Posted August 2, 2017 – Narrated by Carmen (updated May 2025)
UPDATE MAY 2025: In the 8+ years we have been members of Harvest Hosts, we have stayed, as of today, at 168 different locations. Each one unique and a delight to visit. We highly recommend this membership.
Side-roads are our preferred routes.
Early morning drives on those iconic country roads winding through pastures and farmland … sipping coffee and looking for homemade signs advertising fresh eggs or peaches … Nothing better.
Our favorite LIB moments are spent following tractors at 5 miles-per-hour and breaking for chickens.
Diversions from interior highways to busy interstates are usually either to fuel-up or to visit “Candyland”: Corporate malls with Costco, Target, Best Buy, Trader Joe’s, Petco and, of course, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store for dinner and a complimentary overnight stay in their parking lot.
Most RVer’s know that Cracker Barrel, Walmart and most truck stops, rest areas and even some hotels allow stealth dry-camping for those passing through – but very few travelers we’ve met are aware of Harvest Hosts – a model that joins old-world hospitality to grass-roots commerce.
Member Club
Harvest Hosts is a member-club that provides access to almost 2,000 (5,400+ as of May 2025) farms, wineries, breweries, golf courses & more that offer RVer’s dry-camping spots on their privately owned grounds, based on availability.
With a mere $99 annual membership fee (use our link and promo code above and get a 20% discount), and a little prearrangement by phone or email, we are invited to pull into one of their participating locations.
The only requirement is adherence to the code of conduct which involves some level of commerce – whether it’s to stock up on artisan cheese, fresh farm eggs, experience a wine-tasting, dinner, or tour a museum. Harvest Hosts recommends spending between $20 and $30.
Now that the quality of our full-time travel is vastly upgraded through Harvest Hosts, we stock up on top-notch local produce and wines (FYI: Beauty has a 20-bottle wine cellar) and enjoy epic snoozes nestled deep in the comfort of America’s cradles of agriculture.
Local Network
Another obvious benefit of Harvest Hosts is ready access to the local network.
Our hosts often say, “Don’t tell anyone you got it from me, but there’s a swimming hole …” or view spot, boon-docking, hot springs, or festival, etc.
Also, they fill you in on the back-country routes, advise on what areas to avoid due to road construction, wind or ice – and even open the map to point out where to find the cheapest fuel and best diners.
Harvest Hosts is a sweet, sweet find …
We’d like to share seven of our favorite Harvest Hosts sites… SO FAR!!!
Snyder Winery
Twice, we’ve visited Snyder Winery in Buhl, Idaho. (they closed in 2021)
On our first visit we arrived when the restaurant was closed, but at least the tasting room was open.
Claudia Snyder, the owner, invited us to occupy any available space in her gated parking lot – since her entire property is so lovely, the choice was difficult.
On our second stay, we reserved a table for dinner.
Snyder’s is also a top-notch steak house with a casual french-country atmosphere offering dining on the outdoor patio, sunroom and also, indoors.
We wanted a casual dinner, so we chose the sunroom with a spectacular vineyard view.
As long as they’ll have us, we’ll return to Snyder’s whenever we visit Buhl.
DelMonaco Winery
We can’t say enough about the southern hospitality we received at DelMonaco Winery in Baxter, Tennessee.
The quiet seclusion of this area on the outskirts of Nashville, provided needed solitude for our aching heads after an arduous ten-hour journey involving Nashville traffic.
Comforted by generous pours from Alex, our sommelier,
and nourished with a light dinner of fresh, local cheese and pickled okra – which we purchased from the DelMonaco store – we retired to our trailer before dark.
The gravel parking lot beside a seldom used railroad track which runs through the kudzu laced forest served us well for the night.
Rails trigger my imagination, so sitting outside at dusk as the lighting bugs commenced beneath the half-full moon, I finished off a half-empty bottle of southern wine and took notes for the next great American novel.
Naked Winery – Sick-N-Twisted Brewery
Arriving on a busy Harvest Host weekend, the owner of Naked Winery/Sick N’ Twisted Brewery in Hill City, South Dakota, Rob Livingston moved earth…
… to make certain-sure we had a space by the pretty creek behind the property.
Now, that’s hospitality!
This wine and brew pizza tavern is a traveler’s haven!
We enjoyed a beer-tasting, excellent pizza and memorable conversation among the guests and staff.
This place is supposed to be fun and they really pull it off! An ideal meet-up destination with other Harvest Hosts members to fuel up and par-tay!
Wilde Prairie Winery
Wilde Prairie Winery, really took us by surprise – not only the wines but the location right inside the vines where we were invited to set up camp.
To visit this family farm and vineyard is like entering the film set of a prairie romance.
The preserved vintage dairy barn-turned-winery and tasting room was in itself mesmerizing – definitely worth the look-see as we sipped on chilled LaCrescent Rosé.
Victoria Wilde, the owner, studied winemaking in California, and Wilde Prairie is now a destination on the South Dakota wine trail.
The bucolic house, barn, and grounds are not countrified for tourism. Friends meet here for conversation on a hot day, locals get married in the barn.
This is pure South Dakota.
Wilde wines are complex and robust.
We took some bottles with us – the Frontenac, deep-dry cherry notes, edgy and earthy – like an episode of Deadwood – introduced us to South Dakota wine. Wilde Prairie’s excellent sommelier gave us a tour that deepened our appreciation for the joy and care that is invested in truly handmade wines.
With the Wilde’s permission, we strolled among the vines with our wine and watched the moonrise …
and we slept well … Oh yeah. Real well.
Garvin Heights Vineyards
Owned by Linda and Marvin Seppanen, Garvin Heights Vineyards is a popular retreat for residents of Winona, Minnesota.
This is a friendly neighborhood winery where locals meet on the spacious deck to talk about community events, like the Great River Shakespeare Festival.
We were greeted by Marvin who kindly reserved a place for us down the slope near the end of the driveway in the vineyard.
Even in July, there was no need for air-conditioning.
After our tasting, we took a bottle of crisp dry Rosé outside where a cool river breeze hinted of rain.
After a perfect nights rest – and before the downpour – we drove about ¼ mile downhill from Garvin Heights Vineyards to a viewpoint where asphalt-paved trail winds down the side of the bluff into Winona where – prior to western expansion – was home to an established Sioux community.
Winona is on an island in the Mississippi River Valley. Through binoculars, we viewed cycling paths, kayakers, waterside dining, parks, and campgrounds … How had this place escaped our radar?
Wishing we could stay, but on a damned schedule (we must stop making those) we consoled ourselves with a bag of scones and cinnamon rolls from Bloedow’s Bakery (best pecan scones we’ve ever had) and hit the road promising to return and spend some serious time exploring lovely Winona.
LaClare Farms
Nothing says, “Wisconsin” like cheese and Larry and Clara Hedrich are saying it beee-eee-eeest at LaClare Farms on Malone, Wisconsin.
We love goats (we even kept one when we lived in Spring Valley) and we love goat cheese!
Reservations were made several days ahead and we were really looking forward to this visit.
We were shown where to park and even invited to put out our awnings – another great benefit of Harvest Hosts over stealth camping in Candyland.
We were also invited to watch the handlers perform the daily goat-milking in LaClare’s air-conditioned goat-viewing theatre with comfortable seating.
Later, we sat down to a cheese tasting, had a small dinner and chèvre cheesecake for dessert …
I have no words for that cheesecake except, gimme-that-recipe.
The chef advised to just sub chèvre in my favorite cheesecake recipe. Okie-Dokie. Gonna do that.
LaClare more than met our expectations. We were smitten with the farm and the entire area – and I discovered a new favorite source for sending food-gifts.
RV/Motor Home Hall of Fame Museum
On our way to the Airstream Factory in Ohio for service, we passed through Elkhart, Indiana to spend the night at the RV/Motor Home Hall of Fame Museum parking lot.
We arrived an hour before closing with plans to view the collection in the morning.
The employee at the front desk greeted us and encouraged us to have a pleasant night in their nice, level asphalt parking lot.
Since the weather was so pleasant, we chose a space with a large lawn and tree. By nightfall, there were two motorhomes camping beside us and everyone exchanged friendly greetings during the evening dog walk.
Next morning, we spent more than two hours immersed in the remarkable history of “living the dream” in America.
This is an incomplete map showing some of the areas where there are Harvest Host participants.
Since joining Harvest Hosts in August 2016, we haven’t even begun to exploit the possibilities.
Now, with our solar and inverter installation, Harvest Hosts is putting, even more, beauty into LIB.
These agricultural side-trips are an elegant alternative to private campgrounds which can be over-priced, noisy and run down.
And, more personally, Harvest Hosts sites tend to hearken memories of my granddaddy’s farm in Alabama and the pleasure of being in the country, turning the soil, picking and pickling, shelling and shucking – all of the best things about life here on planet earth.
You may enjoy reading all of our blog posts about Harvest Hosts:
- Harvest Hosts – A Elegant Alternative
- Hopes, Dreams, and 100 Bottles of Wine
- Harvest Hosts – One Night Delights
- Harvest Hosts – Memory Lane
We were not paid, compensated nor influenced in any way by anyone for this campground review.
Click here to see our other campground reviews.
If you want to see the exact route we travel, click here.
*photos in this post (unless otherwise noted) were taken and copyrighted by Living In Beauty.
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well, I really like this idea — great tip. I’m beginning to think that Harvest Hosts is a synonym for wineries though, and the farm that did the goats cheese is really only a ‘great pretender’.
or did I mistake the meaning of the whole Harvest Hosts thing 🙂
Hi Deasterb, Thank you for your interest in Harvest Hosts. While half of our locations are wineries, distilleries and breweries, the other half are farms, ranches, orchards, museums and other small attractions. If you take a look at https://www.harvest-hosts.com/2C4RDC/2CTPL/ we list the types of locations that participate. Feel free to contact us through our website if you have any questions. Cheers!
Shhhh. You let the secret out !
Just joined last week – looking forward to some visits as we head out to Albuquerque this fall….
We bought in as a three year membership. Best thing we done to make travel more interesting and connect with local flavor. Keep hav’en fun.
Sold. I had been debating it but you sold me.
We’ve stayed a winery, a date farm and an alpaca ranch. We left with vino, date cookies and warm socks. Works out great!
Great post thank you
Great leads! We too find Harvest Hosts to be a very pleasant oasis amidst the options of campsites. Thanks for your bird dogging.
As always, I wish we were there with you, every mile of the way! With your great writing and beautiful photos, you are indeed, bringing us along. Words cannot express our appreciation for you both sharing your adventures with us. Big hugs from Laurie & Mike
Jim & Carmen – This was an awesome post! Jealous of your 20 bottle wine cellar; ours is a mere 12! We could live on cheese and wine; Judy is a former member of the American Cheese Society and was asked by Neiman Marcus to provide a cheese for their famed Christmas Catalogue. One of our biggest disagreements was over her desire to raise and milk goats on our land in Alabama. Would love to tell you, over a bottle of wine, how that turned out. Judy retires in two days! We cannot wait to hit the trail; have entered so many places from your blogs; thank you for sharing your wonderful adventures with us. If you guys ever venture back into Arkansas, you must stay with us; we have 50 amp hookups and a lot of wine! Safe travels.
Michael & Judy
Once again you’re an inspiration. We’ve belonged to Harvest Host now for 2 years and have yet to actually use them. By the way, after seeing Meguiar’s M21 Mirror Glaze on your webpage, I purchased some to see how it would do on some tree branch scratches on our AS. I was really skeptical, but was pleasantly surprised when it really helped minimize them. Thanks so much.
Thank you for this information. Great job!
Ahhhh….a winery tour. That’s my kind of travel! I had not heard of Harvest Hosts before and will check it out. What a great way to see the country. Enjoy!
Thank you for sharing.
We definitely plan to join Harvest Hosts!
Wow! Thank you for sharing! What an exciting option!
Thanks again. We just signed up and used your name as our referral!
We joined Harvest Hosts a couple of months ago and it suits our needs perfectly! Low key, quite and for the most part adult (we have grown kids and have done our share of KOA’s etc.) . We have stayed at 2 different wineries and have plans to stay at a Airplane museum in September on our way to The North Cascades in Washington with our newly purchased Flying Cloud Airstream! We love the connection between the owners and their willingness to share what they have worked so hard to build. We love buying something to enjoy there and t take home! I highly recommend Harvest Hosts and thank you for taking the time to post about them. I only wish I could convince more business’s to join and believe me I try every time I go to a new winery or farm! I’ll be following along on your adventures for more inspiration!
We spent the last two nights at Harvest Host locations. Enjoy them so much!!
Lovely to read about your experience with HH. We joined HH and are exploring our options, but I didn’t find two of your recommendations within the HH app: LaClare and Snyders were neither one on the list. Have they dropped off? Thanks for sharing your adventures!
Deb, we reached out to Snyder Winery and LaClare Farms. It appears Snyder Winery is out of business. Their website is gone and their phone number is out of service. I called LaClare Farms and no-one there knows about Harvest Hosts. They said they would ask around, but that tells me they no longer are participating in Harvest Hosts. The good news is that Harvest Hosts has hundreds of new hosts for us to visit. Thanks for following us! Jim
Thanks for doing the leg work to find out that both of these lovely businesses are no longer affiliated with HH. We are really excited to get to explore all of the amazing Harvest Hosts located nationwide! Happy traveling! Hope our pathways cross along the ragged road!