Harvest Hosts: A New and Unique RV Club

There’s this wonderful song scene early in the musical, Narnia, adapted from C.S. Lewis’ classic book series, The Chronicles of Narnia. Three of the four main sibling characters are marveling at the architectural wonders of the country estate where they’ve been sent to safety from the 1940 London bombings. The other sibling, Edmund, is yearning for home and unwilling to see the silver lining of their situation.

The song “Windows and Doors” depicts this simple life lesson: If you don’t remain open to what life can bring, then you’re likely to face a number of closed doors. But if you are? Then, you’re given the gift of viewing life as a series of open windows, with “wonderful worlds to explore wherever destiny plops you!”

When we decided to feature Harvest Hosts, one of the newest and most unique RV membership networks in North America, we immediately thought of this scene. What a wonderful parallel to the world of RVing, and being open to new ways of travel! Whether you’re an RV newbie or a seasoned road warrior, we’re sure you can see the beauty in this connection.

And that’s exactly what Harvest Hosts offers — beautiful connections off the beaten path. The moment you roll that rig out of your driveway, it’s only partly true that the glorious unknowns of the open road await. The other (and dare we say more fulfilling) part is that as you’re exploring that open road, you’re also connecting with other like-minded people. Every day may bring different scenery, but once you’re plugged into the RV lifestyle, you’re constantly getting to meet people who are the same kind of different as you.

While this mostly applies to other RVers you meet along the way, Harvest Hosts introduces you to another community of enterprising free spirits who are just as proud of their way of life as the adventurous RV community is of theirs. The main difference is that while the RV crowd is bitten with the wanderlust bug, this other group is living their best life right at home.

Connecting Dots, Joining Communities

Every dot on the below map represents an entrepreneur in our vast virtual network who has taken the leap to live out their dream job by running or managing a winery, farm, brewery, museum, or other unique attraction. It’s only natural that Harvest Hosts would “connect the dots” of these two unique communities with a program that lets RVers experience memorable, free overnight stays in these extraordinary locations run by equally extraordinary people across North America

Benefits to Campers

For just $79 per year, or roughly the cost of 1-2 nights’ stay at an RV park, you can wake up to the sunrise illuminating dewy vineyards, park your RV among rows of lavender, play a round of golf on a beautiful desert golf course, feed farm animals and collect eggs, or enjoy a frosty brew with your own bed just steps away. 

With a curated list of 1440+ host locations to choose from, the variety is seemingly infinite, and each experience is like no other. It’s a safe and scenic way to travel, and it’s a great way to support these trailblazing small businesses while you’re out blazing the trails. (All this, and Harvest Hosts still offers a 100% money-back guarantee if, within the first three months of membership, you’re not satisfied!)

The only requirements? You need to have a self-contained RV with a toilet, water tank, and inside cooking facilities. Additionally, you must follow Harvest Hosts’ Code of Conduct, which essentially means supporting your hosts (purchase something from them to thank them for your overnight stay), respect the one-night-stay rule, be considerate, and have fun.

Benefits To Hosts

While the benefits to RVers are obvious, you might wonder what the hosts gain from this program. Hosts enjoy free advertising and campers’ patronage, and they also love the opportunity to build relationships and exercise their gifts of hospitality in a way that doesn’t capitalize on their time like owning a full-time B&B would. Many have commented that they love being a friendly face at the end of a long day’s drive.

These small business owners also love the opportunity to educate campers and help them explore how things are made, grown, and brought to market in their particular industry. Some even offer the opportunity for you to join in some of their businesses’ or farms’ activities, though doing so certainly isn’t a requirement.

In turn, campers soon become goodwill ambassadors for the hosts they’ve visited, often sharing reviews and referrals among the tight-knit RV community where news travels fast. All hosts need to participate are a business license and insurance, products to sell, a website and/or Facebook page, and good parking and accessibility.

Oftentimes, the connections formed result in a loyal customer or life-long friendship. So, even though you support your hosts by buying a few bottles of wine or produce, the hosts’ willingness to share their bounty with the RV community usually rewards them tenfold. Because when they provide the opportunity for kindred souls to gather, everyone reaps the benefits.

Watch hosts Lori and Win Mitchell of Boothbay Craft Brewery in Maine talk about their experience with the program. 

Harvest Hosts’ Humble Beginnings to High Tech

With such a unique and exciting program, it’s easy to wonder how it all got started. Don and Kim Greene, Harvest Hosts’ original founders and owners, discovered agritourism networks in Europe and were surprised that the concept hadn’t followed to the US — especially given America’s long tradition of recreational camping. 

In 2010, the Greenes mapped out a basic membership program and worked hard to assemble a host list of around 600 farms and wineries along the West Coast. It was very much a low-tech pen-to-paper, good old-fashioned networking project — a real labor of love built on a simple desire to introduce a totally new way of RVing to US campers.

Then Joel Holland, a long-time RVer and technology entrepreneur, discovered Harvest Hosts. It was a total game-changer for how he and his wife, Mary Ashley, planned their RV adventures. In 2018, he bought Harvest Hosts from the Greenes with the goal of bringing exponential growth to the company (they’ve since added a golf course component to the program) and increasing the user-friendliness of the platform.  Harvest Hosts now enjoys a fully revamped website and a beautiful, easy-to-use app available to both iPhones and Android phones. And, the Hollands are constantly adding new locations and features to make the membership even more diverse and user-friendly, always with RVers in mind.

Maximize Membership with Harvest Hosts App

With the program more technologically supported than ever before — thanks in large part to user feedback — the latest update to the Harvest Hosts app makes it even easier to plan the perfect RV adventure. There are a few features worth pointing out: 

Select Hosts By Location

You can easily find hosts by route, state/province or region, and by specific locations (e.g.,     landmarks or specific cities). This five-star app really shines in its new filtering options, especially in planning stops along your route. This filter allows you to enter the mile range you’re willing to detour from your path to visit a Harvest Host — solving a common complaint that some hosts were further away from main routes than anticipated. 

Select Hosts By Category

You can also take advantage of preference filters, letting you only see hosts in any combination of the five main host categories: wineries, farms, unique attractions, breweries and distilleries, and the more recently added golf courses and country clubs. And, you can identify which hosts are pet-friendly (approximately 90% are), or which ones allow for larger rigs (about 80% do).