Garden Party for the Garden

On Sunday after service, we had a High Tea Garden Party on the central lawn at the community. Some 70 or so people attended, ate delicious food, got serenaded by our lovely singers, and raised money for the community gardens.

A small army of volunteer cooks and bakers prepared a glorious repast. The lunch table included row upon row of quiches (in mushroom and leek varieties),  as well as deviled eggs, cucumber sandwiches, nutballs, salad, crackers with blue cheese and raspberry jam, muffins, and maple scones with lemon curd. The dessert table was at least as huge and covered in tastiness that included brownies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, cardamom cookies, lemon cookies, raspberry muffins, chocolate covered strawberries, and six varieties of shortbread. Wow!

As we ate, different groups of singers occasionally popped up around the tables to entertain us. David P. talked about his recent trip to Italy to see Swamiji, and Amara told us about the community gardens. Did you know that the garden area behind Master's Kitchen used to be a driveway? And the orchard used to be a volleyball court. And now they're full of fruit and veggies!

In the end, we raised over $2,500 for the garden. That money will be used to replace old redwood planter boxes, upgrade the drip watering system, enhance the soil in the orchard for growing vegetables, and purchase seeds. Thank you, everyone who contributed!

We ended the party with everyone singing "Many Hands Make a Miracle," because they certainly did, with such a beautiful event going so joyfully. And for an encore, the entire crowd of miracle workers tackled the cleanup, causing Asha to remark on how very astral Ananda events always seem to be -- they spring up, practically from nothing, make a lot of people happy, and then just vanish again into the ether.

You can see more photos of the day here. And just for an extra little dose of adorableness, here's a shot of Grace helping make the shortbread cookies on Saturday.