Sharing our abundance | Napa Valley Register

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Sharing our abundance

Thursday, August 07, 2008

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Dear editor, I love finding treasures in the great outdoors — freebies from a generous Creator, like colorful pebbles at the beach, textured grasses and wildflowers from roadsides and sweet, fragrant blackberries near a creek!

Let me tell you about a service I recently discovered that pairs the treasures growing in our yards with generosity in our community. The service is Napa Valley Food Bank’s Gleaning Project.

The Gleaning Project puts together people who have a surplus of produce in their yards with volunteer harvesters who come to pick the fruit or vegetables to give to needy families in Napa. Instead of cleaning up wasted rotting produce from the ground after a season, homeowners can utilize the Gleaning Project’s free harvesting service and do a good deed by donating their extra produce to hungry families.

This service is so practical! I’m writing you, dear community, because you, or someone you know, have more produce than you can eat and it does not have to go to waste! Like that generous neighbor who shared her delicious apricots with Kevin Courtney (“Do you know the way to Capay?” July 27), you could bless someone with the abundant treasures you have growing on your property.

If you are willing to share your bounty, call the Gleaning Project at 253-6128, and let its coordinator, Dianne Anderson, know when you would like a volunteer gleaner to come visit your home. If you’re like me, and you enjoy the satisfaction of harvesting treasures in the beautiful outdoors, then you could call that same number to volunteer.

And of course, if you want to pick your own fruits and vegetables to donate, you can deliver them directly to the Napa Valley Food Bank at 1755 Industrial Way, Suite 1, Napa, during regular business hours, which are Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

We are truly blessed with an abundance in our beautiful valley! Let’s glean what we can for the hungry and not let it go to waste!

Kris Dodson / Napa

5 comment(s)

Common Sense wrote on Aug 7, 2008 9:21 AM:

" Outstanding! This is how to take care of the underprivileged...private charity. Sign me up.

The government-run social programs just make our officials biased toward maintaining bloated bureaucracy and corruption while running up our taxes. And they don't do anything when they see Cadillac Escalades parked at the food bank. "

vocal-de-local wrote on Aug 7, 2008 2:07 PM:

" This is a great idea and I would also like to suggest another possibility for the over abundance of our home grown produce. Given that prices of produce have risen so quickly in the past year, forcing even the middle class to cut back, perhaps we could set up a website for Napa County Food Trade. It will be better for our environment because transportation will be kept to a minimum and there won't be so much waste. Someone could use their garden to specialize in apples and another could specialize in pomegranates, for example, and we could develop a trade system in Napa County which would help keep food costs down for those who grow! We could set a certain percentage aside for "Gleaning Project" so they are not bombarded with a ton of tomatoes all at once, but would instead receive a consistent amount, and a variety of produce. We could list the types of produce which grow well in this region on a website and develop categories of produce which are needed. Someone could specialize in growing table grapes and another person could grow tomatoes but we don't want everyone growing tomatoes. We could even set up a location for the trade and involve those who grow food in community gardens. I'm going to try growing some Amaranth, for example. We should also think about growing a variety of protein foods. If anyone is interested in this, please let me know. "

Ruff Limblog wrote on Aug 7, 2008 5:39 PM:

" This is a nice thing to do. And thanks to the current hard times there are more hungry people than ever and less food and dollars to feed them with. Please help them if you have extra food available. ~Ruff "

Bauhausfan wrote on Aug 8, 2008 9:38 PM:

" Common Sense - I love how you bring your right wing ideology into a very simple and non political idea. I just wonder how these fruits and vegetables will help someone who has lost a job and medical coverage for example. That's alright, I guess they can just fend for themselves. "

freeport56 wrote on Aug 10, 2008 3:08 PM:

" Bauhausfan-

Lighten up, she is right. Joe citizen can accomplish more more efficiently than any government can. I just heard about this program last night at the fair. I will more that happy to let them glean my 6 fruit trees. We have more than we need. "

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