September 25th, Rabbit Crest Farms held their very first farm to table dinner event right in their gardens. One of the more thoughtful events I've had the privilege of attending. Season's Tastings at Rabbit Crest Farms wasn't just any farm to table dinner event. This was a unique farm to table dining experience placing the table right at the farm itself in Greenville, SC and I'm so excited to share photos and the story to you today.
Season's Tastings Prep
When I first arrived to Rabbit Crest Farms, the atmosphere was the first thing to take in as their dinner photographer. Eli and SG, the owners of the farm were giving a guided tour of their property while cutlery and final touches were being placed in the dinner gardens. A fellow owner of the farm, Donna Tribble prepared lovely seasonal floral arrangements to be added to each table top. Beautifully crafted raised beds, created by Amanda Yoder with Coda Wood Studio, wrapped around the dinner space to create a truly farm immersed setting. Chef Alex George with GB & D were preparing each course and the smells were phenomenal. Even outside on this fall day, I was immersed in the lovely scents of spices and food being prepared by Alex and his team.
The Unique Farm To Table Dinner
As guests started to seat themselves in the Rabbit Crest Farms gardens, the first of five courses were being finalized. Eli Ackerman of the farms gave a warm introductory speech to the guests that came straight from the heart. He highlighted the fact that these organic and seasonal ingredients being shared were harvested only days before if not that morning of the dinner right at these very gardens. If ingredients couldn't be offered from the farm, the farm's neighbors gave a hand. Their neighbors next door supplied eggs, bread pairings were baked by GB & D, and the crispiest of beverages were mixed by Stephen Phillips of Exile in Greenville, SC. It took an incredible local Greenville team to give nothing but the best seasons tastings in this farm to table experience.
Season's Tastings Special Quality
All the produce harvested for Season's Tastings are special thanks to Donna Tribble's flower farming. Thanks to pollinators and beneficial insects, the quality of the produce headed directly to this dinner event's table is top quality. The french beans and arugula were sourced from farmer friends Brittany Arsiniega and Emily Perkins of Rambling Rosa Farms in Dacusvulle, SC. The ground layer of the beds surrounding this lovely Season's Tastings dinner space are made of cedar felled from the farm property. The oversized picnic tables were commissioned by the Walters family, who is starting their own coffee shop named Cryptid Coffee in Pelzer, SC. SO many local vendors and the nature itself on the Rabbit Crest Farm's grounds brought this concept to life and that's something that I think is worth nothing.
The Season's Tastings
To give you a look into the season's tastings at Rabbit Crest Farms, Chef Alex George and his team created each course with all the lovely ingredients harvested from this farm and neighboring farms. The first of five courses was none other than a meat and cheese board. A perfect way to start any dinner if you ask me. A salad including shaved radishes harvested that morning was the second course. A sour miso soup including duck eggs from the neighboring farm and short rib sourced from farmer friends, Donald and Colleen Snow of Providence Farm from Anderson, SC with roasted roots were served as the third and fourth course. To finish this five course farm to table dinner, an indigo cap olive oil sponge from foraged Indigo Milkcap mushrooms and chanterelles foraged right on the property was served to each guest. Along with each course, Stephen of Exile paired each tasting with a fresh cocktail or wine to really tie each taste together.
Season's Tastings At Rabbit Crest Farms
As a photographer in Greenville, South Carolina, this was one of the most unique dinner experiences I've had the pleasure of documenting. Season's Tastings was a dream conceptualized in the Summer of 2021 over a small farm to table pizza dinner at Rabbit Crest Farms. Eli and SG spoke of their dreams to host such a dinner in the future and within a year, the hard work and dreaming clearly paid off. Everything on Rabbit Crest Farms is grown with love and each vendor who made this dinner possible deserves their hard work recognized. Season's Tastings as Rabbit Crest Farms will continue to be a thing here in Greenville, SC and they plan on having 9 events a year. I'd say their first ever event was a true success and a gorgeous experience.
Vendors:
Farming and Dining : Rabbit Crest Farms
Tables : Cryptic Coffee
Dinner Tastings : Chef Alex George of GB & D
Spirits : Stephen Phillips of Exile
Raised Garden Beds : Coda Wood Studio