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<BODY lang=EN-US vLink=purple link=blue><B>From:</B> Mark Musick
[mark-musick@comcast.net]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, April 23, 2006 12:17
AM<BR><B>To:</B> Cascade Harvest Coalition; Community Food Security
Coalition<BR><B>Subject:</B> Green Thumbs Give Food Bank a Hand<BR>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><I><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The
Olympian</SPAN></FONT></I><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">, </SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">April 22,
2006</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A
href="http://159.54.227.3/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060422/NEWS01/60422006">http://159.54.227.3/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060422/NEWS01/60422006</A>
</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Arial size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Green Thumbs Give
Food Bank a Hand</SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">BY Katherine Tam</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Lacey resident E.J. Hardebeck
normally spends the summer on vacation, reading or lazing about.
</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">But this summer, he and 10 other
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Komachin</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Middle School</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> students
are volunteering to tend 18 vegetable beds they're planting for low-income
families.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“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.”</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The students aren't alone this
planting season. </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Farmers, backyard gardeners and
groups across the county have begun planting seeds and tilling land in a unified
effort to keep the <A href="http://www.thurstoncountyfoodbank.org/">Thurston
County Food Bank's</A> shelves stocked. Farm land that would normally lie fallow
and surplus vegetables that would otherwise go to waste have found a new
purpose.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">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.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">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.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In February, <A
href="http://www.goodgrub.org/">Garden-Raised Bounty</A> began pulling local
growers together. Some, like GRuB and <A
href="http://www.olympiakiwanis.org/screenprint.cfm?newsletterid=243">The
Kiwanis Club</A>, 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 <A href="http://www.gleanerscoalition.org/">Gleaners Coalition</A>, which
dispatches volunteers to help farms harvest excess food, is also a
partner.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Planting has begun at GRuB's
greenhouse on </SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Elliot Avenue</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> and at The
Kiwanis Club's half-acre farm near </SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Mud Bay Road</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">. 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.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“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.”</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In Rochester, the <A
href="http://www.helsingfarmcsa.com/">Helsing Junction Farm</A> 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 <A
href="http://www.rochester.wednet.edu/heart/hearthome.html">H.E.A.R.T.
Alternative High School</A> students will help harvest. </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">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.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The Gleaners are organizing a giving
garden, where they'll grow herbs and vegetables, at the <A
href="http://www.theolympian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051224/NEWS01/51224002">Olympia
Community Gardens</A> 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.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">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.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“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.”
</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Katherine Tam covers the city of
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Olympia</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> for The
Olympian. She can be reached at </SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">360-704-6869</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> or
ktam@theolympian.com.</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV><BR>
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