How To Host Your Own Happy Harvester Event
Starting your own Happy Harvesters community is a fun way to bring family and friends together to put more joy into the world.
The quickest and most fun way to get going on your own harvesting event is to find trees on your street that have lots of fruit. If you do regular walking with friends in your neighborhood, you can also identify trees with fruit during your walk and see if your friends would be willing to participate in harvesting the tree.
Step 1. Find a tree
When you find a tree that’s loaded with fruit, knock on the neighbor’s door and ask if they would be interested in having the fruit picked off their tree for free and donating some of it to a food bank. If the neighbor’s not home, consider returning the next day and leaving note so they can get back to you. Once you’ve secured a tree to harvest, plan the picking event.
Step 2. Plan the event
Planning a Happy Harvester event should be fun. Think of it as a social gathering where refreshments will be enjoyed once the pick is over. Depending on how much fruit will be picked and how many friends or family come, a pick can take as little as one hour or as many as three. Set the date and time, and determine which local food pantry you’d like to donate the harvest to. This can be your own church if they run a food pantry, or you can look for one on Nextdoor.
Step 3. Invite your friends and family.
People love to gather, especially if it’s for a good cause and refreshments will be served. This can be something simple like serving pizza after the pick, having a barbecue, or turning it into an ice cream social. Make sure to invite your favorite neighbors to join in as well.
Step 4. Organize the gear
Before the day of the event, confirm how many people will come and ask those who have pruning shears, garden gloves, or a ladder to bring them to the event. You can also borrow these from neighbors if you don’t have enough for all your pickers.
Other items you’ll need for the pick will be cardboard boxes to put the harvest in (best and cheapest for transporting them to the food panty) or you can use plastic crates if you have any. Also good to have grocery bags handy for people who’d like to take some pickings home for their own enjoyment.
Finally, have plenty of water on hand to keep pickers hydrated during the pick.
Step 5. Deliver the goods
Once the event has concluded, get in touch with the food pantry you’ve chosen, and let them know their harvest is ready for pickup—or, you may choose to deliver the harvest to the food pantry yourself.
Overall, hosting a Happy Harvester event can be a great way to build meaningful bridges between neighbors, and a fun way to teach kids or grandkids the value or volunteering. It can also help mend negative perceptions and division, and reduce biases in communities that are demographically diverse.
Above all, by hosting a Happy Harvester event, you'll be doing your part to prevent wholesome food from ending up in landfills that could otherwise feed needy families.