Last month we hosted a fruit tree grafting workshop with our friend and neighbor Richard. Participants were shown a few trees that we had grafted in previous years (under Richard’s guidance), as well as a couple of failed grafts to learn from.
Earlier this month we had the incredible joy and privilege of welcoming baroque violinist Fiona Hughes to Farmata. Fiona regularly plays with some of the world’s best ensembles in beautiful venues like Boston’s Symphony Hall. So how was it for her to come to Fair Grove and play for us in the barn?
It is such a relief to have the first concert under our belts! Last week, twenty old and new friends made their way to the barn for ‘Bach & Breakfast’.
We are ready! Well, ready enough. Despite walls needing to be painted and shelves needing to be built, we are going to host our first public Farmata concert next month! This first event will be a morning concert called Bach & Breakfast. It will feature three Bach cello suites, played by Steuart, served alongside a light breakfast made up of homemade jams and biscuits, locally roasted coffee and more.
A few days after hosting our first concert in the barn we packed up and left for a two-week trip to Texas. Steuart played and recorded Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C with Austin Philharmonie (here’s a short clip from a rehearsal) - the full recording will be out sometime next year. From Austin we headed over to the Hill Country where Steuart collaborated with musician Jonny Rodgers, playing concerts and recording music for cello and wine glasses. When we got back home we had just over a week to get ready for the next Farmata concert (and get caught up on laundry!).