2018 Director's Retreat

Our 2018 Annual Retreat

Once a year, a rare feat occurs. All nine members of the Harvest Craft family meet under one roof. This is rare because we have a dynamic team with folks scattered both overseas and across the West Coast of the United States. This annual tradition of taking time to be together has proved beneficial for many reasons. As we gather to “retreat” and reflect on the previous year, we are able to see where we learned valuable lessons, where our successes were made, and how best to strategize moving forward. For the “retreat” is not just a time to rescind, but a time to think ahead; a time to dream, and a time to “advance” the mission of what Harvest Craft is all about: cultivating change. 

Goodbye 2017 + Hello 2018! 

As we remember and celebrate the ways change has been sparked in 2017, we are encouraged and energized of the things to come in 2018. These include: a more prevalent educational presence in Southern California, a new project at an orphanage in Mexico, and the initiation of a Research center in Haiti. 

The updated and reinvigorated Southern California presence comes through a revisited and refortified connection with a university just outside of Los Angeles, Biola University. We have been able to partner with the university to host, “work days” and educational demonstrations, and our hope is to host environmental documentary screenings and fundraisers here as well. This will provide an opportunity for folks locally to see first hand the kind of work we are doing overseas. If interested in visiting the campus farm, and learning more, please contact us!

We love our neighbors to the South in Mexico. It’s where Harvest Craft was initiated, and so we are exuberant over the idea of getting an opportunity to install more agro-ecosystems and holistic systems in this beautiful country, full of generous people. More developments to come on this; but we were able to strategize over what the best plan forward would be for a brand-new orphanage just south of Tijuana, as it is hopeful to surface later this year. 

New Happenings in Haiti

It’s been a long-term dream and goal to develop a research and training center in Haiti. 

Haiti is where Harvest Craft has spent the majority of it’s time and resources, and so we are wanting to double-down in our efforts and continue to invest in the work there. 

We want to solve agricultural problems. We want to empower the next generation. We want to educate and employ at-risk youth, and orphans aging out of their domiciles. We want to radically love and help change the agricultural and socio-economic landscape in Haiti, but this will certainly take time and a long-term vision. 

This is what the Research center is all about. It’s Harvest Craft’s long-term commitment to wanting to create a lasting change in this nation. A nation that is constantly bearing the brunt of climate change, experiencing increased storms, hurricanes, and climate extremes. We are dedicated to allocating resources to developing resilient agricultural solutions and empowering the next generation to be able to provide for its’ people. 

A bulk of the retreat was spent discussing this way forward, and so again, more exciting details to come as we embark on this journey ahead! 

These were just some of the highlights discussed over the course of the retreat. Of course, we continued to plan and dream over Cambodia efforts, as well as, just spent time building up the relationships as a team to encourage synergy and collaboration across the many talented people we have aboard.

I am constantly overwhelmed, blessed, and grateful that I get to work with the most passionate, talented, and creative folks on the planet. Even more so, that we get to play a part of this incredible and humbling work. 

Needless to say, none of this would be feasible without the support and devotion of you, our donors, our friends, our family, our number one supporters, and advocates. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you for an incredible 2017 full of chickens laying thousands of eggs, pigs giving birth to piglets, dozens of employed nationals, and multiple educational programs hosted across the globe. Change could not have been cultivated without you. 

The “retreat” is over. Now let’s get to work and “advance” into 2018 with courage, innovation, and passion.

Much love,

Brendon Anthony

Co-Founder and CEO