PLEASE NOTE: Farm To Table Dinner – Aug. 6, 2022 – CANCELLED

I bet you didn’t know that Farmer Reuben loves Gregorian chant. Reuben is a tenor and has been singing gregorian chant for over eight years. This is the music that Reuben discovered when he found a group of families who formed a choir to sing that same sacred music composed over 500 years ago. Growing up with a mother who played piano and organ, studying and playing piano himself for 13 years, and generations of singing family members cultivated an appreciation and love for beautiful music. 

When he discovered the Mary Immaculate Choir, he was introduced to renaissance composers such as Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Tomas Luis de Victoria, Gregoriao Allegri and William Byrd who are widely considered to be the greatest composers of their age – some argue the greatest of all time. 

The greatest cathedrals in Rome reverberated with this music. As choir directors for St. Peter’s Basilica, St. John Lateran, Santa Maria Maggiore and even the Sistine Chapel, Palestrina and Allegri composed motets, masses and pieces saturated with scripture and the psalms. 

These are the places we will be visiting on our pilgrimage to Rome with the Mary Immaculate Choir. 

Why is it a pilgrimage rather than a choir tour?

A pilgrimage is a journey made to seek a spiritual good, something common to many religions. The goal is to pray, to seek answers, and to participate in the love of God for all people no matter where they live. Jews, Christians, Muslims Buddhists, Hindus and others go to foreign places important to their religious history. 

Pilgrimage is always a communal experience. Family members, friends, neighbors and even strangers assist pilgrims to start their journey, meet them along the way and welcome them when they return. Our american independence often contradicts this idea of interdependence and reliance on community by insisting that each individual make their own way through life. 

But you know that real life isn’t like that. It takes a community to grow food, to teach children, to take care of neighbors and lift our spirits through the arts and religion. 

We invite you to take another step with our family in this community life by contributing to our pilgrimage to Rome this October. 

Farmer Reuben wants you to know that this is not a vacation for our family. Our vacations are usually in January, when we have time to rest and be together. Instead we will have full days of travel, choir rehearsals and masses to sing. Not all of the children are able to go with us. Annika will be on campus for her Junior year while the three and seven year old boys will stay with friends. Baby K will ride on my lap most of the journey. The four children who have learned to sing in the choir with Reuben over the last few years will have an extraordinary experience that will shape the rest of their lives. 

To make this pilgrimage a reality, we invite you to our first ever Farm to Table Dinner to raise funds for our trip.

Hoping to amaze you with the taste of real food from our farm, just like in the “old country”, we will serve a five course meal:

  • Appetizer – aged cheese, brick oven bread, & herbed olive oil
  • Pasta Fagioli – organic pasta mist (mixed shapes) with local Jacob’s cattle beans topped with grated Vachetta 
  • Meat & Vegetables – lamb, pork and grilled vegetable skewers with garlic dipping sauce
  • Farmhouse Salad – green summer Romaine with cherry tomatoes,  local fruit and peach vinaigrette. 
  • Fromage blanc cheesecake – fresh, farm made cow’s milk cheese with local fruit

15 TICKETS LEFT!

Only 70 tickets will be available so make your plans now to join us for a beautiful outdoor dinner on the farm. If you’ve ever enjoyed Pizza Night this will be 5x better!

Saturday July 31, 2021
$50/person minimum donation

First Course begins at 5:30 with drinks and appetizers while we seat our guests.

Event Address: Willow Haven Farm, 7686 Herber Rd. New Tripoli, PA 18066
Contact us at farmer@willowhavenfarmpa.com

ONLY 15 TICKET LEFT – RESERVE YOURS HERE