LIFRC's Gleaning Program
The mission of Lopez Island Family Resource Center’s gleaning program is pretty simple: gather fruit and share it with the community. Fruit trees (and shrubs and vines) across the island fill with fruit from August through November, including heritage orchards that have been here on Lopez longer than anyone who lives here today. It’s the work of the gleaning program to harvest and find homes for all that fruit.
So far this season, LIFRC gleaners have harvested about 7,000 pounds of fruit! Much of that fruit has been shared at the Food Share, in Lopez Island school meals, and at the Senior Center. We’ve also worked with community partners such as Taproot Community Kitchen, Kwiáht, and the Lopez Island Historical Society to preserve fruit in community. Lopezians learned to make crabapple jelly with early August crops, the Locavores use gleaned fruit in meals and sauces for the Food Share, and countless community members joined us for the annual community cider pressing in October.
At one point during the cider pressing event, five cider presses were churning out fresh juice! Technology ranged from an efficient electric grinder to an historic cider press demonstrated by a knowledgeable museum board member. LIFRC’s gleaning program added hundreds of pounds of apples to the communal cider pot, making it so that everyone who brought a container was able to fill it with island cider.
It’s because of generous LIFRC volunteers and orchard owners that the gleaning program is sustained today and we are so grateful for all of the hard work that goes into sharing the annual harvests! Even as this season winds down, if you want to join in or share fruit in the coming year, we’d love to hear from you! Contact Sarah, the LIFRC Gleaning Program Coordinator, by calling (360) 468-4117.