While in the full swing of summer, we decided to add a Supper to our schedule to host a celebration presented by those who know the pleasures of bittersweet best, Aperol. After a steamy summer week, we caught one of the first cool nights of the changing season — perfect for setting the table fireside, not to mention cooking over open flames. The chefs from Fyr + Salt crafted an incredible Italian meal from farm-fresh meat and produce from 8 Hands Farm.

Everything about this Supper sung of peak season in the Northeast — from the pop of fresh cherry tomatoes to the sizzle of fresh oysters on the grill, the bright fresh flowers on the table to the colorful menu sourced almost completely from the farm, and the conversations that lingered long after the candles burned down. It was one of those lingering summer nights that nobody wants to end.

In short, it was a perfect Southern California day.

As the California sunlight thickened into syrupy gold at sunset, the previously bare table gained a truly unique tablescape we could never have outmatched: gorgeous bottles of all shapes and sizes (accompanied by the inevitable drips and red-wine rings that come with such a celebration) became a collaboratively created table runner, their sculptural beauty refracting the sunlight and reflecting a celebration well attended, a portent of the successful harvest about to begin.

An hour outside of Portland, a seven-mile gravel road winds up a heavily forested hill before opening up to panoramic views of the Columbia Gorge. Those views were just the beginning — for dinner, we walked up into the pine canopy to dine on a treehouse platform overlooking valley views that stretched for days.

Since moving to Maine, we’ve hosted events in beautiful barns and tented shelters, driven inside by the Northeast’s famously mercurial weather. We planned to set the dinner table inside the historic barn for our early summer Supper

With flowers cascading down the staircases, glowy spritzes sweating in the sun, and pastel cocottes and platters from Le Creuset dotting the table, the Boathouse felt like a jewel box bursting with pastel tones as we celebrated the summer solstice, New York City style.

As the evening deepened, the big sky turned technicolor with an incredible sunset. The night ended in the kind of wild darkness that makes you feel small in the vast landscape, without any light pollution to dilute the immensity of the stars. After an evening of amazing connection, no one felt alone in the endless night as they left the pastures together, kicking dirt off their boots on the way back to the bustle of reality in the valley below.

There is a serene beauty to the Hamptons in the shoulder seasons, before the crowds arrive and the summer sunshine reflects blue skies onto whitewashed siding. In the grayer days of spring, the bright green of new growth seems to glow against cloudy skies. It’s much easier, in that light, to remember that while Hamptons is one of America’s most iconic summer playgrounds, it is also one of the country’s great agricultural regions.

On a particularly beautiful late-spring day outside of Austin, when the wildflowers were in full bloom and the very air seemed to vibrate with bursting new life, we headed to the historic 1930’s craftsman bungalow at High Pointe Estate.