Gleaning Trip

After a five hour drive to the Okanagen Valley, we arrived at a plum orchard where we were to set up our tents for the next seven days. Our goal this week was to assist the Okanagen Gleaners in preparing vegetables for their food-aid program. 

We didn't know which particular type of veggie we'd be chopping this week. Luckily, it turned out to be Bell 

Peppers (last year they chopped onions!). Every morning, we got up, ate breakfast, threw on our aprons and assembled at the "chopping block". There, most of us would cut out the mushy parts of the peppers and took out the seeds. Others, would scoop frozen broccoli on to trays, and yet others would pick stems out of bags of dehydrated brussels sprouts. 

All the prepared peppers would get sent through chopping machines and join the frozen broccoli for hours in the dehydration oven. 

The dehydrated vegetables are bagged later on in the year as a veggie soup (about 70 servings per bag!) and sent all over the world from Moldova to Latvia. Many bags are used in orphanages or in shelters. 

It was crazy being on the production side of food-aid. The idea of "Gleaning" comes from the fact that all the veggies they use are donated from local farmers (because they are too ripe, odd shaped, or the farmers just had too many). Basically, they pick up what was left after a harvest. 

Our group joined an other ministry we partner with, called Jacob's Well (they work in the downtown eastside of Vancouver). Together, we worked our way through thousands of kilos of Peppers. 

Afternoons, when the heat hit (it was 38- 40 C), we would retreat to the local city for wine tasting, swimming in the lake, or thrift store shopping (I scored a dress for a buck! It has strange similarities with a what is known as a "Moo-moo"). The heat was pretty brutal, especially when you were on cooking duty. 

On thursday, we had a wind storm hit. It was so severe that we lost all power for the remaining days we were there. I got pretty good at navigating my way to the toilet, but I didn't even bother to try out the showers. The funny thing is, that day, I remember praying that the wind would continue to pick up, as I had decided to go for a run. Well, my prayer was answered and I was thrust along in the wind (luckily it blew against my back), being pelted by apples, sand, and twigs. I don't think I've ever run that fast to get home!

When the wind finally died down, and we had a chance to survey the damage, we heard from the local farmers that they had lost most of their cherry harvest! How SAD! For us that meant we could go and glean in the orchards, picking up the fallen cherries. There were so many that we could afford to be picky about which ones we wanted! (I'm a little sick of cherries now though.)

I felt like Ruth, in the fields, picking up what was left behind. 

On our drive home, we stopped for lunch and found a store called "Free Store". Huh? Yep, everything in the store was free. So odd. 

I was happy to get back (it's amazing how long dirt can stick to your skin). As I am currently in the "listening phase" of Nieu Communities, it was a great way to hear about Jacob's Well and the Gleaners. God is softening my heart for the marginalized. I'm not sure what that means yet, but I am re-assessing my stance on a lot of issues. I will explain a little more in detail later.

-Heidi

P.S. Anjali, my housemate and I decided to play a prank on some of the people at the camp. Pranks kinda just go along with camping, so we stole a couple of pillows (nothing too exciting). Later on that evening, a large group of us were making up stories and one of the guys was telling us how the wind likes to carry tents away. When we said good night, we walked back to where I tent was, but it was gone! All that was left were our two mats! It was quite the surprise! We did find it later on, after waking most of the group with our laughing. It was set up at the opposite end of the camp. (In my mind I was just hoping I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night, since I had memorized the path to the bathroom, and I didn't have a flashlight). Quite the clever joke on us!