Gleaning

Gleaning

Fruit tree owners would be the first to say as much as they enjoy fresh fruit and the ability to share their harvest with friends and family, there may still be an abundance of fruit that drops and rots. In an effort to capitalize on resident's food producing trees, Taylorsville City's Leisure Activities Recreation and Park committee is beginning a gleaning project that will donate the produce to local food pantries.

"We want to complete the cycle of the fruit and find people in our community that can use the fresh produce," said Rhetta McIff, LARP committee chairperson elect.

The committee is first working on organizing the project by compiling a list of volunteers that would be willing to help prune fruit trees in the spring and harvest them in the fall. A master gardener would train volunteers how to properly work on the trees.

The next step includes the committee forming a list of homeowners that have fruit trees on their property that are producing more fruit than they can handle or may not physically be able to harvest. Plans to maximize the fruit production from healthy trees by pruning techniques will be a priority, if not for this growing season then the next.

"It is a two-part process," McIff said. "We hope to connect the gap of homeowners with an abundance of fruit to the local food pantries that need fresh produce to give to residents in need."

McIff said she hopes the idea expands to teaching residents how to make the most of a harvest.

"Take for instance when apples are harvested, the food bank can only take so many fresh apples," McIff said. "We would encourage groups to teach canning and drying techniques to maximize the use of the fruit."

Two local food pantries, Tri-Park Food Pantry and the Bible Baptist Church, along with the Utah Food Bank, will be the recipients of the extra fruit to distribute as needed.

"We don't normally get much fresh produce from the main food bank, so this is really nice when we have more fresh fruit to give to those in need," Tri-Park Food Pantry Director Keith Barlow said.

Residents interested in participating in the project are encouraged to email McIff directly at rhettam@gmail.com.

By Raili Jacquet
Taylorsville/Kearns Journal
April 2010