By Chuck Woodbury
PUBLISHER
I’ve been a member of Harvest Hosts for at least 12 years and try to take advantage of the membership as often as possible. In a day and age when RVers are squeezed into RV parks like sardines, and popular public campgrounds are increasingly booked solid, the idea of staying alone or with only a handful of others for free on a farm or alongside a vineyard is incredibly appealing.
I was inspired to write this after seeing this photo taken by a Harvest Host member that was chosen as the “Member Photo of the Month.” To me, this is pretty much heaven on Earth. It looks so peaceful!
It appears that in this case, at the Thousand Islands Winery in Alexandria Bay, New York, it’s boondocking only, which I suspect is true at most other Harvest Hosts locations. My last stay with Harvest Hosts was at a blueberry farm in Minnesota, where Gail and I camped alone under a beautiful grove of trees, perhaps 30 yards from row upon row of blueberry bushes.
That evening, we sat outside in our lawn chairs, sipped wine, and marveled at fireflies that danced all around us. Fireflies are magical to those of us from the West, where the insects do not live. The following morning, we stopped by the farm’s store for coffee and for fresh pastries to take along on our journey.
All together, Harvest Host members can choose from more than 2,200 locations to stay plus more than 400 golf courses with a membership add-on. All stays are free to members. The last time I wrote about Harvest Hosts was two years ago when there were just half that many locations.
An annual membership is $99. RVtravel.com readers can get 15% off if they use the RVtravel.com coupon code HHFRIENDS15 when joining.
About two years ago, Harvest Hosts signed on as a participating sponsor of RVtravel.com so — full disclosure — we have an incentive to say nice things about them. That said, I was a member for at least seven or eight years before then, and had already concluded that the membership was a keeper.
We joined HH this past January at a discounted price of $65. Now with the newsletter discount, it’s in the $85 vicinity, that’s quite the jump in less than a year’s time.
We will think seriously next January about whether HH is worth it or not. So far we have used them three times, and a possible fourth use we tried to secure a winery using the online request a stay form, and neither HH nor the winery replied to our request so we had to shorten our trip by that day.
I got an email from Harvest host saying that you can get a lifetime membership for $84.15 a year if you join now. The people that have been supporting them for years are stuck paying the full price. Since they have been steadly been raising their price. Will have to really think about if it’s worth it.