Garden Gab

From food to fashion to furniture, the green revolution is finally in full swing.  While the past few years have heralded a return to the garden, self sufficiency and elegance through simplicity, 2010 is shaping up as the real start of the outdoor living renaissance.  With more and more of us enjoying our own and our neighbors’ homes this holiday season, why not kick off this new era of renewed hospitality with a New Year’s Eve party highlighting all the great things to come?

With many homeowners utilising smaller indoor spaces this year, entertaining may seem a stressful or even impossible task, but if you utilize your outdoor space, it need not be.  Even in colder climates opening up your idea of entertaining space is possible and even desirable.  The trick is to decide which aspects of your party will take place indoors and which will take place in the outdoor kitchen or living area.  For those hosts blessed with mild weather or those who have a very good patio heater or large firepit, it may be possible to serve your entire dinner outdoors. 

Outdoor Dining sets can now comfortably hold a larger number of guests, such as the Harvest Dining Set from www.thepatiofurnitureshopper.com

Outdoor barbecues can still be the casual affair we enjoyed in the last decade with our neighbors and friends, but these days the food tastes better, stays hotter, and is ready quicker.  Full dinner parties can be prepared in these beautiful new patio kitchens, which is good news, because experts say the cocktail party is on the way out for 2010.   Guests want relaxed atmospheres and full sit down dinners with several small courses rather than forced mingling with drink and hors d’ouvres in hand.  So if you are equipped with a small outdoor dining set or warming it sufficiently is not an option, save your indoor space for your formal meal and utilise your outdoor kitchen for your bar, a skating or sledding party for the kids, or even as your dancing space.

Canopied gazebos with solid floors, like this Tigerwood Gazebo from www.gazebosonly.com are perfect for your bar, dining area or dance floor even on snowy days. This one has an option for modular panels so you can make it as large as you need!

The next year is expected to focus on relaxation and casual get togethers, so invite your guests to dress warmly and comfortably for your affair, especially as it will be partially outdoors, rather than making it black tie. 

Homegrown and local products are all the rage both this year and far into the next, so highlight your menu with a mixture of locally produced entrees and your own garden’s products.  Build both your bar selection and your meal around what you do best.  If growing food is not your cup of tea, it might be that one of your neighbors is a champion gardener and would love to swap for your gorgeous flowers, plant cuttings or orchard fruit.  The point is to make it as local as possible.  Food in 2010 is going to be about preparing it from scratch.  If you are a wine hobbyist, make mulled wine from the stock that you put down yourself.  If you grew a spectacular herb garden this year, utilise your herbs in both your meal and in some handcrafted drinks, such as lavender infused gin, Meyer lemon vodka, or homegrown Bloody Mary’s.   Remember, part of the charm is that these handcrafted drinks and homemade meals are not going to turn out perfectly.  The real gift you bring to the table as a host is your expertise and part of that is good food, good drinks and good company- not corporate perfection.  Your guests will appreciate it all the more.

Make your own homegrown meyer lemon drops this year