Marian O’Brien and Keith Whitaker help peel and clean 15 pounds of garlic for the third year in a row for the Farm to Cafeteria 5th Season.
By Madie Murray
Community Journalist
What took us 4 days last year, we surpassed in just two days this year. A total of 16 amazingly engaged volunteers, chopped, diced, peeled, bagged and froze a total of 621 pounds of 17 different items were purchased from seven Orcas farms: Black Dog, Taproot, Morningstar, Maple Rock, Blue Moon, Coffelt and Orcas Farm.
This summer has been a good growing season versus a very late one last year, so we were able to receive a lot of produce at once including carrots, jalapenos, blueberries, beets, dill, basil, tomatoes, and a whole lot of sweet onions. Along with those, we also received and processed garlic, cabbage, dill, zucchini, cucumbers, parsley, kale and chard.
Thanks to Barbara Wheeler, who so generously allowed us to glean her plum trees again this year, we also have hundreds of pounds of gorgeous yellow plums which will be available in the salad bar and used in desserts, sauces and toppings.
Farm to Cafeteria sends a heartfelt thanks to all who participated in this wonderful annual summer event so our kids can enjoy fresh, organic Orcas Island grown food in their school lunches all during the school year.
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