Astronomer Stephan Martin leads a guided tour of the October night sky over Hickory Nut Gap Farms, pointing out Saturn, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the constellations rising as the first quarter moon sets. He'll walk through fall favorites like Pegasus and Cygnus, share the stories behind them, and preview the winter sky just starting to show on the eastern horizon. Orionid and Taurid meteors might make an appearance.

Bring blankets or camp chairs, binoculars if you have them, and layers for a cool mountain evening. The farm store opens before the program with charcuterie boards, wine, beer and local sweets. Tickets are $12.

Friday October 16 at 8 PM at Hickory Nut Gap Farms in Fairview.

Hickory Nut Gap is a working family farm out on Sugar Hollow Road in Fairview, east of Asheville, and the same family has been farming it since 1916. They raise 100% grassfed beef plus pasture-raised pork and chicken, and the farm store and butchery is where you stock up on all of it, along with local goods and prepared food.

Fall is when the farm really comes alive. Weekends bring hay rides and pony rides by donation, with the money going to Project HNG. Wednesday through Sunday the kids, and plenty of grown-ups, hit the culvert slides, the trike track, the sound silo and the creek with its little rope swing. Local apples, farm-pressed cider and pumpkins fill up the store in September.

The calendar stays full out here. Monthly Big Barn Socials, barn dance shows with live music and a two-step instructor, stargazing nights, birding walks and Sunday morning qi gong all happen on the farm, so grab tickets early for the bigger nights.

Regulars come for the meat, the grassfed beef and the sausages especially, and plenty of folks make the drive just to restock the freezer. On fall weekends it's a go-to for families, with kids bouncing between the slides, the piglets and the chick brooder while the grown-ups grab a hot dog and a cider.

Hickory Nut Gap Farms

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Autumn Stargazing on the Farm

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