The organization's history dates back to the Seventies, when farmers decided to sell their products to greater than just packers. In 1976, Harvest Time Inc. was founded and welcomed any farm or ranch in Contra Costa County that wanted to hitch.
Eventually it increased its membership and developed a trail map that’s published annually. We spoke with CEO Jessica Enos about harvest season in Brentwood. Your responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q Tell us about harvest season in Brentwood and U-Pick.
A Harvest Time was founded within the late Seventies and originally had 10 farm members. U-Pick actually began here (in Brentwood) within the Forties during World War II when some rations were issued and a number of the rations were sugar. The women didn't wish to waste the rations, in order that they began canning sugar, but they needed fruit. So they got here from Fremont to Brentwood.
This is the story I used to be told. So they found Brentwood and got here to the farmers and acquired apricots and peaches, they usually were in a position to buy quite a bit, and it showed the farmer, “Hey, these women would rather get the product directly from us, and that's what they wanted.” to return out and picking.” That’s how U-Pick began. We worked with a historian and discovered that we now have the oldest U-Pick west of the Appalachians that continues to be in operation today. We even have essentially the most U-Picks in a small radius within the country.
Q Harvest Time in Brentwood creates an academic farm trail map. What is that this trail map and the way has it helped local farms?
A In the late '70s, several farmers had U-Picks they usually thought: How can we get the word out about this to get more people to go to our farms and proceed this U-Pick tradition? There were 10 participating farms, they got here together and created the trail map, a physical map that we still produce today. And they (the farmers) sent it out and took it to all places to advertise their farms.
So the identical idea continues to be being implemented today. We now have over 60 farm members. We have a number of the individuals who originally began Harvest Time in Brentwood – their grandchildren or nieces or nephews – on our board. Part of the map has evolved from the physical map. Now, We create a real-time map on our website so you possibly can see in real time which farms are open during U-picking season. We have created a way for members to (update) from their phones to point whether or not they are open or closed, what their hours are, what products they’ve, etc.
Q Have you seen a rise in U-Pick farms post-pandemic?
A We were in a position to record an unlimited growth spurt among the many participating corporations. The fantastic thing about a U-pick farm is that you just don't should be a big operation. You can own 10 acres and have a U-Pick on it. We were in a position to record a big increase in membership. We began a fall season (U-Pick) that we didn't have here before.
Harvest Time partnered with a couple of other farmers in addition to the town of Brentwood and we brought pumpkins (on the pumpkin patch) in the autumn, which was unbelievable. We now have several pumpkin patches. I feel while you see a proven business model, it gives other people permission to take the leap of hope. We've never had mulberries here before, so we added mulberries.
If you desire to have a look at the pandemic, U-Pick was type of the right pandemic activity. The spacing for an actual cherry tree (for instance) is 6 feet and it’s outdoors. I feel there's lots of talk within the food and nutrition movement about knowing where your food comes from. People are on the lookout for healthy options.
The other thing we're seeing is quite a bit more individuals are coming. We've at all times had families coming here, but we're seeing an increasing number of people of their 20s coming. They come from San Francisco for a day trip with their friends, all taking Instagram photos and picking and purchasing for their parents. This is something we now have seen during the last five years.
Q How does Harvest Time help connect local farms and the community?
A When Harvest Time originally began, one farmer didn't have the marketing budget to print a card, but ten farmers did. It's the exact same principle. Over 60 members have the chance to succeed in many more people than one agricultural member. We work as a community, which is great.
A number of our outreach comes through social media and our online presence, and we now have individuals who have been coming here for generations. Most U-Picks hire local youth, so it's something of a rite of passage. U-pick season typically begins in April and lasts through fall.
Overall, we estimate that we are going to bring around 200,000 people to the region in agritourism between April and November. Being named the U-Pick Capital in 2023 was an enormous deal. We have great parks and restaurants that you may visit afterwards. What's also special about U-Pick is that it has all types of products that won’t ship well, equivalent to rainier cherries. They are very cute and customarily bruise in a short time. So in case you buy them in the shop there, they may not look that great.
Q How does Harvest Time help educate children about agriculture?
A One reason we had a fall season was that a few of us on the board had babies and a few of us received notices (for) field trips to farms outside of Brentwood. And we thought, why outside? We are involved in agriculture and so we began the autumn program. Many of our farms host various schools for field trips where they discuss farming, farming practices and the like. All you have got to do is send them an email.
Jessica Eno's biography
Age: 44
Position: Chairman of Harvest Time in Brentwood,
Education: Studied business administration with a give attention to marketing on the University of the Pacific
Residence: Brentwood
Hometown: Brentwood
Family: husband and three children
Five things about Jessica Enos:
1. I function volunteer board chair of Harvest Time in Brentwood. I joined the board in 2018 and was elected president in 2021.
2. My skilled profession has at all times been in the development and real estate sector. I’m a broker and CEO of Enos Company, an actual estate brokerage specializing in residential and real estate transactions.
3. I also work on and market our family cherry U-pick stands – 5 Star Cherries and Enos Family Orchards.
4. Most of our family orchards were planted the identical yr one in all my children or my nephews were born. This is how I remember the age of every orchard.
5. Coral Champagne is my absolute favorite cherry variety.
Originally published:
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