Once settled in Homer, Alaska, we had to get ready for a Party! A Peony party! The location of Joslyn Peony Farm was one of many of the fresh flower growing farms in Homer and was set high on top of a hill overlooking Homer Bay and the Ocean. When we arrived, we saw tidy row plantings of Peonies, bursting blooms in deepest pink to red to exotic colors like coral. Certified American Growers (www.CertifiedAmericanGrowers.com) sponsored this Field to Vase Dinner event, which included lots of fun things to do. We toured flower fields, sipped wine, and ate giant crab claw appetizers. We heard a speech from Senator Lisa Murkowski, had a string quartet serenading us, and found many staged photo vignettes for fantastic selfie opportunities.
We could look across an open field to see end to end tables spread across a large grassy area. A lovely braided Peony flower arrangement graced the 160 place settings set up for dinner and ran the entire length of all of those tables.
Dinner was grand, look at this delicious vegetarian dish I ordered in spite of the main entree being fresh-caught salmon. The produce just seemed too good to pass up! Great friendships made, and all had a fun time!
One last blog segment, revealing more spectacular photos and thoughts on visiting the wild wilderness called Alaska, will be shown in our next post. Find out how I packed for this great Alaskan tour and how I took a night-time photo safari to end the trip with a bang ( or, in this case, a Moose sighting).