Harvest Season at Ulster Folk Museum

Harvest is an important time of year and marks the culmination of the agricultural season when crops cultivated throughout the year are finally ready for gathering and processing. It is a time of celebration and hard work with deep-rooted cultural and historical significance. Communities came together during the harvest season to help each other gather crops and store them for the winter months. The spirit of cooperation and camaraderie was evident as neighbours supported one another in this labour-intensive process. There were always jobs to be done in the harvest season - vegetables and fruits to be picked, crops to be harvested, corn to be threshed and ground, flax to be pulled and food to be preserved in preparation for the long winter months. But harvest wasn’t only a time of hard work and was also a joyous celebration of the abundance of nature; fairs and feasts would have been a common occurrence through the season. For the whole month of September, visit the Ulster Folk Museum to explore and celebrate harvest and our close connection to the land and to each other. During your visit you can explore our beautiful exhibit buildings dressed for harvest and learn about traditional harvest activities. Our visitor guides will be busy making potato bread and butter and our craft demonstrators will be busy on harvest themed work. There are plenty of walks to take in the autumnal hues of the woods and farmlands as you watch the season turn and the work of harvest unfold.