We are excited to introduce our new GleanSLO Program Coordinator, Josh Ayers! We couldn't be happier to have him on our team!
Interview by Carolyn Eicher
GleanSLO has grown and changed over the years and we are happy to welcome each new volunteer, farmer, neighborhood donor, community member and partner!
There are a lot of logistics that go on behind the scenes to pull off each and every farm glean, farmers’ market and neighborhood glean, and in addition there are numerous meetings, with visioning, networking, and brainstorming that happens with our Steering Committee, the Food Bank staff, community partners, statewide gleaning organizations and beyond. We have always found the right people to help continue the vision that we had when we first created our gleaning initiative for our county. It is our hope that those of you that haven’t yet met Josh will introduce yourselves, share a bit about your experience with GleanSLO, and welcome him enthusiastically as we are.
“I’m hooked on being out in the fields or climbing trees to get that last piece of fruit, but mostly, I enjoy being around the multitudes of volunteers that come out and share their time, stories, recipes and smiles.” - Josh
It's fruit + veggie rescue time! We have multiple big opportunities up on our harvest calendar, and we need volunteers! Two large farms, Duncan Family Farms (Tuesday) and Ikeda Brothers (Thursday) have graciously invited us out to glean kale, and these gleans will only work if we have enough people sign up. Please help us keep these relationships strong and show the farms our gleaning spirit!
Apricots, plums, peaches, be still our hearts! If you have a stone fruit tree, remember to give us a call with plenty of notice if you would like to have GleanSLO come pick your excess. We'll do our best to come out and harvest asap! To schedule GleanSLO for a glean, call Josh Ayers, 805-235-1180.
Become a Neighborhood Harvest Leader!
Are you looking for a way to get more involved with GleanSLO? Becoming a Neighborhood Harvest Leader (NHL) is a great way to make a difference in your own "backyard", plus lots of other people's backyards, too! NHLs become GleanSLO representatives who are provided the necessary training, tools and knowledge to lead harvests in their own neighborhoods. We’re a group of enthusiastic volunteers scattered throughout SLO County, unified by our desire to reduce waste, connect with our community and create sustainable and creative solutions to hunger. NHLs commit to leading at least five harvests over a six-month period.
Interested? Cool! We will be holding an NHL training session in August. Exact date TBD based on interested volunteer availability. Ready to sign up? Have questions? Email us at gleanslo@slofoodbank.org.
Thanks for coming to the GleanSLO Garden Party!
Thanks to over 50 volunteers, partners and friends who came out for the Garden Party on June 7! We hope you had as much fun as we did, catching up with friends, making new ones, and celebrating our GleanSLO community! We want to thank the UCCE Master Gardeners for allowing us to use the Seven Sisters Demo garden for the event, as well as the following fine businesses for donating food and beverages: The Secret Garden Herb Shop, Haggens, and Sally Loo's Wholesome Cafe.
We joined instagram! Follow us @gleanslo and tag your gleaning photos #gleanslo #goglean #thisisgleaning
June Produce Donors
Saturday Templeton Farmers Market
Thursday SLO Farmers Market
Dragon Spring Farm
Sally Woelper
Master Gardeners Demo Garden
Talley Farms
L & C Smith Groves
SLO High School FFA Group
Katie Krupp
SLO VEG
SLO Natural Foods Co-Op
Yael Gott
Cal Poly Organic Farm
Heather, Carly and Miranda Stevenson
Lauren Nagle
Cortez Farms
Avila & Sons Farm
Bejo Seeds
Duncan Family Farms
Island Farms
Doug & Debbie Johnson
Supply Donors
Betsy and Chuck Asmus
GleanSLO is a program of the FoodBank Coalition of SLO County
