Travel

BEAUTIFUL HARVEST CELEBRATIONS

Courtesy of Asergeev. Cranberry Harvesting.

Beautiful harvest celebrations are happening now. Some of the best ones are focused on a single crop, like pumpkins, apples, or cranberries. Some are more of a cornucopia. Here’s a taste of what you can enjoy.

Photo: Courtesy of You & Me. Cranberry Bogs.

Cranberry fields forever -- or so it seems, if you wade through the bogs in Massachusetts. It is quite spectacular to see the red blanket of berries in wide flotillas.

Photo: Courtesy of Ad Make Peace. Wagon Rides around Tractor Bogs.

Get ready for the Cranberry Harvest Celebration in Wareham, on Columbus Day weekend.

Considered one of the top 100 events of North America, the Cranberry Harvest Festival, this month, it is listed as one of six top fall food festivals in Yankee magazine.

Photo: Courtesy of Wodumedia. Cranberry Marsh.

Experience a wet cranberry harvest, cooking demonstrations, an enormous tent full of juried crafters, paddleboat rides on scenic Tihonet Pond, food vendors, music, and more.

Photo: Courtesy of Little Leopard Book. Cranberry Pomegranate Pie.

Indulge in sweet-tart treats like cranberry donuts, cranberry shortbread, and cranberry apple fritters -- that is after you chow down on some stellar clam chowder, lobster rolls, and Boston baked beans.

Photo: Steve Dreyer. Stone Barns Harvest Festival.

When one of our favorite chefs and food activists, Dan Barber, throws a harvest festival, you know it’s got to be wonderful. The Stone Barns Center’s tenth annual fall celebration and fundraiser is happening this weekend.

Photo: Courtesy of Delectable Living. Bouchon Bakery at Stone Barns Harvest Fest.

The Center, and the Blue Hill restaurant at Stone Barns, offer a lovely semi-rural setting near Bedford, New York. Barber invites his friends from Balthazar Bakery, Luke’s Lobster, and dozens of other exceptional local-ish food purveyors to bring it on, so you will be well fed.

Photo: Courtesy of Hither and Thither. Stone Barns Harvest Fest.

Enjoy cocktail-making workshops, as well as old-fashioned dalliances, such as a charming egg race or a good ole tug-of-war. You’ll love the turkey parade. Take a hayride! Move some sheep. Do a dosie-doe!

Proceeds from Harvest Fest support Stone Barns Center’s mission to improve the way America eats and farms.

Photo: Courtesy of Gettysburg Getaway. National Apple Harvest Festival.

The National Apple Harvest Festival takes place over the first two weekends of October, in the heart of apple country, near Gettysburg Pennsylvania. You can load up on apples, of course, along with apple-icious treats.

Photo: Courtesy of PA Festivals. National Apple Harvest Festival.

Sure, you’ll find some scrumptious apple pies, butters, sauces, donuts, and those dandy candy apples on a stick.

While you sip your cider, check out beautiful crafts, great music, antique cars, chainsaw carving, Native American dancers, steam engine displays, orchard tours, and….wait for it … the PA Apple Queen!

Photo: Bill. Keene Pumpkin Festival.

Pumpkins give us lots to celebrate, from pies to jack-o-lanterns. The Keene, New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival. If you’ve never seen a pumpkin pyramid ablaze, you’ll be floored by the massive orange glow. The fine citizens of Keene are hoping to reclaim their world record title, currently held by Highwood, IL, which built high with almost 31,ooo pumpkins.

Photo: Rodney Campbell. Pumpkin Field

Try Pumpkin Bowling -- yes, you bowl with a pumpkin instead of a ball! And go hungry, as there will be plenty of creamy pies, lovely cakes, and other pumpkin delights.

Photo: Courtesy of Simple Hedonisms. Wine Sniffing.

Harvest time is when Sonoma, California really shines. Set in the famed wine region, the Sonoma Harvest Festival in Santa Rosa is a mega-wine-tasting weekend, taking place October 5 - 7. More than 250 wineries will tempt you. Over 1000 wines compete for top honors.

Photo: Courtesy of Girls’ Day In. Grape Stomp.

In between sipping your Zinfandels and your Pinot Noirs, try some cow-milking lessons, pumpkin carving and an honest-to-goodness World Championship Grape Stomp.

Read about beautiful harvests all this week, as it relates to Arts/Design,Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact, including Harvesting Hope,Reaping Hope, New Crop of Harvest Books and Apps, After Harvest, It’s Still Alive, Beautiful New Harvest Treats, and Fresh Art Harvest.

Get busy and enter the BN Competitions, Our theme this week is Beautiful Harvest. Send in your images and ideas. Deadline is 10.06.13.