Five Places to Follow the Harvest Moon

Five rituals for crossing into another season.

I like the equinox because it is one of the few things all of us are doing at once.
The earth tilts. The light changes. Something ripens. Something gets put away.
And humans, apparently incapable of letting a celestial event pass without food, fire, alcohol or some kind of parade, make a festival out of it.
So forget the fall-foliage checklist. (Well, we can save that for another time…)
Here are five places to notice the season actually turning.
There will be books.
There will be food.
There will be excellent places to sleep.
And somewhere in Nebraska, there will probably be a goat.

MOON | PROVINCETOWN, MASSACHUSETTS

September 26

Provincetown in late September already feels like the edge of something.
The summer crowds thin. The light changes. The Atlantic starts looking less like something you should swim in and more like something you should stand beside wearing a sweater and contemplating your questionable decisions.
Then the Harvest Moon rises.
On September 26, the historic Schooner Hindu sails from Provincetown Harbor for a special Harvest Full Moon sail timed around sunset and moonrise.
Frankly, I don't need a harder sell than that.
THE FESTIVAL: Make the moon the festival. The Harvest Full Moon sail runs September 26 from 5–7 p.m., taking you onto the water for sunset, stars and the rising moon.
BROWSE: East End Books. A small independent shop on Commercial Street with particularly good shelves for Provincetown, Cape Cod and LGBTQ+ writing.
SLEEP: SLEEP: Crown Pointe Historic Inn & Spa. A collection of historic Provincetown buildings tucked just off Commercial Street, with the kind of grown-up extras I appreciate after spending an evening on a schooner: a spa, soaking tub, sauna, heated pool and a very short walk back from the center of town. Historic Cape Cod outside, robe-and-don't-bother-me energy inside. And because Crown Pointe is a Fora partner property, I can book your stay and help you access available advisor perks.
EAT: The Mews. Waterfront dinner, harbor views, cocktails. Order something from the sea. You're on Cape Cod. Behave accordingly.
LOOK FOR: The first moment you can see moonlight on the water.

THE QUESTION TO TAKE WITH YOU: What becomes visible to me only when things get a little darker?

EARTH | OSLO, NORWAY

September 26–October 4

Norway is not trying to seduce you into autumn gently.
By late September, the light is already changing quickly.
Good.
Lean in.
Norsk Folkemuseum on Bygdøy celebrates autumn with the deeply glamorous seasonal activity of digging potatoes out of the ground.
I am sending you to Norway to harvest potatoes.
Wanderslut contains multitudes.
THE FESTIVAL: Norsk Folkemuseum's Autumn Festival runs September 26 through October 4, with potato harvesting and other traditional seasonal farm activities.
BROWSE: Tronsmo Bokhandel. Fiction, essays, feminism, politics, photography, art, travel, comics. This is not a twelve-minute bookstore.
SLEEP: THE THIEF. Art-filled, waterfront and very much not interested in rustic potato-farm aesthetics. Exactly the contrast I want.
EAT: Kontrast. Seasonal Norwegian ingredients are the point, making this the dinner for a trip built around noticing what the earth is producing right now.
LOOK FOR: What people are putting away. Outdoor furniture. Flowers. Boats. The little preparations for darkness.

THE QUESTION TO TAKE WITH YOU: What am I ready to stop carrying into the next season?

HARVEST | WOLFVILLE, NOVA SCOTIA

October 3–4

Then we drink the harvest.
Wolfville sits in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley, where vineyards, orchards and farmland run toward the Bay of Fundy.
During Harvest Festival Weekend, wineries throughout the Annapolis and Gaspereau Valleys celebrate the grape harvest with tastings, cellar events, music, food and harvest dinners.
This is the autumn trip for people who prefer their agricultural experiences poured into a glass.
THE FESTIVAL: Harvest Festival Weekend, October 3–4. Don't attempt every winery. Pick a few, leave room between them, and allow somebody else to drive.
BROWSE: The Odd Book. A secondhand and antiquarian bookstore that's been in Wolfville since 1977. Exactly the sort of place where I'd go looking for something I didn't know I wanted.
SLEEP: Tattingstone Inn. A historic 1874 property turned small boutique hotel, surrounded by gardens and sitting right in Wolfville. During harvest season, its wine-country location is difficult to improve upon.
EAT: Mulberries Bistro at Tattingstone. Its current dinner menu leans into Nova Scotia ingredients, and the inn is offering an autumn package with local wine tasting and a four-course seasonal dinner. Sometimes the correct answer is simply to eat downstairs and walk upstairs.
LOOK FOR: The thing that's slightly past perfect. The grape beginning to wrinkle. The leaf with brown at its edge. Autumn gets interesting when beauty stops pretending permanence.

THE QUESTION TO TAKE WITH YOU: What in my life is finally ready to be gathered?

COMMUNITY | CHADRON, NEBRASKA

October 3

This is exactly why I don't want Wanderslut to become a collection of Paris-Tokyo-Lisbon lists.
Sometimes the interesting road goes to Chadron, Nebraska.
The Harvest Moon Fall Festival at the Dawes County Fairgrounds is the small-town version of the season: vendors, food, regional performances and people gathering because this is where they live and autumn has arrived.
Go because you've probably never considered going.
That's part of the point.
THE FESTIVAL: Harvest Moon Fall Festival, October 3. Wander. Eat something. Watch whatever is happening. Talk to somebody. Do not spend the entire afternoon trying to turn Chadron into content.
BROWSE: Chadron doesn't currently have the independent bookstore I wish I could send you into, so we're not inventing one. Go instead to the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center at Chadron State College. Sandoz wrote out of this landscape, which makes her a better literary introduction to the place than a random gift shop with three shelves of paperbacks.
SLEEP: Olde Main Street Inn. Historic, rustic and on Main Street. This is not the trip for an infinity pool.
Thank God.
EAT: Bean Broker Coffee House & Pub. A local gathering spot in a former bank building. Get coffee. Stay for food. Eavesdrop responsibly.
LOOK FOR: Something beautiful you would have missed if you had already decided Nebraska wasn't interesting.

THE QUESTION TO TAKE WITH YOU: Where have I confused unfamiliar with uninteresting?

FIRE | TRIM + ATHBOY, IRELAND

October 29–November 1

And then we finish in the dark.
Púca Festival takes place across Trim and Athboy in County Meath at Samhain, the traditional boundary between the light and dark halves of the year.
There are stories. Music. Processions. Food. Folklore.
And fire.
On Halloween night, the Samhain fire is lit in Athboy, turning the end of the harvest season into something larger: an acknowledgment that seasons end, darkness arrives and human beings have been gathering around flames trying to make sense of that fact for a very long time.
This is where I want the road to end.
THE FESTIVAL: Púca Festival, October 29–November 1. Split your time between Trim and Athboy for storytelling, performances, the Harvest Market, procession and Samhain fire. A festival shuttle runs between the two towns.
BROWSE: Antonia's Bookstore in Trim. An independent shop open since 2005, with fiction, history, biography and Irish books. Buy yourself a ghost story. This is not the weekend for a cheerful beach read.
SLEEP: Trim Castle Hotel. Yes, we're sleeping opposite a medieval castle during Samhain. Occasionally life presents an obvious answer. The hotel itself hosts some Púca performances, too.
EAT: Bailey Brasserie at Trim Castle Hotel makes an easy festival-night dinner, especially when the alternative is wandering around hungry while waiting for people to start throwing fire.
LOOK FOR: The moment the celebration changes after sunset. Listen before you photograph it.

THE QUESTION TO TAKE WITH YOU: What am I willing to let end without immediately trying to replace it?

THE EQUINOX RULE

The equinox doesn't ask whether you're ready.
The earth tilts.
The light changes.
Grapes come off the vine. Potatoes come out of the ground. Somebody puts the boat away. Somebody lights a fire.
And somewhere else, another season is beginning.
We like to imagine our lives have one correct season. That everybody should be blooming when we're blooming, harvesting when we're harvesting, beginning when we're beginning.
They aren't.
And neither are we.
So pick a place.
Go see what season it's in.
Bring a book.
Look up at the moon.

THE QUESTION TO TAKE HOME: What season am I actually in, rather than the one I think I should be in?