I just read about the Oakland foraging project FORAGE OAKLAND-looks exciting and very informal. It is evident in reading the articles on the foraging blog that the foragers know what to do with fresh food if not eaten out of hand immediately, and are motivated to preserve by canning or drying the extra produce. Our clients often are not familiar with fresh vegetables until someone demonstrates what to do with acorn squash, sweet potatoes, etc., and gives them recipes. The Resource Center accepts homegrown produce year-round, usually apples and zucchini, and is happy to get those items.
I am excited to be sponsoring a Notre Dame student's project to increase fresh-produce use. She will come to our Family Harvest afternoons in March and April to show the harvesters what to do with the fresh food they receive. She will hand out samples of food she has prepared ahead of time and give them recipes. In April, she will demonstrate "growing your own salsa" and give out tomato and pepper plants and show interested families how to pot up the plants along with cilantro seeds.
Many of our customers do not cook from scratch and were never taught how to do so-the Center gave out two crates of sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving and staff took turns explaining how to cook them: stick them in the oven the last hour of cooking the turkey, then serve soft with butter, salt, and pepper. Are sweet potatoes or squash exotic? For people who are accustomed to prepared food, yes.
We DO accept fresh produce from the Food Bank. We also DO accept fresh backyard fruits and vegetables as they come from individuals. We accept the new Palmetto Organic grocery store's outdated foods routinely. We just accepted about 20 pounds of ground beef from half a steer from someone's ranch. We just can't keep perishables in big volumes.
I agree with you about some exciting food foraging nonprofits around such as Backyard Harvest in Santa Clara, which organizes volunteers to pick up fruit from residences with surplus and takes them to food distribution sites. When I met the Santa Clara group last year at a conference, I was thinking what a great idea it is to "share the wealth."
This effort is beyond the capacity of the Resource Center to take on as a project because it has intense logistics involved, but the concept is timely, green, and doable by volunteers and a volunteer coordinator.
Our partner program I want you to know about: The Resource Center already supervises and registers families for the once-a-month Second Harvest Family Harvest at Moose Lodge on the third Wednesday of the month from 4-6 p.m. About 12 Women of the Moose volunteer to unload the Second Harvest food bank truck and arrange the food (fresh, frozen, boxed, and canned) in stations around the room so it is ready for families to come in and select. Some 66 families are registered with us, 60 of them with children under 18 and six single individuals.
If you all want to pursue this concept further, I suggest you talk to Loretta O'Brien of Pacifica Gardens for a local sounding board (she and I are in conversation about excess Pacifica Garden produce) and with Second Harvest Food Bank in San Carlos, our partner for Family Harvest for a bigger venue: email Susan Takalo at or call 650-610-0800 x412. Susan lives in Pacifica, is Assistant Program Director, and has the expertise (and enthusiasm) for setting up Produce Mobile Vans and general logistics of moving bulk food around safely and efficiently.
I will be glad to participate in the planning but cannot take it on as a PRC project.
Pat Paik, Director Pacifica Resource Center A Project of the Tides Center "Neighbors Helping Neighbors" 1809 Palmetto Avenue Pacifica, CA 94044
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