…the story of our summer harvest table…
As the spinach grew and grew, draping along garden the path, I envisioned it draping around candlesticks…
as baskets filled with vibrant red, orange and yellow tomatoes, and the green cucumbers and beans spilled onto the hands that harvested them…
as the physalis and grapes burst with the best of the season’s sweetness…
I pictured them all overflowing along a table, beautifully displayed and beckoning for us to gather around it, and celebrate the gift of a summer harvest!
The bounty from my garden this year has been incredibly inspiring. So much so, that before I transformed this grand harvest of vegetables and fruits into edible delights and preserve their freshness from all things from salads, to jams, to sauces — I simply could not stop thinking of their design potential too. This abundance is a gift of nurtured labor and love, with every bit of magic harvested, savored and shared; and my hands felt called to create a tablescape.
I wanted to style a table that reflected peak summer. One that celebrates the loving and necessary act of harvesting, and how it powerfully brings us together; to gather, to savor and relish in the season.
It’s as if each person spilled their basket of garden pickings onto the table to share with one another. And with heirloom linens and bits of treasures — an organically styled moment is made.
Garlands of cherry tomatoes and grapes have become quite popular in event and wedding designs, and it would have been a fun detail to include here. But every element I used was to then be given, eaten raw or preserved within days, so there are no mechanics, no wiring, no using food as candlesticks as not alter the freshness and quality of the items. And yet, it also was not the intention for this design…it’s meant to be simple and natural as possible.
I think the thing that makes food styled tables standout from the rest, whether a tablescape or whether the styling of a buffet or bar, is using fruit and vegetables in big quantities. You may choose to focus on one ingredient or mix them as I have done here, but what makes your design stand out is going ornate and abundant. Create towers of tomatoes and grapes, fill compote vessels or large urn-like vases, and then let singular pieces fall as they please. I find the more you fight the details or force certain lines, the less organic it feels.
Then add in all your layers — fabrics, laces, candles…use a variety or create a more uniform look. But think beyond the norm when styling, like draping the bottom of your table linen or wrapping additional pieces of fabric around containers filled with fruits and end wrap candlesticks with greens, like I have done her with my lace and spinahc.
And for a singular touch of whimsy, a very special and one-of-a-kind Jose Franco ceramic piece, a goat candlestick. Because adding a personal touch will always make any table design memorable.
Every edible element I used…tomatoes, grapes, wild spinach, physalis, cucumbers, seeded parsley & purslane.
“If we nurture it, the land gives us so much. Every element working together in unison. We need the flowers, the trees and the food grown. The pollinators and animals who add their magic along with the hands that tend it all, to share with the world.”
A table designed as an ode to all that summer provides, and fully cherishes the love for my garden.
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