Farm to Table Harvest Dinner Returns to Ireland House on October 3

Saturday night's dinner is served under a tent on land the Ireland family farmed. The Museums of Burlington hold their Farm to Table: Harvest Dinner at Ireland House Museum on October 3 from 6 to 11 p.m., and every course is built from food grown and harvested within 100 kilometres of the house.

The evening runs long. A cocktail hour and Burlington Farmers' Market charcuterie open it, local wine and beer are poured through dinner, the historic home is open for tours, and Mo Guzman plays live. Tickets were $120, or $115 for members, and had to be bought by September 30. The night is for ages 19 and over, with tables seating eight or nine.

The producer list reads like a map of the area. Drummond Farms in Waterdown sits 14 kilometres away and grows more than 20 varieties of apple. Backed by Bees started as a roadside vegetable and honey stand in Burlington. Firebat roasts its coffee on Harvester Road, four kilometres from the table, and the Burlington Farmers' Market is five.

Where the money goes

This is the Museums of Burlington's largest fundraiser of the year, paying for the care of the historic collection and school programming that reaches more than 6,000 students a year. Part of it funds the Heritage Garden Initiative, a project with M. M. Robinson High School's horticulture therapy program. Students grow vegetables and herbs on the Ireland House grounds using the methods the Ireland family would have used in the late 1800s, and the harvest goes to the Burlington Food Bank.