Volunteer Newsletter, January 26, 2005

 

HARVESTING FOR THE HUNGRY, PALO ALTO - Saturday, January 29th & February 5th

It is possible to have too much good news?  Our event has been listed in at least 7 Bay Area papers and we have been flooded with calls with homeowners that would like to save their fruit from going to waste and contribute to alleviating local hunger.  To respond, we could use a lot of help this Saturday.  Come on out for what looks to be a record breaking harvest! 

Part I:
Saturday, January 29th
8:30am - 12:30pm
Valley of Heart's Delight, Foundation for Global Community
222 High St, Palo Alto

Please RSVP if you're planning on attending so we know how many homes we can accommodate.
If you're not available on Saturday but would still like to help, we need help lots of other help putting more homeowner packets together, route maps, building leader kits, packing vans, getting snacks together, returning phone calls and more... anytime W-F.

Part II: TBD based upon volunteer response
Saturday, February 5th
8:30am - 12:30pm
Valley of Heart's Delight, Foundation for Global Community
222 High St, Palo Alto

Additionally -- to accommodate this amazing response, we have the option of having another harvesting event on February 5th.  If you're interested in helping on this date, please respond as well.  If we have a critical mass of folks, we'll do it again in a week.

Instructions for harvesting volunteers:

  • Dress in layers with long sleeves and comfortable shoes... Long sleeves are to protect your arms from branches.
  • Bring gloves and hand pruners. 
  • Be prepared to drive or carpool... If you have a large car or truck, it's always appreciated  
  • Feel free to bring a bag/box to take home fruit for yourself. Tree ripened fruit from Santa Clara Valley... it doesn't get any better than this!
  • See our Volunteer FAQ's for more information, especially regarding children.

 

VILLAGE HARVEST ON THE RADIO - Thursday, January 27th

Joni Diserens of Village Harvest and Laura Schuster of Mt. View Community Services Agency will be joining the Old Time Farm and Garden Radio Show hosted by Master Gardener Jim Maley. 

KKUP, 91.5 FM
Thursday, January 27th
10:15 - 11:15 am

We'll be announcing the beginning of the big citrus season, exposing the mystery of why there are citrus trees in N. California, and sharing how much difference has been made, especially in Mt. View with what would typically go to waste and some of our upcoming joint projects with Mt. View CSA.  Feel free to call in with support, questions or just to say "hi!".  408.260.2999. 

 

2004 RESULTS AND CROP REPORT:       

Drum roll please ... but first, let's talk about the weather and crops and other things that farmers sit around worrying about. 

2004 was a great year for most fruit.  The citrus was abundant, the apricots were the most flavorful and healthiest that we've seen for many years, and there were a lot of wonderful persimmons too.  French plums suffered considerably from the heat wave that hit just when the trees were blossoming.  Some orchards that irrigate regularly had half their crop, some lost their entire crop.  Some varieties of apples had bumper crops, others that are more prone to heat-stress didn't hang around long enough to tree-ripen.

We started 2004 needing to regroup our two regular teams, so did we little harvesting last January but ended the year with five regular teams that are growing stronger (this January over 9,000 lbs of fruit have been harvested, versus 1,347 lbs in January 2004).   The summer crop was really hard to harvest because many varieties of fruit that would usually ripen a few weeks apart, ripened at the same time.  Unfortunately, we missed much of what a season has to offer because we couldn't be everywhere at once.

So now,... cue the drum roll...

In 2004, Village Harvest picked 81,441 lbs!  That's:

  • 2 semi's full of fruit
  • Over 217,000 servings of fruit, enough to feed 2,585 families of four for a week
  • Over 206,000 lbs cumulative since our little experiment started in Palo Alto
  • An amazing accomplishment and contribution from each of you -- thanks (40) tons!

But there's so much more to do.  There are 165,000 people in our community seeking food assistance, primarily seniors and children.  And we are harvesting a mere fraction of the 4 Million pounds of fruit we estimate are going to unused in Santa Clara Valley backyards each year.  Our goal for the coming year is simple:  We want more of that nutritious fruit to be made available to the hungry.  So, let's keep up the good work!

 

UPCOMING VILLAGE HARVEST EVENTS:

  • Please RSVP for the dates that you're available to help. 
  • Click on the links for a map to the location.
  • In the schedule above, "SHFB" in the schedule below is Second Harvest Food Bank, 750 Curtner Avenue, San Jose.
  • The CIWP team has expanded and is continuing to go out every Tuesday and Thursday.
  • Menlo Park team goes out as convenient for their schedules.  Contact joni@villageharvest.org to join in.
Date / Day Time Event Meeting Place Notes
January 27, Thursday 10:15 am - 11:15 am KKUP Old Time Garden Show 91.5 FM Village Harvest "On the Air", announcing the beginning of the citrus season -- our busiest time of the year.
January 29, Saturday 8:30 am - 12:30 pm Harvesting for the Hungry w/ Valley of Heart's Delight - Part I Meet 8:30 am, 222 High Street, Palo Alto Oranges and Lemons.
February 5, Saturday 8:30 am - 12:30 pm Harvesting for the Hungry w/ Valley of Heart's Delight - Part II Pending confirmation - see newsletter above. Please RSVP if you can make this date, if we have critical mass, we'll harvest the bumper crop of homeowners who have responded.
February 8, Tuesday 8:30 am - 3:00 pm Community Fruit Harvesting, Saratoga/Campbell, Oranges & Lemons Meet 8:30 am, SHFB Volunteer Room.  You must RSVP for this event and be registered as a SHFB volunteer
February  12, Saturday 8:30 am - 3:30 pm Pruning Workshop & Party @ SkyRanch, Los Gatos Meeting place TBA

snacks and lunch provided

 Learn to prune fruit trees and help prune the SkyRanch Orchard that has been donating tons of apples for the hungry every year.
February 13, Sunday 9:00 am - 12:00 pm Community Fruit Harvesting, Mountain View Meet 9:00 am, Mt. View CSA Contact karen@villageharvest.org if you'd like to join in.
February 15, Tuesday 8:30 am - 3:00 pm Harvesting for the Hungry, Cupertino, Oranges Orchard Meet 9:30 am, Cupertino Orchard Placeholder date -  the Cupertino Orange orchard will be harvested again.  More info to come. 
February  19, Saturday 8:30 am - 3:30 pm Grow Your Own Conference, sponsored by Valley of Heart's Delight Sunnyvale Community Center, 550 E. Remington Drive, Sunnyvale. Keynote by Mas Masumoto.  Come meet other organic food gardeners and find out how to obtain a "healthy garden" sign.  Joni will be speaking on Preserving from the Garden - comparing various techniques.

Register online at http://www.fgconline.org/gyo/index.shtml
February 22, Tuesday 8:30 am - 3:00 pm Community Fruit Harvesting, Willow Glen, Oranges & Lemons Meet 8:30 am, SHFB Volunteer Room.  You must RSVP for this event and be registered as a SHFB volunteer
February 27, Sunday 9:00 am - 12:00 pm Community Fruit Harvesting, Mountain View Meet 9:00 am, Mt. View CSA Pending leader availability.  If you are able to lead this event, contact karen@villageharvest.org
March 8, Tuesday 8:30 am - 3:00 pm Community Fruit Harvesting, Campbell, Oranges & Lemons Meet 8:30 am, SHFB Volunteer Room.  You must RSVP for this event and be registered as a SHFB volunteer
March 13, Sunday 8:30 am - 12:30 pm Harvesting for the Hungry w/YAD Meet 8:30 am, Mt. View CSA

 

 3rd year in a row and often a record breaking event!
March 18, Friday 11:30 am - 2:30 pm Preserving from the Garden Interest Group:  Preserving equipment and jars   contact joni@villageharvest.org to join in on this event
March 19, Saturday 10:00 am - 12:30 pm Fruit Trees for the Hungry Meet 9:30 am, Mt. View CSA We are partnering with Fruition and Mt. View CSA to provide fruit trees to help families become more self-sufficient.
Remember that the best tasting, tree ripened fruit goes home with the volunteers, as it will be too ripe to go through distribution at the Second Harvest Food Bank. Perfect for people who like to make preserves. All dates subject to change based upon ripening and weather.

OTHER ORGANIZATION EVENTS:

  • The following are events by other organizations that may be of interest to Village Harvest volunteers.
Date / Day Time Event Meeting Place Notes
February 5, Saturday 10:30 am - 4:30 pm CRFG Pruning Demonstration
by Andy Mariani		 Emma Prusch Park, 647 S. King Road, San Jose. 

Off 680/280 at King Rd or 101 at Story Rd East.

 Pruning techniques by Andy Mariani, followed by practice and orchard clean-up, remove clippings, cut weeds, cut suckers.  Volunteers bring pruners, shovels, saws, chain saws, weed eaters.
February 5, Saturday 10 am - 3 pm MG Citrus Celebration Yamagami's Nursery, 1361 S. De Anza Blvd., Cupertino.  Free citrus tasting including citrus recipes from the MG Crazy for Citrus cookbook. 

1pm - Nancy Garrison talks on growing citrus in Santa Clara Valley. 

 

Cheers,
Joni Diserens
Village Harvest
 joni@villageharvest.org
 www.villageharvest.org
(650) 740-7725

 

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