Waiting for the Light

The pendulum has swung its full course plunging to the extremes of our Earthly declination making the grand swing back to the sunlight. Winter Solstice, also known as the shortest day of the year occurred on December 21st marking the end of Fall and beginning of Winter which for gardeners, farmers and foodies offers some downtime.

For those who can’t seem to keep their hands out of the dirt or the fresh food off their forks, finding opportunities to adapting to the winter pace is vital. Fortunately, Food For All is here for you! The Winter 2011 newsletter is soon to be out and the articles will keep your mind busy even if your hands aren’t. This season’s newsletter highlights a new feature called “Seed Spot” provides an attractive new layout and will keep you informed about upcoming events. For this year's publications, a seasonal recipe will be highlighted, this season it is “Winter Lentil Vegetable Soup.” Frequent our blog and Facebook page to stay connected and plan out your Winter gardening activities with the month-by-month guide which can be found under our Garden! section.

From all of us at Food For All, Happy Winter & New Year to All!

Howdy! Hello! Hola!

We've been a bit late in updating our blog however better late than never! This Fall we've received generous donations from our community. Through two new donors, the Okanogan Masonic Lodge and orchardist Art Nordang, 6500 lbs of fruit made it into the OCCAC doors!

In October, the Masons donated 3564 lbs of Red & Golden Delicious Apples to our doorstep. Not only did the Masons glean, they also volunteered their time by boxing up the fruit in advance making a rapid redistribution to the food bank clientele. In the thankful Thanksgiving spirit, orchardist Art Nordang arranged for 3 bins of beautiful Red Bartlett pears to be picked up out of cold-storage by Food For All, culmulating in a total of 3000 lbs! Thank you to our volunteers Joanne & Richard for helping us box up those beautiful pears!

Late Fall has certainly proved to be the time for redistribution as two recurring donors donated cold storage produce. Michael "Skeeter" Pilarski donated 600 lbs of winter squash, Jerusalem artichokes, potatoes and shallots from storage while Filaree Farm brought in 100 lbs of organic peppers out from the cold into the warm kitchens of Okanogan County's residents in need.

Besides our gleaning this Fall, the most recent dinner at the Tonasket CCC was another success. These dinners are the last Sunday of the month with the most recent dinner serving 54 meals! The event was held the 28th of November and was an excellent post-Thanksgiving gathering which featured a clothing drive. The next community dinner is Sunday, December 26th from 2-5pm. For more information contact Janet Culp at 486-1328.