Lopez Island Gleaners TEST Home page

What is gleaning?

Gleaned food is excess produce from professional farms to home gardens. Here are some ways to participate:

This text was copied from the Locavore website and only serves as a place holder.

Lopez Island’s many fruit trees produce great bounty, much of which has falls to the ground. The Gleaners work hard to divert this food to nourish the community. Avid island gardeners are encouraged to plant an extra row of veggies that can be stored, frozen or processed throughout the year. The abundance of Summer and Autumn produce becomes the nourishing winter meals through the cold dark winter.

“Gleaned” food includes produce which would otherwise be left in the fields by farmers, because it doesn’t meet the strict aesthetic requirements of retail markets.

The Gleaner program has two operational “branches” coordinated by the energetic Dixie Budke.

• Lopez Island Family Resouce Center Harvest Glean Team: Picks fruit
• Lopez Locavore Culinary Glean Team: Processes fruit

The Taproot Coolbot provides critical infrastructure to support both of these branches. Cold storage allows the fresh fruit to be preserved until it can either be served directly or processed into value added products like sauces, frozen and dried fruit, juices and so forth. This collaboration feeds the community through the Lopez Fresh Food Bank, Senior Meals, and the kids at school.