GREAT AMERICAN HARVEST

There is a non-profit organization in our community called the Great American Harvest. The whole idea is pretty simple, however, due to lack of funding and volunteers, the Harvest is shutting down. Somehow, the lady who ran this program made it last for 5 years and after the end of this year, will have donated over 1 million pounds of various foods to various places. She donates fresh produce, frozen vegetables, turkeys and food baskets for both Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as presents for needy families who can't provide for their children at Christmas. We stumbled on this program right after I was Life Flighted out to Portland for emergency surgery just before Thanksgiving a few years ago. Our boss at the time gave our name to Barb, who runs the Harvest, and told her our situation. We received a turkey, and a basket full of food to make a complete holiday dinner, including pie for dessert. This made us aware of this program and we have volunteered MANY hours since then. There is planting, weeding, harvesting, cleaning, and lots of general back-breaking, hot, tiring work that always needs done. This year, our girls planted a "kid's garden" and have spent all summer weeding, caring for and harvesting produce. They BEG to go spend time at the Harvest, which I find amazing considering their young age and the kind of work involved. So, when the lady who runs the program informed the press she was closing, they did a front page article last weekend to bid her farewell, and included was a picture of our girls sitting amongst some of the produce from their garden.

The whole idea of the Harvest is donated seed, which is planted by volunteers, weeded and maintained through the summer by volunteers, and then when it's harvest time, you go out to the Harvest, you pick produce, and you get to keep half of what you pick for free, donate the other half back to the Harvest and she donates this portion to Seniors, Disabled, Food Banks, local jails, and anywhere she sees a need. Her main crops are corn and green beans, but she has other miscellaneous items, such as beets, cabbage (green & purple), head lettuce, leaf lettuce, chives, green onions, tomatoes, broccoli, onions, carrots, squash, etc. etc. etc. This year, a local farmer who raises peas as a seed crop allowed her an opportunity to bring a limited number of volunteers to his fields and pick as many pounds of peas as possible before he let the crop dry out for seed. So, as you can tell, this is a great program, with benefits for many needy people, as well as a cheap, easy way to help yourself. I've blanched and froze 30+ lbs of peas this year, over 200 ears of corn last year, and we have lots of fresh produce to enjoy all summer long. Needless to say, it is with a VERY sad heart we bid farewell to this wonderful program and the neat lady and her husband who run it. If anybody wants to know more of this program, visit http://www.greatamericanharvest.org/ To see the article with the picture of our girls, visit http://www.lagrandeobserver.com/News/Local-News/Great-American-Harvest-coming-to-a-close These are a few pictures of our memories of spending time at the Great American Harvest. Good luck to John and Barbara (Richmond)-Harris in whatever life brings them in their future! We love you and will miss you teribbly bad.