With the last of the squash delivered to Second Harvest Heartland, it’s time to “do the numbers”. Here, for your (and my) edification are some stats on the Food Shelf project.

About 10,000 pounds of fresh, organically grown food

991 pounds of sweet corn and 5539 pounds of squash weighed on delivery to the big food banks plus 9 pickup truck loads delivered to the smaller food banks with no specific documentation.

63 Volunteers

Mark Sloo, Mindy Sloo, Myranda Sloo, Ayva Sloo, Addie Rosenwinkel, Robin Nelson, Eric Nelson, Chuck Lentz, Andy Vaaler, Caroline Vaaler, Luca Gunther, Roger Cuthbertson, Sarah York, Ida York, Ann Iijima, Oscar Brooks, Lauren Brooks, Evra Brooks, Smack Young Walser, Sarah Purdy, Dan Newton, Elizabeth Rowan, Beth Gilleland, Jon Carlson, Denny Carlson, Babs Pilling, Chris Bashor, Amy Shaw, Barb Pratt, David Lee, Familia Calixto, Familia de la Rosa, Familia Jarquin, Familia Martinez, Familia Ramírez, Mike Muelbach, Angie Erdrich, Erinn Liebhard, Miriam Kowarski, Gonne Asser, Clara, Elie, Julia, Nora, Talia, Jordan Fields, David Fields, Trenne Fields, Cynthia Quehl, Mary Jo Quehl, Debra Goodlaxson, Tomas Goodlaxson, Maurine McCort, Nat Case, Gregory Rothweiler, Shirly (?)

19 Financial Supporters (so far)

You can still chip in! The GoFundMe page does not display all the contributors, btw.

7 Food Banks served

Channel One Regional Food Bank (distributes to food banks across southern Minnesota)
Second Harvest Heartland (distributes to food banks in the Twin Cities)
Pillsbury United Communities Food Shelf
Joyce Uptown Food Shelf
Camden Promise Food Bank
Serenity Community Food Shelf
Evangelical Temple Food Bank (no link)

Extra Thanks to

Heidi Coe at Second Harvest Heartland,
Mark at Channel One Regional Food Bank
Laurie at Joyce Uptown Food Bank
Pastor Jeff and the perspicacious Joyce at Camden Promise
Kerry Jo Felder for the Serenity Connection
Ethan Neil and Jovinta at Pillsbury United Communities

What happened to all the squash harvested last Saturday? On Monday I took the pickup to Minnneapolis where Pillsbury United Communities Foodshelf, Joyce Uptown Food Shelf, Camden Promise Food Bank and The Evangelical Temple Food Bank in Maplewood (sorry, no link) all took as much as they felt their clients could use – my guess is around 700 pounds in all. Today I took the trailer and 5 totes on pallets to Channel One Regional Food Bank in Rochester which distributes food all across southern Minnesota, they weighed the totes for a total of 2,947 pounds. There are 4 more totes waiting to be delivered to Second Harvest Heartland on Friday.

This has been an amazing project and you can still help! Please join others in supporting this effort by donating funds to the Land Stewardship Project who will, in turn, reimburse our cooperating farmer, Dana Jokela, for his time, effort, equipment and fuel. Contributions are tax-deductible.

With some last-minute crew adjustments due to the pandemic we gathered a great group to harvest squash. A huge thank you to this stalwart crew who worked extra hard since 7 people who planned to help dropped out at midnight before the harvest due to a fever and Covid fears (so, far everyone’s OK).

Thanks to (L-R) Nat Case, Julie Young, Amy Shaw, Chris Bashor, Debra Goodlaxson, Maurine McCort, Tomas Goodlaxson, Barb Pratt, David Lee, Karen Kleinspen, Cindy Quehl, Mary Ann Quehl, Shirley (help me out someone!) and Gregory Rothweiler. On Monday the 28th part of the harvest was delivered to Channel One Regional Food Bank in Rochester and to the cooperating food banks in Minneapolis. On Friday October 2nd, the rest of this huge harvest will go to Second Harvest Heartland. I have no way to measure but I think this will be about 3 tons of fresh, prime squash for families in need. Once more, huge thanks to Dana Jokela of Sogn Valley Farm. This could never have happened without you.