October 28, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Harvest exchange

by Sue Dremann

DeWitt Durham has a passion for food. He'll eat "anything that isn't moving anymore," he admits.

During his world travels, he has eaten a fish intestine omelet in China, and pig intestines fried with chilies (which he described as "really, really good"). Once, on a dare, he even ate raw liver. But some of his happiest gustatory experiences happen at home. Durham and his wife, Susan Gere, host a fall harvest exchange.

On the first Sunday in November, friends descend on their Palo Alto home, bearing the fruits of their harvest labors: jams and sauces; wines and mustards; pickles, soaps and potpourri.

The couple cooks up a communal feast of fry bread and black bean chili. Guests supplement the hearty feast with side dishes, wines and homemade beer.

With conversation flowing and appetites satiated, the baskets laden with homemade harvest goods are traded.

The core of the 20 to 30 guests are associated with Klutz Press, where Durham is vice president of product development. But others include an oncology nurse, a seedswoman, assorted business professionals, a mycologist, a James Beard award-winning cookbook author and a nutritionist. It's a random assortment of people with one thing in common -- a passion for food, he said.

Harvest exchanges fit in with a very American way of socializing -- having people come to one's home for dinner, he said. Durham comes from a family that takes good food seriously; harvesting, cooking and sharing food with a crowd is a tradition, he said. His great-grandmother cooked in mining and logging camps in California. His family made things communally. "All of my aunts and uncles made the grape jelly, squeezing the muslin bags for the juice," he recalled.

Durham and Gere began their harvest exchange 15 years ago, while looking for a party theme to welcome people to their new home. He doesn't know where the harvest exchange originated, but thinks such a tradition can be found in any number of churches or small rural towns in Midwest America.

Its distant cousin can be found in England. For centuries, inhabitants of rural English communities have celebrated the harvest by bringing produce to decorate town churches and halls.

After church services, families share a harvest supper at the village hall, bringing foods cooked or baked from locally-raised fruits, vegetables and meats. Produce left at the church is later distributed to the elderly and needy, according to the Traditions U.K. Web site.

Guests at Durham and Gere's harvest exchange typically bring two baskets full of goodies, from pasta sauces to preserves, lavender, dried flowers and honey from home bee hives. Favorites, such as sweet pea seeds and Durham's mustard, are met with mouth-watering expectation every year. Some guests have carved out a niche for themselves, and can be counted on to bring chilies, spice blends, tomato sauce or fudge, he said.

Unlike some harvest exchanges, which have strict rules about bringing only things made from the home garden harvest, anything goes, as long as it's homemade. Durham's own creations are often made with ingredients he finds at the farmer's market. His signature foods include duck breast prosciutto, spicy balsamic mustard, turmeric pickles and guinolet, a French aperitif made from wine and cherries.

Foods aren't the only homemade culinary gifts people bring. A retired art director brings still life watercolors of vegetables; and Jennifer Presley, who works at Hoover Press at Stanford, brings homemade aprons.

Presley has attended the harvest exchange for 10 years. The aprons will make an encore, but this year, she'll also bring hand-made napkins. A top-notch baker, she has also brought apple turnovers to the table in years past. "It's a good community of friends. It's a fun gathering to have on the last warm afternoon outside," she said.

"I love to cook, but I'm not really into preserves," Freda Walstra said. "It took my cooking into another area. Every year, I try to challenge myself. I went with an Indian friend to the Indian market, where there are all of these spices I knew nothing about. We did a tamarind-date chutney that was really fantastic. Right now, I'm looking at my lemon tree and I'm a little disappointed because the lemons are kind of green. I wanted to do a lemon comfit, like the preserves in Moroccan food."

People are very passionate about food at the harvest exchange, but Walstra isn't intimidated because it's very low-key. "No one expects brilliance," she said.

"Find things you like making, rather than what you 'ought' to make," Durham said. "If you like making cookie dough, make cookie dough. Make it so it's not daunting. It'll stop being fun for some folks if it's about how many hours you spend sweltering in the kitchen."

Some harvest exchanges require guests only take away in proportion to what they bring, but after 15 years, the couple have found the right attitude is important to keep people coming back. "People are really uncomfortable about equitable exchange," Durham said.

"For us, it's a social event. There is no minimum obligation and no expectation. Nobody complains that someone has come with nothing. People know if they don't feel like making something, they're just as welcome as if they did."

Do's and don'ts of the harvest exchange

Here are some tips for making a successful event:

Put together a simple meal as the focus of the event. First and foremost, it's a social event.

Plan the event while weather is still nice, taking care to not schedule too close to holidays. Durham has his event at 1 p.m., when weather is warmest and people still have room for other plans during the day.

Send invitations out six to eight weeks ahead of time.

A big one -- find things you like making, rather than what you "ought" to make.

Don't set high expectations. Some people get performance anxiety. Let them know that anything they make is fine.

Don't make it a strict exchange for equal value. Let people know they are still welcome even if they don't bring anything.

Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be e-mailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.

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