In mid-May we start harvesting fresh produce for food bank donations. Each year we donate between 1500-2000 pounds of food to the Rainer Food Bank!
VOLUNTEERING ON SATURDAYS
We are always looking for more volunteers who can harvest and/or drive the produce to the RVFB. If you are interested in helping and scoring easy volunteer hours, please come to Bradner on Saturday morning at 9 AM. Support will be there to give guidance on what and how to pick. We will also weigh and record the donations and then someone will drive all to the RVFB no later than 10 AM. We collect every Saturday.
TIPS ON GROWING/DONATING YOUR GREENS
When warm spells occur, certain lettuces and greens may want to bolt (making flowers that eventually turn into seeds to start the process all over again). Usually warm weather makes lettuce and greens bolt and bitter tasting.. So this may be a good time to share some of your harvest with others anytime before a warm burst. If you cannot make the Saturday time, you may harvest on Friday evening and put the produce in the big silver box behind the building. Please do not put any produce in the silver box before Friday evening; stuff can rot in the heat.
Remember, only donate what YOU would be willing to eat….no dead leaves, dirty roots or wilted produce. We do not wash leafy greens because they can turn to mush. If you are harvesting root vegetables such as carrots, radishes and beets, make sure to remove all soil and briefly rinse any residual soil off. There are clean but used produce bags in the silver box, but we are already running short of them. If you have clean produce bags, please bring them and leave them in the silver box.
Did I mention that we really need bags? If you have never harvested for the food bank before, please join us at least once to support this important project! Contact the leads team at bradnergardenspark@gmail.com if you have questions!
