“Mooo-ve over grocery stores, a new concept for convenient, local ingredients has arrived, fresh from the farm!”
What do you get when you mix a love of local, farm fresh produce with a need for convenience? The Harvest Collective, that’s what! I caught up with Mikaela Booth, the owner and operator of Evelyn & Co. (a sustainable refillery based out of Lakeland) to learn more about her new business: The Harvest Collective.
The concept was originally pondered as a solution to Mikaela’s want for local, fresh produce and her inability to run every which way in order to obtain those ingredients. She brings up something I often struggle with in my own home shopping habits as well. Who has the time to be able to go out and buy local produce and products with jobs, kids, hobbies, friends, and partners without letting some other aspect of life maintenance slip, even if you really really want to? The Harvest Collective is here to help by delivering those products to you.
Through the website, customers are invited to purchase local goods from farms in the area as well as the entire stock of Evelyn & Co products, then have those items delivered to their homes. When asked about her inspiration behind starting The Harvest Collective, Mikaela says, “I have always wanted to be in the agricultural realm. Growing up & even currently, I have a ton of family who raise and show cattle, are in FFA, etc. I have always had the pull in my heart for this but never knew how to be in this profession without feeling like an imposter.”
After talking with local farmers and ranchers, she realized she did have plenty of knowledge about marketing and the community connections to facilitate getting their wares out to an adoring public. After all, growing the food is only half the battle, getting it into the hands of the people who will appreciate it is just as important.
As a person with connections to the agricultural community in Florida myself, I know how underappreciated our farmer’s work can be, despite being arguably the most important part of our current food chain. Mikaela reminded me of this by stating. “[y]ou know the saying, “No Farmers, No Food”? … I know it’s easier to run to the grocery store and grab what you need, but our farmers get paid pennies on the dollar when selling to a grocery store. If we buy directly from them, it goes straight into their pocket.” If you are curious about how modern-day farmers function and how you can best support them, Mikaela recommended some hands-on ways to be involved and informed of what our farmers and ranchers need from their community. She mentioned that many farms need volunteers to help onsite, specifically naming Meacham Urban Farm, located right next to Perry Harvey Sr. Park in Tampa. cough cough Volunteer hours? Working with their hands? Assisting with a community AND learning a valuable skill in the process? cough cough Parents with teens, I’m looking at you.
One of the goals of the Harvest Collective is to help bridge the communication gap between the general public and our agricultural workers by getting people involved and invested in how and what is grown in their communities. They aren’t the only resource dedicated to connecting farmers to Floridians. Florida Farm Finder, an entirely volunteer-run program, connects those looking for fresh produce and products to the farms or ranches that sell them. They often throw special events such as the “Meet Florida Meat” event happening March 22 and 23 in Mount Dora, where anyone can come support Florida agriculture and become familiar with the people putting food on our tables.
Building communities that support and listen to each other is more important than ever, especially when it comes to something as universal to the human experience as food, specifically fresh food. Mikaela shared with me some favorite experiences so far, and listening to them, I am just as enamored with our Florida farmers as she is. “Our local farmers and ranchers LOVE to talk about what they do. They LOVE to teach. I mean, they do this for a living. Growing food is their passion. Cows and collard greens only talk back so much, ya know? It’s just been so nice to be welcomed into this community and I can’t wait to see how big we grow!” She also talked about how much she has treasured working with beef and pork ranchers, and learning about their industry from hoof to snout. It really brings into perspective what you are eating when you know the ins and outs of how it was put onto your table. She even went so far as to say the beef and pork products that she offers through The Harvest Collective are her favorite products so far!
Mikaela is an avid supporter of shopping locally and sustainably, so starting The Harvest Collective isn’t far out of her wheelhouse. Her other business, Evelyn & Co., began out of love for her daughter and a desire to model responsible decision making for her. “We always want to be a great example for our children, and to me, if she’s raised with these practices, then she’ll know no different!” Through Evelyn & Co., central Floridians are able to refill common household cleaning solutions, such as laundry detergent or cleaning vinegar, and are given options to reduce the trash they create in their homes through reusable paper towels or sustainable alternatives to plastic wrap. Both companies have an emphasis on helping local businesses and supporting local economies, which Mikaela states stems from her own father’s experiences with small business ownership after retiring from another large corporation. “I really got to see the highs and lows of owning your own business. It truly makes such a difference where my dollar goes. Our local businesses don’t have multi-million dollar companies backing them. They don’t have a safety net. You get to build relationships with your customers and these big corporations don’t get to do that.”
The future of The Harvest Collective and Evelyn & Co are bright with exciting things in the works for them over the coming year. For now though, I hope you join me in supporting her in 2025 (that Harvest Collective membership is calling my name!) and know that for all your sustainable, fresh, and local favorites The Harvest Collective has everything you might want or need.
The Harvest Collective
FB @theharvestcolkld
IG @_theharvestco
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