It started as finding an event for my son to complete his community volunteer hours, but ended as a fulfilling family trip that we would like to repeat.
This is our first time volunteering at the Blacks family farm in Stittsville for the Food Bank. Here is the program intro. Hats off to Tom Black!
This is a great volunteer opportunity for everyone! I see people from 5th grader to retiree today.
For those city mouse like us, go harvesting and handling the produce we only encounter in the supermarket has made us appreciate the food more, a lot more. In August and September, the farm needs many volunteers to help harvest.
The Community Harvest Program Coordinator, Jason Gray, is wonderful to work with. He gave clear instructions and demonstration, and worked along with us.
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| The 1 km walk from the road to the farm |
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| Half of the farm |
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| How can a farm without a tractor ... |
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| or two? |
OK, enough sightseeing. Let's get to work!
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| Onions, lot of onions! |
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| We have an onion processing station. |
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| Grandma and grandpa - they are excited too! First time processing Onions, just like us. |
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| We remove top, leaving an inch stem, and also remove roots. |
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| Put them in these crates to cure for a week before bagging them. |
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| Twin?! |
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Yes, we did it!
Together, in two hours, we processed 18 crates of fresh harvested onions, approximately 35lb each.
That is 630lb onions!!! |
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| Aren't they look pretty? ;) |
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| Next, to the green beans! |
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| They are hiding down there ... ... |
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| We pick, pick, and pick ... ... |
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Somebody must have gone through the green beans before us!
We only harvest this much. ;)
Picking green beans is really hard work.
Our legs and back are pretty sore after an hour and half. |
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| All the harvest will be loaded into the Food Bank's truck and delivers to its agencies in Ottawa, who in turn will deliver to the people in need. |
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| Well done, boys! Going home. |
I am very happy to work along with my boys, and seeing them following instructions, work together, and did a terrific job!
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