In early July, Village Harvest volunteers - that's you - reached the milestone of harvesting a total of 2 Million Servings of fresh fruit since our founding in 2001. That's over 750,000 lbs of fruit, 19 semi truck trailers worth harvested for the hungry. HUGE! And an orange isn't just an orange, it's a nutritious path to health and a vital community.
But of course we haven't stopped there. August was our biggest month ever, over 27,000 lbs harvested for the hungry - Thank you, volunteers! In 2009 we've already matched what we harvested in all of 2008, greatly appreciated by our recipient agencies since they are serving up to 16% more people in the current economy.
During
September, Village Harvest is selling the "EcoMetro Guide" for Silicon
Valley/Santa Cruz, loaded with money saving coupons plus directories and
resources for living green. There are lots of well known businesses plus
new discoveries; coupons include grocery, dining, entertainment, travel, garden
and home. Coupons are good through October 2010, so it makes a great gift and will pay for
itself many times over.
The EcoMetro Guide is $20 and will be available for purchase at most harvesting events. For more info or to order direct, contact craig@villageharvest.org and arrange pick up or mailing ($2 extra). VH receives a substantial portion of the price - buy and give plenty!
Seen any pears lately? 2009 was a
big
year for pears - in August we harvested over 16,000 lbs. Thanks to all the
regular and community group volunteers who made this possible.
In the process, we built two great working relationships. We harvested pears from an old heritage orchard now owned by the Midpeninsula Open Space District, and we'll be harvesting apples later in the year. We also assisted harvesting groups starting up in Sacramento, organizing the harvest of 3,400 lbs from pear trees in a golf course in the California Delta. 18 volunteers from Village Harvest (Davis and South Bay), Soil Born Farms, Harvest Sacramento, and Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services joined forces to make this possible.
The
new Davis Team (photo right), led by Joe and Linda Schwartz, is off to a roaring
start, rapidly building a large group of dedicated volunteers and tree
owners. They've received great press coverage in the local
Davis
Enterprise and the widely circulated
Sacramento Bee. And they've
already harvested over 6400 lbs in a few months.
Our new Sunnyvale team, started in partnership
with Sunnyvale Community Services, is led by volunteer Julia Shen. Their first
harvest on June 22 was covered by the
San Jose Mercury
News and featured on the cover
of the Silicon Valley Community Newspapers. So
successful that the planned once per month harvest has already been expanded to
twice per month. Want to be a part? Next VH/SCS events are September 14 and 28.
Home Produce Donations; Relaxed LBAM Quarantine Policies Coming
With the cooperation the Santa Clara County Agriculture department, we created a month long program for home gardeners to donate produce and fruit to the Community Services Agency in Mountain View. Over 50 gardeners donated over 2,000 lbs. of produce to the CSA, giving them much needed fresh vegetables.
State and county agriculture departments have just announced new Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) Quarantine Policies which will allow home gardeners to donate fruit and vegetables themselves without any special inspections. Once the new rules are fully in place, we'll again encourage home gardeners to donate fruit and vegetables themselves. We'll post updates to our web site www.villageharvest.org
There's
more summer harvesting ahead, with Apples coming up next. Visit the online calendar at
www.villageharvest.org/events.htm. Events do fill up, so sign up early to ensure a place.
How to volunteer:
South Bay Online calendar as of 9/7/09, additional events are being scheduled. Details and sign up online.
| Tue Sep 8 | 8:30am – 12pm | SJ central - Community Fruit Harvest |
| Mon Sep 14 | 8am – 12pm | Sunnyvale - Community Fruit Harvesting - 725 Kifer Rd, Sunnyvale |
| Tue Sep 15 | 8:30am – 12pm | SJ central - Community Fruit Harvest |
| Sat Sep 19 | 8:30am -11:30am | Atherton - Community Fruit Harvesting |
| Sun Sep 20 | 9am – 12:30pm | Mt View - Community Fruit Harvesting - CSA, 204 Stierlin Rd., Mountain View |
| Tue Sep 22 | 8:30am – 12pm | SJ central - Community Fruit Harvest |
| Mon Sep 28 | 8am – 12pm | Sunnyvale - Community Fruit Harvesting - 725 Kifer Rd, Sunnyvale |
| Tue Sep 29 | 8:30am – 12pm | SJ central - Community Fruit Harvest |
| Sun Oct 4 | 9am – 12:30pm | Mt View - Community Fruit Harvesting - CSA, 204 Stierlin Rd., Mountain View |
| Tue Oct 6 | 8:30am – 12pm | SJ central - Community Fruit Harvest |
| Tue Oct 13 | 8am – 12pm | Sunnyvale - Community Fruit
Harvesting - 725 Kifer Rd, Sunnyvale (note: Tuesday this time only) |
| Tue Oct 13 | 8:30am – 12pm | SJ central - Community Fruit Harvest |
www.villageharvest.org
(888) FRUIT-411
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Sent by Village Harvest, PO Box 9231, San Jose, CA 95157.