The Clallam County Gleaning Program has partnered with one local farmer’s market to recover market produce and baked goods. This partnership set seed when a volunteer gleaner and avid farmer’s market shopper brought it to the attention of the gleaning coordinator. From there the gleaning…
Set up volunteer recruitment policies If working within another agency, utilize the volunteer manager or recruiter, and learn the volunteer recruitment procedures regarding training (onsite training or offsite before glean), background checks, court-ordered volunteers, discuss potential risks of the program and create parameters and policies…
Prior to Glean: Coordinate with farmers. Make a list of info you need from farmers to effectively and efficiently coordinate gleaning events. This includes: type of produce, number of volunteers needed for a 2-3 hours harvest, best hours for farm to have volunteers (some farms…
Reach out to the Farmers Market Coordinator to express interest in setting up market Recovery. Try to set up a meeting to learn more about the Farmers Market and have them help you set up this opportunity if they think there will be interest from…
Many fruit tree harvests are backyard fruit trees hidden right in your community. Home owners will have a range of fruit tree knowledge, and this can sometimes make it a bit challenging to coordinate a glean. A new home-owner may not be familiar with when…
Outreach Within the first year of a gleaning program, it is advantageous to send out information to potential collaborating farms during the offseason. During the off-season, a farmer would be more likely to catch an email or letter or have the time to meet in…
One of TCFB’s big farm donors was mainly supplying culled produce, or produce that had already been harvested. This produce can be anything that was sorted out as un-sellable, such as blemished or misshapen vegetables, produce that was not sold at the market, CSA boxes…
Thurston County Food Bank (TCFB) has been gleaning between 40 and 60,000 lbs of produce each year, thanks to a few key donors. TCFB works primarily with six growers (5 small-scale commercial farms and 1 service club that grows solely for the food bank). In…
Once you have established a gleaning program and have fresh vegetables and fruits coming through your food bank doors, it is important to make sure that clients know how to prepare and cook with the produce. When you develop a great gleaning partnership, it is…
The Thurston County Food Bank hopes to one day have a full food bank farming operation, but in the meantime, they have a very successful relationship with a local service club to manage a food bank garden project. The Kiwanis Club of Olympia has garden…