Faces of the Fruit Harvest: Phil in Ballard

This summer and fall we've had a wonderful group of volunteers scouting, harvesting and delivering fruit for the Community Fruit Tree Harvest. We've also had a number of people step into leadership roles, including three folks who are Harvest Leads for specific neighborhoods.

These volunteers contact tree donors to schedule harvests, send out announcements to volunteers, plan the logistics for the harvests, and harvest fruit alongside other volunteers. Their commitment to the project and their communities is what makes the Community Fruit Tree Harvest possible.

One of the great aspects of the fruit harvest is the opportunity to get to know each other while we harvest. And here's your opportunity to get to know one of our Harvest Leads: Phil Hecht, of Ballard.

Phil is a general contractor by day, and as you can see from his picture, an avid fisherman. His organizational skills and enthusiasm for harvesting fruit have been great additions to the Community Fruit Tree Harvest this year.

What got you interested in volunteering with the Community Fruit Tree Harvest?

Phil: I read about it on the Sustainable Ballard newsletter. I volunteer to do habitat restoration for salmon and steelhead, but don't do anything for folks in need directly. I love trees, gardening and being outside...so it seemed like a great opportunity. Now that I'm involved, I am certain that I made the right decision.

What has been the most rewarding part of the program so far?

Phil: It is a tie...I love meeting the other harvesters, donors, and other people involved. However it impacts me deeply when we deliver the fruit. The excitement and gratitude is moving.

What is your favorite fruit to harvest and why?

Phil: Honestly anything in a big, tall tree. If I have to pick though, pears. They are hard and hurt if they bonk you. Exciting!

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A big thank you to Phil, Eunice, and Rita for leading neighborhoods harvests this summer, and to all the volunteers who stepped up to lead individual harvests and scout trees. You all are the heart of this program, and it's been a pleasure to work with you this season!

~Mariah, Harvest Coordinator

Sharing the Bounty of the Season

It's September, which for many people means school is starting and summer is officially over. For the Community Fruit Tree Harvest, though, it means we're in full swing and looking forward to more pears and apples as the season goes on.

Our many volunteers have been hard at work harvesting and delivering fruit. We've donated over 2600 pounds of fruit so far - that's more than one ton!

We've received very positive feedback from organizations receiving the fruit. Immanuel Community Services Food Bank, for example, distributed donated apples not just at the food bank, but shared them with kids during an end-of-summer celebration at the Free Summer Meals program they sponsored at a local park.

Eating fresh fruit during the summer is a wonderful way to enjoy the season and be healthy at the same time. We're so happy to help provide this to kids and adults who might not otherwise be able to afford fresh fruit.

The Community Fruit Tree Harvest also brings volunteers together to harvest and learn from each other. Earlier this month I learned from Rita, a volunteer harvest leader for the Central District and Capitol Hill neighborhoods, that some trees, if not pruned properly, will only bear fruit every other year. That's a good incentive to keep trees properly pruned and cared for, so that you'll have fruit every year.

After our dry summer, many fruit trees are thirsty. With the arrival of the autumn rains, harvesting might be a little more of an adventure, but the change in weather brings the promise of healthy, nourished, trees and fruit for years to come.

There's still plenty of harvesting to do, and if you're interested in donating fruit or volunteering with us, please contact me: fruitharvest@solid-ground.org or 206.694.6751.

~Mariah, Harvest Coordinator

More than a Gleaning Process

From July to October each year, volunteers across Seattle harvest over 200 fruit trees for Lettuce Link’s Community Fruit Tree Harvest (CFTH). As a project at the intersection of gleaning and social justice, the CFTH addresses the problem of how many homeowners cannot fully harvest their trees, resulting in wasted fruit. The CFTH mobilizes the fruit and gets it to people who need it preventing it from rotting in someone’s backyard.

Started by Lettuce Link in 2005, the Community Fruit Tree Harvest was originally staffed by an AmeriCorps VISTA member and harvested 400 pounds of fruit in the Wallingford neighborhood. In the past nine years, the Community Fruit Tree Harvest project has grown into a city-wide operation that collaborates with the new local fruit harvest groups that have formed, including City Fruit and the Colman Park Harvest. Between these three organizations, people harvest fruit trees in all of Seattle’s neighborhoods. Across the city, volunteers share locally-harvested apples, plums, pears, Asian pears, figs, grapes, and more with food banks, meal programs, shelters, and low-income housing units.

From college students to retirees to parents with their children, the Community Fruit Tree Harvest resonates with volunteers of all ages and experiences. At a recent volunteer orientation, after sharing the history, goals, and nuts and bolts of the Community Fruit Tree Harvest project, Lettuce Link Harvest Coordinator Mariah Pepper concluded by framing the project in the larger context of volunteers working together for food justice and sustainable food systems.

“The Community Fruit Tree Harvest is more than a gleaning process,” Mariah said. “There is a reason we do things the way we do. We’re putting fresh food in the emergency food system. We’re using the community’s existing resources to strengthen the community and to make sure people with low incomes have access to fresh, healthy food.”

~ Victoria, Lettuce Link DukeEngage intern

Volunteer With Us

Intrigued? Excited? Come join us and help us expand to harvest more trees this season! We still need volunteers, including harvest leaders willing to coordinate weekly harvests. Contact Mariah for more information: fruitharvest@solid-ground.org.

Donate Your Fruit

If you have fruit to donate, please contact Seattle Tilth’s Garden Hotline at 206.633.0224 or help@gardenhotline.org. Depending on where you live, they can connect you with us or one of the other fantastic groups harvesting fruit in the Puget Sound region!

Come Harvest Fruit With Us!

If you've been thinking about volunteering to harvest fruit, scout fruit trees, or deliver fruit to donation sites, get involved now! Lettuce Link's Community Fruit Tree Harvest depends on many volunteers each year to get thousands of pounds of unwanted fruit off the trees and into food banks, meal programs, and low-income housing complexes across the city.

Thanks to the abundant sunshine and high temperatures, fruit is ripening early this year. Transparent apples, yellow plums, and various other early varieties are ripe and ready for harvest.

Excited to get started? Here's what to do:

1. Contact Mariah to RSVP for an orientation: fruitharvest@solid-ground.org or 206.694.6751
2. Come to one of the two orientations we're holding this week:

Tuesday, July 23, 6:30-7:30pm
Thursday, July 25, 6:30-7:30pm

Location: Meridian Park, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N (next to the Good Shepherd Center in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood)

Orientation includes an overview of volunteer roles and expectations, why we harvest fruit for donation, and filling out required paperwork. Light snacks provided.

Can't make it to an orientation? Contact Mariah for more information on how to get involved: fruitharvest@solid-ground.org or 206.694.6751

Please spread the word about this opportunity, and we hope to see you at one of the orientations this week!

Fruit Season is Around the Corner!

At Lettuce Link, most of our work exists at the intersection of urban farming, community organizing, and the emergency food system. Our Community Fruit Tree Harvest project really straddles all of these worlds.

Since 2005 we have been coordinating a fabulous crew of volunteers to harvest unwanted fruit and deliver it to food banks, shelters, and meal programs. We reduce waste by gleaning the excess fruit that tree owners can't use for themselves and their families. We bring together people who may not have volunteered before, but are passionate about healthy trees and sharing fruit. And, most importantly, we get fresh, local fruit into the hands and kitchens of clients at food banks and meal programs.

If you are a lover of fruit trees, a volunteer looking for a project to dig into, or someone curious about how to improve the food system in Seattle, come join our team! We are currently recruiting harvest leaders, harvest volunteers, and fruit donors.

Harvest Leaders

Get to know your neighbors, share food with your community, and keep that beautiful, organic fruit in your neighborhood from going to waste!

Responsibilities include:

• Coordinating 1-2 harvests/week in your neighborhood (July-October, depending on fruit availability) 
• Ensuring fruit is donated to local food banks, shelters, and meal programs 
• Storing ladders and picking buckets 

This is a volunteer position, but mileage is reimbursed. Please see the position description for details. To apply, download and submit a volunteer application and a short statement of interest to Mariah at fruitharvest@solid-ground.org by Friday, July 12th.

Harvest Leader orientations will occur on Tuesday, July 16, and Thursday, July 18, 6-7:30pm at Solid Ground (1501 N 45th St).

Harvest Volunteers

We need volunteers who can do one or more of the following:

• Scout trees ahead of time to see if the fruit is ripe 
• Harvest fruit at scheduled work parties and/or on an on-call basis 
• Provide garage space for storing ladders, picking buckets and/or fruit 
• Deliver fruit to food banks or meal programs 
• Host a fruit-oriented social for a neighborhood harvest crew, such as a canning, baking, or preserve-making party 

To get started, please download and submit a volunteer application.

Fruit Donors

If you have fruit to donate, please contact Seattle Tilth’s Garden Hotline at 206.633.0224 or help@gardenhotline.org. Depending on where you live, they can connect you with us or one of the other fantastic groups harvesting fruit in the Puget Sound region!

Why Be a Fruit Harvest Leader?

Introducing Cassie Hibbert

On a recent sunny afternoon, Cassie and I sat on her back porch, enjoying rosemary sugar cookies that she had baked herself. Cassie and I met in July when she first applied to be a Harvest Leader after finding out about the Community Fruit Tree Harvest through the Central District News blog. 

Having grown up picking fruit with her family in Oregon, Cassie thought volunteering would be a good opportunity to re-direct food from going into the waste stream to going to people who need it.

Over sugar cookies and lemonade, Cassie reflected on getting to know her neighbors and being involved in the Community Fruit Tree Harvest. (If the audio below doesn't work, click here to listen to it.)

Aside from being a Harvest Leader, Cassie is an amazing pendant lamp maker. Check out her work at http://www.cassiehibbertdesign.com

~Amanda Lee, Harvest Coordinator

Plums, Plums, and More Plums!

Fruit harvest season is in full swing! Here are a couple recipes from our fruit tree harvest volunteers for tasty ways to use all those plums. 

Are you a fruit tree owner with  an overflowing tree? Or do you want to help harvest fruit in your neighborhood to donate to local food banks and meal programs? Get involved with the Community Fruit Tree Harvest! 

Jan's Berry Cobbler

Our stellar fruit tree harvest volunteer Jan Foster sent us this cobbler recipe. She likes to use half raspberries and half Italian prune plums. You can use frozen fruit - no need to thaw ahead of time. 

Jan writes, "When you look at this recipe, you think, 'There is NO WAY this is going to work out,' but trust me, it does!!!"

Ingredients

• 4-6 cups berries or chopped fruit
• ¾ cup sugar 
• ¼ tsp salt 
• 3 Tbsp margarine 
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1 cup flour 
• ½ cup milk

Topping

• 1 cup sugar 
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch 
• Pinch of salt  

Directions

1. Put fruit in 8x12 pan 
2. Mix together sugar, salt, margarine, baking powder and flour as if making a pie crust (cut in the butter with knives): 
3. Add milk to dry mixture, and pour over fruit. 
4. Mix together topping ingredients, and sprinkle over dough
5. Pour 1 cup boiling water over the entire pan 
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour

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Plumsicles!

Joyce Moty, another of our fruit harvest volunteers, sent us this easy recipe for plumsicles. It works best with Italian prune plums (or other firmer plums). 

1. Cut in half and remove the stone.  
2. Freeze separately on a cookie sheet.  
3. Store in a plastic freezer bag.  
4. Eat as you please for a frozen tasty treat

Volunteer Opportunity: Join the Community Fruit Tree Harvest!

What could be better than biting into that crisp, ripe apple that you just picked off the branch? There are few sweeter tastes in life, and we are lucky to live in a city full of fruit trees where this opportunity abounds.

However, the abundance of the harvest can be overwhelming - in many cases one family simply cannot eat or preserve all the fruit their tree produces. Walk through Seattle in the fall, and you will see yards littered with apples, plums and Asian pears. 

This is where Lettuce Link's Community Fruit Tree Harvest comes into play. Since 2005, we have been coordinating a fabulous crew of volunteers to harvest unwanted fruit and deliver it to food banks, shelters, and meal programs. 

Come join our team! We are currently recruiting harvest leaders, harvest volunteers, and fruit donors.

Be a Harvest Leader
Get to know your neighbors, share food with your community, and keep that beautiful, organic fruit in your neighborhood from going to waste! Responsibilities include:

• Coordinating 1-2 harvests/week in your neighborhood (July-October, depending on fruit availability)
• Ensuring fruit is donated to local food banks, shelters, and meal programs
• Storing ladders and picking buckets

This is a volunteer position, but mileage is reimbursed. Please see the position description for details. To apply, submit a volunteer application and a short statement of interest to Amanda at fruitharvest@solid-ground.org by Friday, July 13th.

Volunteer

We need volunteers who can do one or more of the following:

• Scout trees ahead of time to see if the fruit is ripe (especially needed in Northeast and Central Seattle neighborhoods)
• Harvest fruit at scheduled work parties and/or on an on-call basis
• Provide garage space for storing ladders, picking buckets and/or fruit
• Deliver fruit to food banks or meal programs
• Host fruit-oriented socials for your neighborhood harvest crew, such as canning, baking, or  preserve-making parties

To get started, please fill out a volunteer application.

Donate your fruit
If you have fruit to donate, please contact Seattle Tilth’s Garden Hotline at 206.633.0224 or help@gardenhotline.org. Depending on where you live, they can connect you with us or one of the other fantastic groups harvesting fruit in the Puget Sound region!

2011 and Beyond: Joys, Challenges and New Directions

Welcome to 2012! On these gloomy January days (when we are rather glad to be warm and dry indoors rather than out in the garden), it's a good time to pause and take stock of where we've been and where we're going.

So, without further ado, here are a few of our accomplishments in 2011, made possible by the help of our generous volunteers (over 9,329 volunteer hours!) and financial supporters:

• Provided seeds, plant starts and gardening information for 3,695 food bank clients at 23 different locations

• Supported gardeners at 49 P-Patches to grow and share over 17,000 pounds of organic produce for food banks and meal programs (with only half of the gardens reporting)

• Distributed seeds, starts and resources to 13 community gardens at schools, low-income apartments, food banks and churches

• Despite a chilly spring and summer, grew 18,594 pounds of organic produce in the Lettuce Link Giving Garden at Marra Farm to donate to the Providence Regina House and Beacon Avenue food banks 

• Helped develop and provided seasonal vegetables for South Park’s first Community Kitchen 

• Held community meetings and garden classes (in 5 languages), built a shed, fences and tables, planted, tended a grew 3,023 pounds of vegetables for the Rainier Valley Food Bank and community work-trade participants in our inaugural season at the Seattle Community Farm! 

• Taught nutrition, organic gardening and ecology at the Seattle Community Farm and Marra Farm, reaching over 170 children

• Harvested 4,605 pounds of local fresh fruit that would otherwise go to waste for food banks and meal programs across the city

• Held events to raise $20,000 in needed funds. Thank you Friends of Lettuce Link!

• Partnered with Clean Greens, Delridge Neighborhood Development Association, Just Garden Project, Seattle Tilth, UW Department of Urban Design and Planning, Seattle Works, King County Food and Fitness Initiative, the Community Alliance for Global Justice and many others on projects that will increase access to healthy foods for everyone

And yet, as we catch our breath this winter after a busy year, we've found ourselves at a bit of a crossroads. Fewer grants, budget cuts and belt-tightening measures provide an opportunity to reassess our work - what are our program's strengths? What do we do that's unique? How can we continue to grow and change our program to meet community needs, provide wrap-around services for Solid Ground participants and further our anti-racism work?

These are not easy questions, but we're committed to working through them with your support. Here are a few exciting projects to keep an eye out for in 2012:

• Building an overhead structure at the Seattle Community Farm, which will allow protection from the elements and make the space more conducive to community gatherings

• Continuing our work with the Healthy Foods for South Park project, partnering with the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle, Community Coalition for Environmental Justice, Eat Better Feel Better and Concord International Elementary to develop and implement school wellness policies

• Expanding our CSA at Marra Farm, to both raise funds for our program and offer a sliding-scale subscription to our neighbors

• Advocating for just food policies on the city, state and federal level. Watch this space for details in the next few days! 

Thank you for your time, resources and support both this past year and as we boldly stride into 2012 - pushing a wheelbarrow and wearing our rainboots!

The Lettuce Link team - Michelle, Sue, Scott, Robin, Amelia, Mariah and Blair

(with much gratitude to Molly, Kate, Andrea, Sophie and Alice, our staff, AmeriCorps volunteers and interns who have moved on to new adventures)

Be our new VISTA Gleaning Coordinator!

Are you passionate about community food security, gleaning, gardening and community building?  Come join the Lettuce Link team through the Rotary First Harvest's Harvest Against Hunger AmeriCorps*VISTA position.

Lettuce Link AmeriCorps*VISTA Gleaning Coordinator
This position will work in collaboration with community groups to expand participation in fruit tree gleaning and growing food for Seattle area food banks and meal programs, working with the Community Fruit Tree Harvest and the P-Patch Giving Gardens. 

Specific responsibilities include volunteer recruitment, community outreach and program coordination. This is a good fit for you if you:

• Have an interest in working with people from a variety of racial, cultural and economic backgrounds. 
• Have worked with volunteer organizations and/or the emergency food system. 
• Are highly organized and self-directed with the ability to speak to groups. 
• Can work independently and collaboratively and juggle many different projects. 
• Are committed to diversity, undoing racism, innovation and community-building. 
• Can work weekends and occasional evenings during the growing season (with time off in exchange). 
• Like to work in an office as well as an outdoor environment, including working in hot or cold conditions, and can lift 30-50 pounds regularly during the harvest. 
• Are comfortable with web-based social networking technology. 

Full job description located here. 

This AmeriCorps*VISTA position is for 12 months, starting January 30, 2012.  Volunteers receive a living stipend, education award at completion of service, student loan deferment, health benefits and childcare assistance.  

The positions are open to applicants until December 23, 2011 (applications reviewed as received). Please both apply online and send your resume and a cover letter that explains your interest and fit for the position to benjamin@firstharvest.org.

Don't forget: Our friends at Homegrown Sustainable Sandwich Shop have created a tasty Seasonal 10 sandwich, Turkey + Red Pepper Relish, and 10% of the proceeds from the sandwich will go to Lettuce Link. Stop by one of their shops in Fremont, Queen Anne, or Capitol Hill this fall for a delicious treat, and thank them for supporting Lettuce Link!

Fruit Tree Harvest Wrap-Up

Many, many thanks to all our volunteers for what has been an amazing fruit harvest season!

Under the capable leadership of Molly, our Harvest Against Hunger VISTA, volunteers harvested 4,605 pounds of fruit for 21 different food banks, shelters, meal programs, and other community organizations in Seattle. That's over 11,500 servings of fruit which would have otherwise gone to waste!*

In this season of giving thanks, we are so thankful for Molly's leadership and service this past year. We will miss her cheerful volunteer e-mails, complicated tracking spreadsheets, and willingness to harvest fruit in the rain. Not to mention the adorable knitted vegetables she creates. We wish her well in her next farming endeavors!

Molly Woodring talks about theCommunity Fruit Tree Harvest(produced on Vimeo by Basil Weiner, Harvest Against Hunger VISTA).

What will next year’s fruit harvest bring? Hopefully lots of plums! But in terms of staffing, it looks like we will once again have a Harvest Against Hunger AmeriCorps*VISTA member at Lettuce Link. If all goes according to plan, this person will be on board by the end of January and will start work with the P-Patch Giving Gardens in the spring.  

On behalf of the food banks, meal programs and clients who received, fresh, Seattle grown fruit the season, our thanks to Molly and all our fruit tree harvest volunteers!

~~~ 

If you'd like to harvest fruit in your community next season, please contact fruitharvest@solid-ground.org. Or if you need help harvesting your extra fruit for donation, please contact the Seattle Tilth Garden Hotline at 206.633.0224 or help@gardenhotline.org.


*Based on an average of 2.5 cups of fruit per pound

Don't forget: Our friends at Homegrown Sustainable Sandwich Shop have created a tasty Seasonal 10 sandwich, Turkey + Red Pepper Relish, and 10% of the proceeds from the sandwich will go to Lettuce Link. Stop by one of their shops in Fremont, Queen Anne, or Capitol Hill this fall for a delicious treat, and thank them for supporting Lettuce Link!

Community Fruit Tree Harvest update!

Last year's disappointing fruit year left many of us gun shy this year. We fretted over the fickle weather and lamented the lack of fruit in July and early August. Surely we were in for another slow, slow year!

But just when we were starting to give up hope, summer—and the fruit it brings—arrived fashionably late. Luckily, we were ready with a fantastic team of volunteer Harvest Leaders ready to organize harvests in their neighborhoods and even more volunteers eager to pick! And of course, local food banks are excited to reap the bounty of Seattle's fruit trees.

All in all it's a winning combination, and we've harvested close to 4000 lbs of fruit so far. Although we’ve moved on to apples and grapes now, there were a few weeks when the Italian prune-plums kept us busy. This is a fantastic change from last year, when prune-plums were few and far between!

In fact, visiting trees that had almost no crop to speak of last year and walking away with pounds and pounds of fruit is an incredible reminder of the cyclical nature of, well, nature. I often laugh at the irony that the tree owners I talk to are either shocked to hear that others have fruit because they have none, or are shocked that others have none because their trees are loaded with fruit. It is laughable, but it's also fundamental to the fruit harvest—communities coming together to share the bounty and the burden.

If you'd like to harvest in your community, please contact Molly at fruitharvest@solid-ground.org or 206.694.6751. Or if you need help harvesting your extra fruit for donation, please contact the Seattle Tilth Garden Hotline at 206.633.0224 or help@gardenhotline.org.

Don't forget: Our friends at Homegrown Sustainable Sandwich Shop have created a tasty Seasonal 10 sandwich, Turkey + Red Pepper Relish, and 10% of the proceeds from the sandwich will go to Lettuce Link. Stop by one of their shops in Fremont, Queen Anne, or Capitol Hill this fall for a delicious treat, and thank them for supporting Lettuce Link!

A few Odds and Ends from the Lettuce Link World

Mmm, the perfect sandwich for a September lunch

On the delicious food front:

Our friends at Homegrown just introduced a new seasonal sandwich, and ten percent of the proceeds benefit Lettuce Link!  Get yourself to one of their stores in Fremont, Capitol Hill or Queen Anne and try the Turkey + Red Pepper Relish sandwich.  If you are not a turkey-lover, purchase the seasonal sandwich for that special someone in your life, and then check out their delicious variety of other sandwiches for yourself, including vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options.  While at Homegrown, you can also admire (or purchase!) the beautiful photography on the walls, taken by our own dedicated Marra Farm volunteer Steve Tracy.  That bare wall in your kitchen really needs a matted photo of red tomatoes to brighten up the gray days.  

On the pole-picker front:

A volunteer with Lettuce Link's Community Fruit Tree Harvest has an apple-picking adventure.

On the advocacy front: 

Our friends at the Magnuson Children's Garden brought our attention to potential cuts at the Magnuson Community Center.  Their upcoming Fall Harvest Celebration is one of many events and programs put on the center that are now in jeopardy of being cut.  

Governor Gregoire called for a special session of the legislature and more than $2 billion in budget cuts.  It's going to be a long and brutal session - be sure to contact your legislators in the upcoming weeks about the issues most important to you and your community.  

Food Lifeline urges you to contact Senator Patty Murray, one of 12 people on the new Federal Joint Committee charged with creating a plan to reduce the federal deficit, urging her to protect vital programs, including SNAP (also known as food stamps).  

On the Icelandic travel front:

A former Lettuce Link intern was recently awarded a Watson Fellowship to "study how local food systems in Madagascar, Greece, India and Iceland support a sense of geographical and ecological stability, create community ties and place a country in a global context."  We're not completely sure what that entails, but are definitely enjoying reading her blog and learning about Icelandic cuisine as she travels through the country and visits fish processing plants, sheep farmers, dairies and more.

Harvest Fruit with us!

Our Community Fruit Tree Harvest is gearing up for the 2011 harvest season and we need your help! 

Be a Harvest Leader
This is a great way to get to know your neighbors, share food with your community, and keep that beautiful, organic fruit in your neighborhood from going to waste!

Harvest Leaders coordinate 1-2 harvests per week in their neighborhoods and make sure the fruit is donated to local food banks, shelters, and meal programs. Mileage is reimbursed and fresh fruit abounds.

Please see the position description for more details. To apply, submit a volunteer application and a short statement of interest to Molly at fruitharvest@solid-ground.org by Friday, July 8th. Please save the date for a Harvest Leader orientation on Thursday, July 14th, from 6-7:30pm.

Volunteer
There are lots of ways to help out! We need volunteers who can do one or more of the following:
- "Scout" trees ahead of time to see if the fruit is ripe
- Harvest at scheduled work parties
- Be on-call to harvest fruit in their neighborhoods
- Provide garage space for storing ladders, picking buckets, and/or fruit
- Deliver fruit to food banks and meal programs

To get started, please fill out a volunteer application and join us at a volunteer orientation:
Tuesday, July 19th, 6-7:30 pm, Douglass-Truth Library (2300 E Yesler Way)
Thursday, July 21st, 6-7:30pm, Solid Ground in Wallingford (1501 N 45th St)

To RSVP, or if you'd like to volunteer but can't make it to an orientation, please contact Molly at fruitharvest@solid-ground.org or 206-694-6751.

Donate your fruit
If you have fruit to donate, please contact Seattle Tilth's Garden Hotline at 206.633.0224 or help@gardenhotline.org. Depending on where you live, they can connect you with us or one of the other fantastic groups harvesting fruit in Seattle!

Fruit tree pruning at Marra Farm

There are certain tasks that really exemplify the phrase "many hands make light work." Seed packing is one that comes to mind, but it turns out that pruning is another! With the help of a group of almost twenty volunteers who spent a sunny, blustery afternoon pruning the fruit trees at Marra Farm, we're now one step closer to a healthy fruit crop for local food banks this fall.

Many, many thanks to the enthusiastic volunteers who gave their time, the leaders and experienced pruners who shared their knowledge, and to Central Co-op for keeping us energized with some delicious snacks. Not only do we have healthier fruit trees to show for everyone's hard work, but there's also a veritable mountain of pruned branches to show just how much work it took!

Spending the day outside was a good reminder that spring was just around the corner--despite the current threat of snow. But it's not too late to do some winter pruning of your own. For more information, check out City Fruit's excellent resources and their classes on fruit tree care. And if you find yourself with extra fruit next fall, please consider donating it to a local food bank, shelter, or meal program, either with the help of the Community Fruit Tree Harvest, or on your own.

Just getting started...

...and look at those beautiful trees afterward!

Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities, February 2011

Garlic at the Good Shepherd P-Patch

Spring is coming, and we’ve been getting many inquiries from potential volunteers. Here are some ways you can get out of the house and into the garden:

Pruning Party at Marra Farm (9026 4th Ave S)
Saturday, February 19th, 1-4pm 
Want some hands-on pruning practice? Learn from experienced pruners and then practice the skills immediately on the fruit trees at Marra Farm. This is a great chance to learn new skills and practice them immediately, all while contributing to a great community resource. Your help this winter will pay off in fresh fruit for local food banks! Email fruitharvest@solid-ground.org or call 206.694.6751 for more details.

Seed Packing Work Party (Solid Ground, 1501 N 45th St.) - FULL!
Saturday, February 12th, 9am-12pm
Last year, Lettuce Link passed out seeds, starts, and gardening information to over 2000 food bank clients at 24 sites in Seattle. We buy these seeds in bulk and need YOUR help repackaging for them for distribution. If you'd like to help (it's a great way to celebrate Neighbor Appreciation Day!), email mollyw@solid-ground.org or call 206.694.6751. Update: even though this opportunity is full, you can e-mail Molly for updates on future seed packing opportunities.

Friends of Lettuce Link (Solid Ground, 1501 N 45th St.)
Kickoff meeting Tuesday, March 8th, 6:30-8:30
Help build our capacity and keep our program running! We are seeking a committed group of individuals to help us develop and implement creative fundraising strategies to support Lettuce Link, increase awareness about the program and advocate for the program.  For more information, contact lettucelink@solid-ground.org. 

Do you have a truck? We recently received a generous donation from Cedar Grove of compost and two pallets of potting soil, but need to pick it up from their facility. If you’d like to donate a few hours of time and your vehicle, contact Amelia at amelias@solid-ground.org.    

Too busy now, but want to get involved later in the spring? Check out our volunteer page for additional opportunities at Marra Farm, teaching kids, distributing seeds at food banks, and more!

Happy Gardening!

Fruit Tree Pruning Workshops

Even though the garden is quiet and the trees are bare, it's time to start thinking about fruit tree care.  Remember - healthy trees equals healthy fruit!  We'd like to recommend the following opportunities to learn more about caring for your fruit tree:

• Our friends at City Fruit have a host of classes coming up on fruit tree pruning and care. Also check out their resources for learning about pruning and tree care.
• Plant Amnesty also has a variety of pruning classes in February and March.  If you don't want to do your own pruning, they also offer an arborist referral service.
• The Seattle Tree Fruit Society has a list of upcoming workshops and classes.  
• 21 Acres in Woodinville will hold a fruit tree grafting and care seminar in February.
• Sky Nursery in Shoreline is hosting several free workshops in January and February.
• Plans are also in the works for a hands-on fruit tree pruning workshop and volunteer workparty at Marra Farm next month.  We did this last year with great success, and are excited to offer it again.  E-mail fruitharvest@solid-ground.org for more information or watch this space for details.  

Know of another pruning workshop being offered?  Let us know in the comments section!  

Lettuce Link in 2010

This was the year the City of Seattle declared the Year of Urban Agriculture and for us at Lettuce Link it certainly was a year planting, harvesting, delivering, planning and community engagement around the possibilities of growing and sharing food in the city.

It was also a year for developing and strengthening partnerships. As our economy changes and resources contract, we see the continued need for linking together the strength and momentum of all of us working towards a more just and equitable food system. It is only in solidarity that we will be able to accomplish our goals.

In 2010, with the help of our generous volunteers (over 7,947 volunteer hours) and financial supporters, we:

• Provided seeds, plant starts and gardening information for 2,120 food bank clients at 24 different locations.
• Supported P-Patch gardeners at 45 sites to grow and share 11,000 pounds of organic produce for food banks and meal programs (with only one-third of gardens reporting).
• Grew over 22,383 pounds of organic produce at Marra Farm to donate to the Providence Regina House and Beacon Avenue food banks (a 37.5% increase from 2009).
• Shared local fresh fruit with food banks and meal programs across the city, despite a poor fruit year.
• Taught nutrition, organic gardening and ecology to Concord Elementary students and children from several other schools, reaching over 510 kids.
• Hosted over 90 community members speaking seven different languages in designing the Seattle Community Farm at Rainier Vista and moved 14,000 pounds of concrete blocks to create a retaining wall that survived the early December rains.
• Held events to raise $20,000 in needed funds, thank you Friends of Lettuce Link!
• Partnered with Creatives 4 Community, Spring into Bed, Seattle Tilth, Clean Greens, Delridge Neighborhood Development Association, the University of Washington Department of Urban Design and Planning and School of Social Work, Environmental Coalition of South Seattle (ECOSS), King County Food and Fitness Initiative, the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods and many others on projects that will increase access to healthy foods for everyone.
• Marked a year of program blogging by including information about food policies and opportunities for advocating for large system changes.

Thank you everyone for helping us work through our challenges and making this a great year!

The Lettuce Link team - Michelle, Sue, Scott, Robin, Amelia, Molly & Teresa

(with much gratitude to Sadie, Jamie, Leslie, Kate & Isobel, our AmeriCorps volunteers and interns who have moved on to new adventures)

Pierce County Gleaning Project

Our neighbors in Tacoma are picking fruit trees too! Gleaners galore, we love to see this work continue to grow. Here's a blurb from Pierce County Gleaning Project:

"The Pierce County Gleaning Project seeks to reduce hunger by increasing access to fresh fruits and vegetables for our neighbors in need. With the help of our volunteer network, we collect surplus produce from farms, orchards, residential gardens, and fruit trees for distribution to food banks and hot meal sites. This community-based effort is a response to the dramatic increase in the number of people seeking food assistance in our county and the amount of food wasted that could help solve hunger and poverty issues"

Check them out: Pierce County Gleaning Project

Harvesting Hands

This summer, Asian pears, pears, and apples are the darlings of Lettuce Link's Community Fruit Tree Harvest. We're missing the Italian prune plum mania of 2009, but love to harvest and donate nevertheless!

Since 2005, volunteers with Lettuce Link's Community Fruit Tree Harvest have been harvesting urban fruit. Our volunteers have the harvest happen year after year. Thanks to their efforts, thousands of pounds of fruit make it to people rather than rotting on the ground.

photo by Sadie Beauregard

This season, we have volunteer harvest leads in Seattle neighborhoods along with fruit harvesters around the city. We've been busy harvesting and donating in Ballard, Central Seattle, NE Seattle, South Park, and Wallingford.

Recently, I had the pleasure of picking beautiful pears in Northeast Seattle. The owner gave me a tour of her tree and relayed tales of canning and eating pears. At 90 years old, she still waters her pear tree regularly and was thrilled to have her fruit harvested and used. Her pears were enjoyed by clients at Family Works Food Bank and Providence Regina Food Bank. These stories and smiles make the Community Fruit Tree Harvest a joy to work with.

As of August 30, we've harvested 1824 pounds of fruit and donated to a variety of organizations, including: U-District Food Bank, CAMP Food Bank, Providence Regina Food Bank, Hopelink Shoreline, Loyal Heights Community Center, Silvercrest Senior Residences, VOA Greenwood, Union Gospel Mission, and North Helpline.

Take a look at Lettuce Link's 'Where to Donate' sheet for Seattle food banks, meals programs, and community organizations that accept fresh produce donations.

To get help harvesting and donating your fruit, please contact Seattle Tilth's Garden Hotline at 206-633-0224 or help@gardenhotline.org

-Sadie Beauregard, Lettuce Link

This post originally appeared on Urban Farm Hub