8/11/2023 0 Comments Cancel harvest hostNot only did someone have to open the gates, but we needed to put people in specific areas where they would be out of the way of any equipment we needed to move through and any work that the crews were performing. I had to turn away people who wanted to stay for two weeks (the website does state this is supposed to be a one night stay.) Perhaps most uncomfortable for me was that, as a small concern with limited staff, I had to schedule arrivals. The misaligned perception on the part of campers seemed often to be that we small farmers could offer the kind of amenities of an RV park or campground. One of the reasons we got into the program. We do love giving tastings in our wine cave. Do I have to buy your wine to stay at your place?” I always answered that no one HAS to buy anything, but that I was reserving my places for people who were interested in a wine experience and wanted to be involved in a tasting. I did have a number of prospective campers call me and say, “I hate wine. I guess you can’t really fault anyone for that. The reality is that most just saw the program as a cheap place to stay. My misperception was that I thought my campers, if they came to stay at a winery, would be interested in hearing about the operation and would love wine. Harvest Host seemed like a great way to preach the word. For most of us, our friends have heard our spiels before and are tuning us out. ![]() We can talk your ear off about best biodynamic and organic practices, we can wax eloquent about preferred clones and heritage vegetables, and we will pummel you with reasons that you should patronize small family farms. If you know small farmers and winery owners, we tend to be an evangelical bunch. It might have been a fluke, but my campers were largely an older set who I doubt had any social media presence. Again, in my experience, none of this happened. At the least, we might get some favorable mentions on YouTube or Instagram, campers might suggest our wines to their friends (we only sell online), or perhaps we’d build up lots of likes on our winery Facebook and Instagram pages. But I suspect, like me, most hosts do NOT go into this thinking we will get rich. Although Harvest Hosts suggests that the campers purchase at least $20 worth of product from their host, in my short experience, this seldom happened. I’m sure we hosts and potential hosts have a variety of reasons for approaching the program. The hosts provide their facilities for free. From what I can see, there will be little support or effort from the Harvest Host company.įirst of all, it’s important to understand that Harvest Hosts makes all its money from the campers who are charged a yearly fee. But much of creating the success of the program is going to have to come down to those two groups. Some of the issues just boiled down to “mean people suck.” In summary, I wouldn’t say there couldn’t be good and enjoyable things about the program for both hosts and campers. ![]() Some could be laid at the feet of the company that runs Harvest Hosts, some could be chalked up to misaligned expectations between me as a host and campers. ![]() It was not a good experience for any number of reasons. Here at the Rancho, we served as a host for about a month. If you are an RVer, you may be aware of this online service that lists participating wineries and small farms willing to act as hosts for one night, off the grid camping.
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