L-R: Barb Rose, Cara Rodriguez, Johanna Gorman-Baer, Chuck Lentz, Julie Young, Jenny
A sunny Sunday morning in Sogn was perfect for this crew to gather another 1,382 pounds of squash, which was donated today (Tuesday Oct 12th) to Second Harvest Heartland (thanks, Heidi Coe). This brings our squash total to 12,743 pounds – over 6 tons! And there is still more in the field . . . Thank you Chuck, Barb, Cara, Julie, Joahnna (and Jenny, of course) and Rina, Hans, Cathy, Mark, Lisa, Sarah and Oswaldo who either arrived too late for squash (we filled those boxes in an hour and a half!) or had to leave before we started but still enjoyed a visit to the farm.
As long as we don’t have a hard frost, the squash remaining in the field can still be harvested. There is still about 50 -75 feet of the field that has barely been touched. This crop has been way beyond my wildest hopes. Thanks everyone!
Unloading our squash at Second Harvest Heartland
Our acorn and delicata squash in the Second Harvest warehouse
Unloading squash at Channel One
On Tuesday I delivered squash to Channel One Regional Food Bank in Rochester and today made another delivery to The Food Group. According to the receipts that’s 11,361 pounds of winter squash on its way to families in need. And there’s still more in the field! Once again, thanks to all who have helped with this project: Dana Jokela of Sogn Valley Farm (more detail in another post soon), all our volunteer harvesters plus John Beck who loaned the trailer and Danielle Piraino and Talia Miracle at The Food Group. It takes a village – thank you all!
Our squash inside Channel One’s Rochester warehouse
Where is all this squash going? Here is some information from Channel One Regional Food Bank that sheds some light on the work they do in 14 counties across southern Minnesota and Wisconsin in partnership with about 200 smaller agencies and food banks – plus direct service to Seniors and migrant families.
This morning I took the first six pallets from Saturday’s harvest up the The Food Group who will distribute the squash to Food Banks around the metro area. They weighed each pallet. Based on last year’s harvest I was guessing about 500 pounds a pallet or about 3,00o pounds total. The total: 3,979 – almost half a ton more than I expected! Thanks again to all who helped. You did more than you knew!
First 2021 Squash Delivery to The Food Group
2021 Squash Delivery Receipt from The Food Group
Squash Harvest Volunteers, 2021
This was one amazing year for squash. With the help of a huge volunteer crew we gathered north of 9,000 pounds of delicata, butternut and acorn squash. Over the next few days I’ll be bringing these to The Food Group (in New Hope) and Channel One (in Rochester) for distribution to food banks across the Twin Cities metro and Southern Minnesota. In addition to the work we also had a great potluck and music – it was a glorious day! Thank you to: Amy Shaw, Ann Farrell, Ari, Barb Pratt, Barb Rose, Benjamin Domask, Chris Bashor, Chuck Lentz, Dave Underhill, Deb Liang, Dug Nichols, Isaac, Joan Weber, Jon Freise, Kim Muehlbach, Matt Tillotson, Mike Muehlbach, Miriam Kowarski, Oswaldo, Pat O’Loughlin, Patti Nichols, Rachel FK, Sarah McCarthy, and Sarah Purdy. This harvest was much, much bigger than last year’s so it was a lot more work. Thank you, one and all! (Sorry not everyone is included in the group photo, people came and went during the day.)
Dana Jokela offloads the first pallet of winter squash
We couldn’t do all this without help from Dana Jokela at Sogn Valley Farm. Dana’s expertise, help and equipment have been essential to this project. As you anc imagine, tractors, planters, cultivators and fuel are expensive. Please help me raise funds to pay Dana for all of his contributions. You can make a tax-deductible donation on this GiveMN page.
Volunteers loading winter squash for food shelves.
Pat, Bob, Chris and Amy playing some tunes at the 2021 squash harvest
Chris, Bob, Amy and Pat play tunes during the 2021 squash harvest potluck