Last July, my dad, brother, and I built a harvest table. A harvest table is basically a very long picnic table. Since then, I have learned seven things about harvest tables.




1) Autumn is for harvest tables.
Fall is the perfect time to be outside.  The colors are changing, the air is cooling, and it's often nicer outside than inside. Putting a harvest table under a maple tree basically adds a whole new room to your house!

2) Use your harvest table regularly.
We have been having Sunday breakfast on the harvest table every week at 9:30. We've had pumpkin themed breakfast, apple themed breakfast, donuts themed, cereal themed, etc. We also have dinner on the table often.

3) Put your harvest table in the front yard, not the back yard.
Front yards are more open and inviting than back yards. We have often attracted passers-by during community meals on the harvest table, and we have gotten to know many of our neighbors this way.

4) Harvest tables are for friends.
We have a big community meal each week, and we couldn't fit everybody around a regular table. This is what motivated the harvest table idea in the first place.

5) Good luck trying to find a tablecloth long enough.
I once spent five years crocheting a blanket that was monstrously too big for the purposes of a conventional blanket, but even my monster blanket is not nearly long enough to cover this 12 foot long harvest table.

6) Bring your harvest table inside during the winter. 
We made the table out of treated lumber, but we still plan to bring it inside before it snows. It is actually made of two 6 foot tables placed side-by-side. Inside, the tables will make a 6x6 foot square rather than a 12x3 rectangle.

7) Having a harvest table in your front yard generates many possibilities. 
When we bring the tables inside, we will leave the four harvest table benches outside. The benches will be placed in a diamond shape around the fire bowl so that the outside festivities can continue.

Spare Key having a meeting on the harvest table.