I had the unforgettable experience of harvesting Medjool dates by hand in Bard Valley, California—home to one of the largest Medjool date-growing regions in the U.S. Wearing a safety harness, I was lifted by tractor into the towering date palms, where I learned firsthand how ripe dates are collected. Once the mesh harvest bag is shaken, the fully ripened dates fall naturally from the tree. I then untied the bag and let the fruit drop into large baskets below. When full, the baskets are lowered by rope and sent off to be sorted into trays for the next stage of processing.