Fresh From the Farm program great

The Penticton Salvation Army food bank has a program in the summer called Fresh From the Farm.

Children serving as volunteers go picking food for the food bank. I have done it for two summers. I’m going into Grade 10 next year.

I have liked going on the bus trips out to big orchards and farms to pick for the food bank. They say it’s gleaning, but really some of the farmers just give us the best stuff that hasn’t even been picked once. They just save big rows in their orchard for us.

That’s what this guy Ron Schneider did and then he took us for apple juice at his house and we drank it out of crystal glasses. Barb Stewart runs Fresh From the Farm, and Clark Taylor who does the Ark, and Ryan and once, Richard Cannings the Member of Parliament man drove the bus.

That time we went out by Oliver and we volunteered for Okanagan Gleaners and then Richard Cannings and Ms. Stewart showed us where the big vineyard was that grows a whole bunch of food for the food bank in Penticton. I didn’t think the bus would make it up that mountain.

The nastiest thing I did was picking tomatoes. It was a good thing that this strong guy named Derek carried the heavy boxes out of this huge field in Cawston.

This year, we did a ton of work at the Salvation Army community garden on Martin Street. I learned a lot. Amrit Dhaliwal was running the garden and he was fun to work with. He and Barb took us to Amrit’s dad’s orchard in Cawston and we picked peaches. I took three classes in the food bank community kitchen. It was canning the peaches, and then a lesson on how to make pickles. That was after we picked garlic and dill from the community garden. The cucumbers came from Clark’s church, I think.

But my favourite thing was learning how to make pesto from the basil in the garden. That was my favourite thing to do at the garden, picking basil, and it needed to be done, every time I went. It smells so good. And now I can make pesto and I taught my dad and mom to do it and we use it on spaghetti and pizza instead of tomato sauce.

At the garden the first year, they gave my mom and I a container box to grow for ourselves, but we grew spinach not basil and this summer, we got coupons to go to the farmers’ market in Penticton on Saturdays. I wanted to buy basil, but ended up I saved a lot of my coupons and bought garlic because dad said you get more bang for your buck.

I have a letter saying I volunteered about 40 hours for the food bank in Penticton. Maybe I’ll get a summer job in a farm someday.