A Fall Themed Gathering
How do you feel about potlucks?
I can’t say I’m really fond of them. The concept is nice – everyone bring a dish and we’ll share it together. But to me the reality of it is not so ideal many times.
Enchiladas on the same plate as your broccoli salad with mashed potatoes and gravy beside that but the gravy somehow manages to spread to cover everything on your plate as well. I may be exaggerating a little but it’s pretty much the case.
One of my favorite ways to organize a meal is where one person brings the main dish and everyone else brings sides that complement it.
But if it’s for a very large group and you don’t want the burden of making the main dish and no one else does either, my next favorite way is to have a themed potluck. Themes are fun. They stretch a person a bit because instead of bringing the routine casserole that they’ve brought for forever, they are forced to be more creative.
For several years now I’ve been planning themed potluck for our church’s anniversary meetings.
We’re not a large church so managing the potluck is pretty simple.
This year the theme for the potluck was Fall.
My decoration for the serving table was totally last-minute. I took a crock that I have 3 rolling pins in, added some wild grass that someone picked quite a while ago and added some Russian sage from our plant in the back yard. I wasn’t sure if it looked a bit much at first but decided in the end that it probably would work okay.
The tablecloth is just a piece of material that I purchased many years ago.
We have a very beat up Blazer that we use to give visitors a tour of our place when they come to visit and I had the inspiration to use it in this setting as a place to serve my drinks out of. The Blazer is rather special in people’s minds because pretty much everyone that has ever visited us has had a thrilling ride in it. 🙂 Russell says the Blazer is not quite vintage enough to pull off being cute in this situation and he’s probably right but I thought we should try it anyways – do something different. We set an ice chest on the tailgate filled with ice and bottled waters and to the left was an old cowboy bathtub filled with ice and carbonated drinks like Switch. (Sorry but I didn’t get a good picture with the ice chest in place.)
The ladies did an excellent job bringing foods representative of the beautiful season of Autumn.
I had never had sweet potato lasagna with zucchini and turkey sausage before but I got to try it and I loved it.
Wild rice chicken casserole, chicken potpie and apple glazed ribs were some of the Fall themed offerings.
 And then of course we had a bountiful supply of desserts – apple pies, carrot cake and cobblers served a la mode.
(The sign is from Hobby Lobby that I got for 50% off.)
I’ll leave you with a poem that speaks of Fall. My son memorized this years ago, so it is pretty special to me.
When the Frost is on the Punkin
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin’ turkey-cock,
And the clackin’ of the guineys, and the cluckin’ of the hens,
And the rooster’s hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it’s then’s the times a feller is a-feelin’ at his best,
With the risin’ sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.
—
They’s something kindo’ harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here—
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin’-birds and buzzin’ of the bees;
But the air’s so appetizin’; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur’ that no painter has the colorin’ to mock—
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.
—
The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin’ of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries—kindo’ lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin’ sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;
The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below—the clover over-head!—
O, it sets my hart a-clickin’ like the tickin’ of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!
—
Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps
Is poured around the celler-floor in red and yeller heaps;
And your cider-makin’ ’s over, and your wimmern-folks is through
With their mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and saussage, too! …
I don’t know how to tell it—but ef sich a thing could be
As the Angels wantin’ boardin’, and they’d call around on me—
I’d want to ’commodate ’em—all the whole-indurin’ flock—
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!
2 Comments
Courtney Horst
Nice! I like the poem-especially the rooster’s “hally-looyer”! Lol.
Elisabeth
Yes, that’s a great line. Seth is the one who memorized this poem and I always get a chuckle when he recites it.