It hits you when you drive around: Fruit trees, farm fields and gardens runneth over on the North Olympic Peninsula — looks like plenty, yes?
Making good food plentiful for all local residents: That’s the goal of gleaners, the volunteers harvesting and delivering fresh produce to food banks across Jefferson and Clallam counties.
“We’ve got a month left, and maybe a little into November,” Washington State University Clallam County Extension sustainability coordinator Meggan Uecker said of the season.
Growers from the River Run Farm in Dungeness, Johnston Farm in Agnew and Blueberry Haven in Joyce have invited her volunteers out to pick leftover fruits and vegetables, which they bring to food banks in Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks — and “we’ll do gardens too. Folks might be overloaded with greens and squash,” Uecker added.
In Jefferson County, AmeriCorps volunteer Karen Kastel heads another team of gleaners in local fields including Red Dog Farm out in Chimacum.
Working under the statewide Harvest against Hunger umbrella, they’ve gathered a wealth of greens: chard, kale, spinach and lettuce plus scallions, cilantro, basil and parsley.
“So far this season, we’ve gleaned over a ton. That’s a lot of leaves,” Kastel said.
Along with the fruit gatherers from the Quimper Community Harvest program, Kastel transports this bounty to the Port Townsend Food Bank and other pantries and meal programs around the rural county.
Why volunteer to work out in the sun, wind and rain?
“There’s a lot of food insecurity here on the Peninsula, and any way we can address that is a good thing,” Kastel said, adding that volunteers also are allowed to take home some vegetables for their own supper tables.
Karen Coles, a veteran volunteer in Clallam County, added that gleaning means free exercise and a chance to meet like-minded people.
Milking stool in tow, Coles has been harvesting cucumbers at River Run Farm, a spread with 10 acres in vegetables.
With Bill and Linda, the farm’s two draft horses, grazing nearby, Coles and compatriot Diane Miller hunkered down in the rows on a recent sunny afternoon. From River Run alone between July 28 and Sept. 8, Coles and crew have gleaned and delivered more than 1,100 pounds of fresh produce to nearby food programs.
Also in Clallam County, the WSU Extension office offers door-hanger fliers, which volunteers can leave for neighbors whose fruit trees are crying out for harvest.
“I encourage people to just go knock” on a neighbor’s door if there’s a tree loaded with apples, pears, plums or quinces, Uecker said.
If no one is home, she added, you might leave behind a door-hanger, which reads: “Volunteer gleaners will pick your excess produce, leave some for you, & take the rest to the food bank. Good Samaritan laws protect you from liability.”
This is a rich year for growing food, said Uecker. Now she hopes to grow her volunteer base.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
