[OKC] Green Thumbs Give Food Bank a Hand

[Patrick Schlecht]

 <<Green Thumbs Give Food Bank a Hand.htm>> Thought this was an
interesting story about a growing/gleaning/CSA program benefiting a
local food bank in Washington State.  

  
From: Mark Musick [mark-musick at comcast.net]
Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2006 12:17 AM
To: Cascade Harvest Coalition; Community Food Security Coalition
Subject: Green Thumbs Give Food Bank a Hand

The Olympian, April 22, 2006 

http://159.54.227.3/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060422/NEWS01/60422006 

 

Green Thumbs Give Food Bank a Hand

BY Katherine Tam

 

Lacey resident E.J. Hardebeck normally spends the summer on vacation,
reading or lazing about. 

 

But this summer, he and 10 other Komachin Middle School students are
volunteering to tend 18 vegetable beds they're planting for low-income
families.

 

"We have this garden, and we're not using it very much," he said.
"There's nothing planted in here but weeds, so it was just a waste.
There are people who need what we have."

 

The students aren't alone this planting season. 

 

Farmers, backyard gardeners and groups across the county have begun
planting seeds and tilling land in a unified effort to keep the Thurston
County Food Bank's shelves stocked. Farm land that would normally lie
fallow and surplus vegetables that would otherwise go to waste have
found a new purpose.

 

The food bank had a record 58,055 client visits last year, said Robert
Coit, executive director at the food bank. The number has increased 30
percent a month during the past seven months, in part because higher
gasoline prices have forced people to funnel more of their paychecks
into fueling their cars to drive to work. At the same time, the food
bank has opened satellite sites at two large low-income apartment
complexes.

 

The food bank gets donated produce from growers, but donations ebb in
the cold months. So Coit uses cash donations and reserves to buy
produce.

 

In February, Garden-Raised Bounty began pulling local growers together.
Some, like GRuB and The Kiwanis Club, had grown for the food bank
before. Others were newcomers. Fourteen groups or individual growers are
now on board, with the combined goal of growing 30,000 pounds of food
this year, said Blue Peetz, GRuB coordinator. The Gleaners Coalition,
which dispatches volunteers to help farms harvest excess food, is also a
partner.

 

Planting has begun at GRuB's greenhouse on Elliot Avenue and at The
Kiwanis Club's half-acre farm near Mud Bay Road. The Kiwanis Club is the
food bank's single largest donor, delivering 15,000 pounds of produce
last year. They hope to match or surpass that amount this year, he said.

 

"It's a fairly productive small patch," said Don Leaf of The Kiwanis
Club. "We've been producing fresh produce for the food bank for several
years. We try to harvest when things are ripe and not overripe, and try
to deliver it immediately."

 

In Rochester, the Helsing Junction Farm has set aside two acres for the
food bank where they've planted carrots, beets, fennel and chard, said
Susan Ujcic, co-owner. The Gleaners and H.E.A.R.T. Alternative High
School students will help harvest. 

 

The food bank also will benefit from the farm's community-supported
agriculture program. Under CSA, members pay monthly for a full or half
share and, in return, get weekly produce and flowers, often getting more
food than the cost of their share. The farm is matching every $1 that
CSA members donate, and the money is used to provide shares to food bank
clients.

 

The Gleaners are organizing a giving garden, where they'll grow herbs
and vegetables, at the Olympia Community Gardens and Bentley Farms, said
Barry Cannon, who heads the group. The Gleaners will organize work
parties to run the garden, its volunteers will keep any harvest they
need and the rest will be donated to the food bank and other area
emergency food and meal programs.

 

In addition, the Gleaners will launch a food preparation display
starting May 24, where they'll prepare dishes at the food bank using the
vegetables and herbs clients receive. They'll serve samples and hand out
recipe kits, especially for vegetables people might not be familiar
with, like kohlrabi, which is a cabbage that resembles a turnip.

 

"You give it to somebody and it's a weird-looking thing and people might
not know what to do with it," Cannon said. "It's also nutritional
teaching. Greens can be cooked so much they turn brown and limp. We'll
teach them how to hold the nutrition in the vegetables." 

 

 

Katherine Tam covers the city of Olympia for The Olympian. She can be
reached at 360-704-6869 or ktam at theolympian.com.
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