Peach Harvest Goes Full Board

We are into our second week of peach gleaning this month with our first glean kicked off at DeLap Orchards last Friday. Thirteen volunteers harvested 1300 pounds of ripe peaches in an hour! With the donation of a block of ripe peaches by orchardist Rick DeLap the Food For All gleaners were called to pick clean what we could. We were happy to have several new volunteers show up last week and thanks to our veteran gleaners on board they helped the gleaning event go smoothly.








This week we have TWO GLEANS scheduled:

Smallwood Farms, Tuesday 8/23 7:30am

DeLap Orchards, Wednesday 8/24 7:30 am

If you would like to glean call Sara at 833-0336 for directions and information.

August Harvest at the Food For All Garden

Our garden has been growing...exponentially. Every time we turn around our vegetables, fruits and legumes are growing up, across, out and all over our square-foot method applied, raised apple bins located on the south side of the Community Action building.

We have harvested twice-weekly for almost the last two months providing fresh produce to our food bank clients. Herbs, greens, brassicus and now carrots, onions and tomatoes, yes finally a few tomatoes have been available at the Okanogan food bank.

Without the help of our volunteers this garden would not have had the constant care and upkeep needed to provide for our community. If you would like to come help harvest this August contact our AmeriCorps VISTA at 422-4041 x30 to volunteer. The Food For All garden volunteer hours are from 8-11am on Mondays and Thursdays.

"SAVE THE SOFT FRUIT"

Over the last week we have been gleaning soft fruit, saving it from rot and providing nutrition to those in need. Last week a cherry rescue mission was offered to Food For All and our fledgling program went after it at full force. An entire block of Rainier and Lapin cherries was donated to the Community Action gleaning efforts by Ellisforde residents Sig & Karen Trottier. This gracious donation of soft fruit led to 493 pounds of local cherries distributed to local people. This could only have been done with the caring nature of our gleaners, our volunteers who realize and respect the agricultural bounty of the Okanogan and don't like to see it go to waste...or go to the fruit flies. Nine volunteers logged twenty-five hours of volunteer work in three days.

Apricots have also been gleaned on the whim of a local organic orchardist JC Kauffman of Filaree Fruit up on the Okanogan Flats. JC's farm had an apricot tree that needed some picking so our AmeriCorps VISTA and a seasoned Food For All volunteer rescued these tasty morsels from a slow and painful rot. In less than two hours, with two picking ladders, two volunteers gleaned 145 pounds of fruit while also scoring some organic peach culls from Tuesdays harvest. Four boxes of organic apricots and forty pounds of organic peaches ready to rock for the Thursday food bank.

If you would like "SAVE THE SOFT FRUIT" call 422-4041 x30 and speak with our AmeriCorps VISTA about how you can help. We are actively recruiting new volunteers or groups of volunteers interested in gleaning. We also are looking for new agricultural donors, home gardeners & orchardists with excess produce to call when they have any fruits of their labor to donate.