2026 Garden Membership Information coming soon!
Picking Rules and Addendum to Member Agreement
1. The Picking Rules and Addendum to Member Agreement should be made available to all gardeners and all gardeners should sign the addendum to acknowledge receipt of the picking rules and the implications of over-picking.
2. Day Leaders should:
○ discuss picking rules and examples of over-picking with their gardeners, especially any gardeners that have been observed “picking a bit too much”. If Day Leaders are hesitant to “confront” gardeners, they should let other SC members know; someone will be happy to talk to them.
○ Day Leaders should discuss a few “hypotheticals” of what constitutes appropriate picking with their gardeners. Examples of reasonable amounts may be posted and updated as crop availability changes).
○ Day Leaders should discuss with gardeners that there are a lot of nuances to harvesting that one only learns with experience in the garden. For example, there are crops that are less popular, where only a small number of gardeners harvest them. There are crops where we aren’t growing very much for that reason (rapini and kohlrabi are two examples of such crops). There are also crops where, during the height of the season, it seems like you can harvest a lot per individual just to avoid waste. (falling on the ground, rotting, etc.).
3. The crop news should identify the relative availability of crops, and also periodically provide information on what constitutes appropriate picking.
4. In general, a gardener that is observed over-picking by a member of the Steering Committee (SC), or otherwise documented by a member of the SC, will receive one warning, with a second chance. A second incident would result in the termination of the gardener’s membership. A gardener’s membership may be terminated, however, after just one particularly egregious incident, with no initial warning. In such an instance, the egregiousness of the incident will be determined by the SC and will require documentation such as photos.
5. Depending on the magnitude of the over-picking, the person’s name should, in general, be shared with the SC. It is, however, OK to not report the name to the SC for relatively less egregious over-picking if the Day Leader chooses not to do so. In any case, the identity of the gardener must be reported to the Chair or Co-chairs, Secretary and Treasurer because over-picking is a garden-wide problem that affects all members and not just one day, and there must be a record of potential problem gardeners. These four executive members of the SC will maintain a list of problem pickers, with the name of the gardener, and details about the incident(s))
6. It is difficult to rigorously define over-picking, however, to contemplate the termination of a gardener’s membership, the over-picking must be egregious (not just a little too much, in which case, gardeners should simply be reminded of “fair share” amounts, as described in the Picking Rule). An example of egregious over-picking is harvesting more than ten percent of a harvestable crop (such as harvesting all the produce from more than five feet of a fifty-foot bed). Particularly egregious is generally defined as harvesting half of an available crop.1
7. Dues will not be returned to gardeners whose membership is terminated because of over-picking.
1 It is important to note that some “specialty crops” such as rapini and kohlrabi are not widely “loved” so these guidance amounts do not always apply. Judgment must be employed when evaluating egregiousness of crop picking for specific crops
Adopted by Steering Committee October 7, 2021
1. The Picking Rules and Addendum to Member Agreement should be made available to all gardeners and all gardeners should sign the addendum to acknowledge receipt of the picking rules and the implications of over-picking.
2. Day Leaders should:
○ discuss picking rules and examples of over-picking with their gardeners, especially any gardeners that have been observed “picking a bit too much”. If Day Leaders are hesitant to “confront” gardeners, they should let other SC members know; someone will be happy to talk to them.
○ Day Leaders should discuss a few “hypotheticals” of what constitutes appropriate picking with their gardeners. Examples of reasonable amounts may be posted and updated as crop availability changes).
○ Day Leaders should discuss with gardeners that there are a lot of nuances to harvesting that one only learns with experience in the garden. For example, there are crops that are less popular, where only a small number of gardeners harvest them. There are crops where we aren’t growing very much for that reason (rapini and kohlrabi are two examples of such crops). There are also crops where, during the height of the season, it seems like you can harvest a lot per individual just to avoid waste. (falling on the ground, rotting, etc.).
3. The crop news should identify the relative availability of crops, and also periodically provide information on what constitutes appropriate picking.
4. In general, a gardener that is observed over-picking by a member of the Steering Committee (SC), or otherwise documented by a member of the SC, will receive one warning, with a second chance. A second incident would result in the termination of the gardener’s membership. A gardener’s membership may be terminated, however, after just one particularly egregious incident, with no initial warning. In such an instance, the egregiousness of the incident will be determined by the SC and will require documentation such as photos.
5. Depending on the magnitude of the over-picking, the person’s name should, in general, be shared with the SC. It is, however, OK to not report the name to the SC for relatively less egregious over-picking if the Day Leader chooses not to do so. In any case, the identity of the gardener must be reported to the Chair or Co-chairs, Secretary and Treasurer because over-picking is a garden-wide problem that affects all members and not just one day, and there must be a record of potential problem gardeners. These four executive members of the SC will maintain a list of problem pickers, with the name of the gardener, and details about the incident(s))
6. It is difficult to rigorously define over-picking, however, to contemplate the termination of a gardener’s membership, the over-picking must be egregious (not just a little too much, in which case, gardeners should simply be reminded of “fair share” amounts, as described in the Picking Rule). An example of egregious over-picking is harvesting more than ten percent of a harvestable crop (such as harvesting all the produce from more than five feet of a fifty-foot bed). Particularly egregious is generally defined as harvesting half of an available crop.1
7. Dues will not be returned to gardeners whose membership is terminated because of over-picking.
1 It is important to note that some “specialty crops” such as rapini and kohlrabi are not widely “loved” so these guidance amounts do not always apply. Judgment must be employed when evaluating egregiousness of crop picking for specific crops
Adopted by Steering Committee October 7, 2021
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