The harvest must be collected if it is to be enjoyed. If it is not collected, it will remain, unpicked, until it eventually spoils and falls to the ground. Once this has happened, the harvest can no longer be enjoyed, and it will now serve a different purpose.
How the harvest is collected can be through a variety of ways, methods, and techniques or tools. It can be collected by hand, or with the aid of technological developments. We can collect what we can carry, or we can carry more with the help of a container.
The harvest should be collected toward the end of the season. Doing this will ensure that it has had time to grow, develop, mature, and ripened. If we collect before the right time, we will have an unripened harvest whose product will not be good, or ready for enjoyment. On the other hand, if we collect after the right time has passed, we will have an over ripened harvest whose use will be limited, and will spoiled quickly. Only by collecting within the right time frame, can we assure that the harvest will be at is peak, and thus at the best quality.
It is also important to train those who will collect the harvest. They must know what is being collected, have the proper or necessary equipment and know how to use it, ensure the safety and security of what is collected, and have a support team available if additional help or assistance is required. Though the training may be thorough, only through actual experience, gained over time, will the harvest collectors become efficient at this skill.
Since it will take time for the harvest to reach the point at which it should be collected, we also have time to prepare and be ready. As the harvest is growing, we must become prepared so at the right time we can execute the collection of the harvest with efficiency. Care must also be taken to not sort or evaluate the harvest as we are collecting it. This is part of a separate step in the process of educational harvesting.
Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas - Educator
