We had over 100 volunteers arrive on a great day to harvest plums and we harvested to one week's single produce distribution capacity of the Second Harvest Food Bank in no time at all. 8453 lbs were harvested and sorted in boxes ready to be distributed to the hungry in our community. Next year, we're looking forward to doing it even bigger and better. Thanks to Ron at Hitachi Data Systems, there was a great deal of coverage in the Mercury News and KNTV News. Here's a nice article that you may not have seen in the Silicon Valley Business Ink. You can also see pictures of the event on the Village Harvest web-site.
Plums versus Prunes:
What's in a name? A lot according to those proposing dropping the North
from North Dakota, and the California Prune Board which is now the California
Dried Plum Board. In everyday usage, a "plum" is a fresh fruit, and a
"prune" is a dried plum. The fruit that we harvested is technically a
French Prune, a European Plum variety. But, as you can imagine it's
difficult to get anyone excited about harvesting an entire orchard of prunes.
Additionally, many of the volunteers and recipients find these plums to be
delicious and surprisingly unlike a prune (or is it a dried plum?).
UPDATED VILLAGE HARVEST WEB-SITE
A few months ago, our site, www.villageharvest.org, got a new look and was completely upgraded. Highlights of the upgrades are:
Check it out! There's a little clover z hidden on one of the pages. If you find it, e-mail back the link. There's a prize for the first 3 people to find it. (A hint, Village Harvest is booming and we're finding ourselves stretched to support the need).
Thank you to Rosemary and Craig who designed and made this new web-site a reality!
This includes over 11,000 lbs of French Plums from three orchards in the Santa Clara Valley. We like French plums because their natural sweetness and fiber content makes them both delicious and healthy for the elderly in our community.
| Date / Day | Time | Event | Meeting Place | Notes |
| September 13, Saturday | 11:00 am - 2:00 pm | Mayor's 4th Annual Volunteer Celebration | Plaza de Cezar Chavez, San Jose | Village Harvest volunteers invited. RSVP 408.277.4000 |
| September 16, Tuesday | 8:15 am - 2:00 pm | Community Fruit Harvesting, Willow Glen. Apples and Citrus | Meet 8:15 am, SHFB Volunteer Room | Lunch
provided. Recipient: Second Harvest Food Bank |
| September 19, Friday | 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm | Preserving from the Garden Interest Group | contact joni@villageharvest.org for more information on this event | |
| September 23, Tuesday | 8:15 am - 2:00 pm | Community Fruit Harvesting, Saratoga. Citrus | Meet 8:15 am, SHFB Volunteer Room | Lunch
provided. Recipient: Second Harvest Food Bank |
| September 27, Saturday | 8:30 am - 12:30 pm | Apples at Apple, Cupertino. | tentative, stay tuned. | |
| September 30, Tuesday | 8:15 am - 2:00 pm | Community Fruit Harvesting, Palo Alto. Citrus | Meet 8:15 am, SHFB Volunteer Room or in Palo Alto at the first home | Lunch
provided. Recipient: Second Harvest Food Bank |
| October 7, Tuesday | 8:15 am - 2:00 pm | Community Fruit Harvesting, TBD. | Meet 8:15 am, SHFB Volunteer Room | Lunch
provided. Recipient: Second Harvest Food Bank |
| October 11, Saturday | 10:00 am - 4:00 pm | Pumpkins in the Park | Discovery Meadow, Downtown San Jose | Volunteers needed to man information booth and sell preserves. |
| October 25, Saturday | 8:30 am - 5:30 pm | Planet on our Plate | Kresge Auditorium, Stanford University, Palo Alto | Joni Diserens will be speaking on "Harvest 365 - fruit growing and harvesting all year round." |
| November 15th, Saturday | 8:30 am - 12:30 pm | Harvesting for the Hungry w/ Valley of Heart's Delight | Meet 8:30 am, 222 High Street, Palo Alto | Persimmons! |
| November 22, Saturday | 12:00 - 4:00 pm | Common Ground Preserve Tasting and Gift Basket Sale | Common Ground, 559 College Avenue, Palo Alto | This year, give a gift from your own hometown and help feed the hungry at the same time. |
| December 7, Sunday | 12:00 - 4:00 pm | History|San José Holiday Shopping Event | 1650 Senter Road, San Jose | Many gifts will be available that promote our Valley's history and agricultural heritage. |
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.
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