(upbeat country music) - [Sueann] Why is it hard to feed people?

I'm not talking about picky people, just generally speaking, especially when so much food in America goes to waste.

One program on the Palouse in the Northwest, they're working to connect people to sources of local food.

Glean, gather, and grow is a motto.

You'll hear from Will O'Neal and Renee Love.

They discuss what it's like growing up food insecure, the difficulties of food distribution and in the beginning, Renee and Will will take over the chat as I was frozen in internet land for a bit, such lovely people and great professionals.

(upbeat country music) So I realized there are a lot of things about your program.

So I want to start from the beginning.

Maybe Will can start and tell us how did a program like Backyard Harvest start?

- [Will] Yeah, Backyard Harvest began and correct me if anything I say is wrong, Renee, I believe it began in 2006.

There's a local gardener who just one year grew way too much in her garden and decided to start getting it to food banks and turned out there were a lot of other people in the area who had that same quote unquote problem.

And so just began collecting produce from people in the area who grew too much, and over the years, it's kind of grown and transformed and gone in different directions and now the kind of largest source of the produce that we collect is from gleaning, especially fruit trees in the area.

- [Sueann] And Renee, were you with this at the very beginning?

- [Renee] I wasn't, but my brother-in-law was actually, and in I think it was the second year they decided to pilot this program, Backyard Harvest.

And in doing that, they actually hired my brother-in-law and a few community members to help grow food and glean food around the area.

So I wasn't officially involved, but I ended up helping harvest and seeing the process with my brother-in-law.

- [Sueann] Then I heard you say that there's gardening involved as well as gleaning, so Backyard Harvest also takes care of some gardens?

- [Renee] Yes.

[Sueann] And what can you describe what that looks like?

- [Renee] Yeah, so that has changed through its history and at least when it began, Backyard Harvest had a series of CSAs, Community Supported Agriculture, I guess portions to sell to the community, and then that subsidized giving these low to no cost portions of veggies and fruits to families in need.

That model has evolved a little bit.

So now we actually focus on educating people and trying to get people to see how easy it is to grow their own food on very small pieces of land, maybe community garden plots, or within their own backyards.

And we really focused on more the education surrounding that and seeing how that would work.

We've also gathered quite a bit of food from different people around the community and gleaned a lot as well.

- [Sueann] Yeah, Will what do you, I heard you say earlier that it's a lot of fruit.

What would you say are the most gathered vegetables and fruits or the most popular?

- [Will] Well, apples are definitely by far the most common in the area and the one that we glean the most of, then also plums.

There's a lot of plums here, a lot of pears, a lot of cherries.

And especially this year, we had a lot of squash coming in too, so those were kind of our big ones.

And then also just a nice assortment of other garden vegetables and fruits.

- [Sueann] Now, when you say...

I would assume everybody knows how to eat or prepare an apple, but on your website, you do acknowledge that there are people who don't, necessarily have been raised or know how to prepare certain foods, and when I was reading about the apple, it actually gives directions on-- - [Renee] I think she's-- - [Sueann] Oh, no, I froze up.

- [Renee] She left and she's coming back.

So what would you like to ask me, Will?

What can I tell you about Backyard Harvest?

Just remember three things glean, gather and grow.

- [Will] Beautiful, yeah.

(laughing) - [Renee] That's all you need to know.

- [Will] Well, that story you were telling me earlier today about the woman in Houston.

That's-- - Oh yes.

- [Will] Relevant.

- [Renee] That's so true, yeah.

[Renee] So when I, I guess they're recording this in this little box so we can talk about anything and they can use it.

[Sueann] Yeah, so you were talking about a woman in Texas.

Keep going.

(group laughing) - [Renee] Yeah, we were talking about just how some people are so disconnected from food systems, especially in very big communities and living in Houston, Texas.

I think they're frozen again.

I'm just gonna keep going.

Living in Houston, Texas, there was a grocery store in inner city Houston that I went to and I bought a bunch of apples.

And at the checkout stand, the checkout lady said, "What are these?"

And I went on to say what sort of apples, Gala or Fuji.

And she looked at me like she had no idea what I was talking about, and I ended up saying "Apples."

And she goes, "Oh, okay."

And rang them up as Red Delicious apples.

But that just goes to show that there is a lot of people that are disconnected from our food systems, especially community food systems.

And we need to both educate people on how to use them, but then also provide local examples of how this could be grown.

Do you want to talk about your experience in suburbia, Will?

- [Will] Yeah, I mean, growing up in the suburbs, I didn't really realize that food came from anywhere else than the grocery store, (laughing) and I can definitely relate to the problem of not knowing what to do with food you get.

I mean, even this year, working as a gleaning coordinator, sometimes we just had so much stuff and I would take home, a little bag of squashes or something.

And I learned a lot about cooking squash this year and other, plums, too.

That's not something we have nearly as much of in the Northeast.

And I've learned a lot of things you can do with plums.

It's really, really incredible.

(laughing) - [Renee] Did you find that some of the volunteers you worked with, were they very interested as well and how to use some of these things that they were gleaning or gathering?

- [Will] Yeah, that was one of the fun parts was like, I remember there was one day we, during the peak of Italian prune plum season, which is like the craziest week of the year, because they all come ripe at once and everybody has a prune, plum tree, but we had like five volunteers and it was a really fun group that day.

And everyone was trading their plum recipes and it was fun.

I mean, I learned about this German plum cake recipe from it.

And since then I've made it like five times, and anytime there's something to bake for, I'm like, oh, I still have bag of frozen plums.

Let me make that.

- [Renee] Yeah, and I think that's part of it.

Like, even though people might know what an apple is.

Sure, they might eat a raw apple every once in a while, but what else can you do with the apple?

Or what else can you do with the plum?

And especially when you're getting bulk amounts of local plums or apples, what can you do with it to feed your family?

So I think that's part of the reason why we have the recipes on the website and that's part of the educating the community component.

- [Will] Totally.

And I think it also just goes to show that like, food that is local can also be food that's fun.

You can make some really cool things with this local food.

It doesn't just have to be apple sauce, although apple sauce is wonderful.

[Renee] Yeah.

[Will] Yeah, there's a lot of things you can do.

And I think when you realize how many things you can do with local food, you might value it more.

- [Renee] Yeah, and that's why I think it's so important that Backyard Harvest is not only an organization that strives to reduce the waste of food in our community, but they really work in partnership with the community to connect those to that extra food, to those that need it most.

And so it's really important to just know that like there's so much food that goes to waste, especially in our country.

And you saw all the different trees that you collected from this summer and all the different things that people donated and that food would have gone to waste.

And instead, how many pounds was it that you were able to provide to people in need?

- [Will] It was over 20,000 pounds this season.

18,000 of that came just from the Palouse, which was our best year ever in the Palouse for gleaning.

- [Renee] Yeah, that's incredible.

And there's a difference between the gathered and gleaned food.

- [Will] Right, so we have our teams of volunteers who go out with the gleaning coordinator, a volunteer who's trained to lead gleanings and we go out and pick the fruit or the vegetables at these sites, but then we also do get some produce that's donated that's already been harvested by the gardener or occasionally the farmer who grew it and we'll collect that as well and distribute it to our food access partners.

- [Renee] So the gathering, or at least that part of the program known as harvest share and they're sharing their harvest, right, yeah?

- [Will] Right, yeah and that's a fun one.

;Cause sometimes it'll just be a amount that wouldn't be quite enough for us to gather a team of volunteers to go get.

It might just be a row of beets or something, but that allows us to get more of a variety of produce that we're distributing too.

'Cause there's a lot of people who have way more apples than they can use, but there's not so many people who have like 5,000 rows of lettuce that they're waiting to be picked.

- [Renee] Yeah, so I see Backyard Harvest as yeah, distributing this produce and different, I guess, fruits and veggies, engaging volunteers, and distributing to different sites.

Do you want to talk about the volunteerism and the distribution component?

- [Will] Yeah, yeah I can talk about that.

Renee, you should be a talk show host.

You're really good at this.

(group laughing) - [Renee] I'm just carrying the vlog here!

- [Will] I mean, with our distribution, we distribute all over the area to a lot of different types of organizations,.

The one that people most often think of and the places that probably receive the greatest quantity of our food are the food pantries.

So we distribute to like the Moscow and Pullman food pantries and then all the rural food pantries as well.

And when we have operations in the Lewis Clark Valley, we're distributing there as well.

So we're distributing to these food pantries and also some other really cool programs like senior meals and school lunch programs.

This year after the fires in Malden, we partnered with Food Not Bombs to distribute fresh produce to the Malden fire survivors.

So really we go all over to all different kinds of organizations where food is being distributed to community members who need it.

- [Renee] That's great, so that includes Lehta county, Whitman county and Nez Perce county.

So it's not just Moscow, it's the local regional area at least.

- [Will] Right.

- [Renee] I think I saw on the list that we have about 32 food access sites that we distributed to last year, in the past it's been between 30 and 40.

And so yeah, there's an estimation that we reached over 9,000 community members last year from all those food access points.

So that's pretty incredible.

- [Will] Hello.

- [Renee] Hi, I'm I'm interviewing Will, so you have it on the recorder.

- [Sueann] Well, now I feel bad about cursing us with that batteries.

Let's do the tough questions, first thing.

- [Renee] That's true.

(Will laughing) (soft music) - [Narrator 2] At nwpb.org, you can find news, music, art, and culture.

Never miss out on the stories from your community by bookmarking nwpb.org.

Nwpb.org, a website that engages, enlightens, and entertains.

(light music) - [Sueann] There's a recent report that says in Idaho, one in six adults is food insecure and the number is one in four children is, or they don't know where their next meal is coming from.

Backyard Harvest sounds like it's mostly for the spring and summer time, what about the fall and winter?

- [Renee] Yeah, so that's a really good question.

And I think that's something that Backyard Harvest is striving to try to figure out how to disseminate this food in the winter, especially at least on the board, we've been talking about different ways, maybe food processing or other ways to preserve the food, to get to some of the people in need and still keeping that food local.

- [Will] In the fall especially we just get so much fruit at one time, right?

Before the frosts come, we have a cooler chock full of apples and things.

And a lot of places where we'll already have a lot of fresh apples.

So one thing we are working on is figuring out ways that we can maybe preserve these so that they can be distributed in the winter when there is a greater need for local food.

- [Sueann] And I'm assuming it's not necessarily that you literally have to figure out how to preserve apples, it's that you need a facility and for it to be legal.

- [Will] Right.

Yeah, The logistics is the part that we're working on.

- [Sueann] Don't you two find it so interesting that it seems to be a bit difficult to feed people locally?

- Yes.

- Yes.

- [Renee] And it shouldn't be, right?

The food is here, the people are here, but there needs to be an organization such as Backyard Harvest that connects the two.

And so that's why it's such an important organization because there's people in need, there's food that is being wasted.

And you mentioned, what do we do in the winter?

Well, one of the bigger crops that we harvested last year was squash, and squash, there's a lot of winter squash included in that.

And I think we harvested about 2,500 pounds last year and disseminated it to different food banks.

So there is a component where some of this food will last throughout the winter.

Even some of the apples, we're still eating apples that was collected last year, at least at our own home.

So yeah, there is a component where food will last quite a long way as especially if you have it chilled or dry or in the right conditions.

- [Sueann] I feel as if that art of food preservation and also different varieties, and 'cause I realize there are some apples that hold longer than others.

So you wait to eat those until like deep into February, but that knowledge isn't always out there or accessible.

So this disconnect between our food.

I mean, I'm glad that there's an organization like yours, but I'm wondering if you could speak to the historical part of why is modern day, why is a modern day American so disconnected from their food source and how to prepare it?

- [Will] I think the way our food system is set up is that the vast majority of our food is coming from large scale growers who more likely than not are not local, maybe not even within the country.

So this food is coming from far away, which means, we don't know the people who are growing it.

We don't know where it's coming from.

And I think in turn we might value it less.

I think one of the things I've seen with Backyard Harvest is that when people see this food and where it's coming from and who's growing it, you got a greater appreciation for it.

You kind of understand that this food is actually being grown somewhere and means a lot to eat something.

- For you.

- Right.

- [Sueann] It's like the spirit of the whole thing between the human and the plant and the person who consumes it, it is more special.

- [Renee] And one thing that makes Backyard Harvest especially important is it actually connects community members with local fresh food.

So you could have local foods that aren't fresh.

You could have fresh foods that aren't local, but the local and fresh is very key.

And Backyard Harvest really strives to promote a service that enhances sustainable community food system in our area, and so in doing that, we want to integrate the food gathering and production, the distribution and the consumptions of foods that are generally wasted to the families in need.

And that's really important because we see that, there is a lot of food that goes to waste even with an organization like Backyard Harvest.

And there is a need out there for foods that are fresh and local and healthy for those in need.

- [Sueann] What are the types of people that you tend to serve?

Because on your website you can volunteer and also get some fruit or whatever is being harvested or gleaned, but you also distribute.

So who is benefiting from this organization?

- [Will] I think there's a few levels to that answer.

On the first level, there's the volunteers who come to our gleanings.

In our program, you can take home up to half of the foods that you harvest at a Backyard Harvest event.

So whether you're looking to take home some fruit or not, at that level, you can get some fruit.

- [Sueann] And then you give some to food banks?

- [Renee] Absolutely.

- [Will] That's where the bulk of it is going is to food banks - Okay.

- [Will] And other food access programs like that.

- [Sueann] And I want to just ask you, I don't know if you've seen the people who have taken food and I don't want to be insensitive, but I feel as if we need to educate the greater populace that those who partake at food pantries, aren't always people of color or down and out poor mothers, that it is everybody who needs help right now.

[Renee] Absolutely.

Yeah, and I grew up in a household as well as a kid who needed this sort of service.

I grew up in a very poor household and my parents at least were a little too proud to go to the food pantries and get food unless we really, really needed it, which was often, but they got by anyway.

And I remember, when they would go, we had giant containers of peanut butter, canned veggies.

We didn't have the fresh local foods that Backyard Harvest strives to provide and I thought peas were like a completely different vegetable.

If you've ever had canned peas versus fresh, they're a different deal.

I didn't even realize that fresh peas could be what they were.

And so, growing up with a food insecure childhood, I mean, this is what at least motivates me to be part of Backyard Harvest and to help out with the organization because I experienced that food insecurity as a kid.

And I want people to be able to hands down, just be able to get food, feed their families, and their kids without any worries.

And there is a local program, the food backpack program that we do in conjunction with the human rights task force, which I'm also on, but it's a great program because these kids are able to not even show ID, not even show, give a name or anything.

If they show up and stand in line, we provide food for them for the weekend.

And I think that's really important because there are families that feel like they shouldn't be going to these community action centers or they might have ideas about what it is just like my family did.

And so to be able to get this food without a lot of that pressure, that's really important.

- [Sueann] That's good.

- [Renee] And the other program that we do at Backyard Harvest is shop the market.

And I love this program because it does further connect the community with local food systems.

So what it does is Backyard Harvest facilitates using SNAP or EBT bucks, also known as food stamps to go to either the Moscow farmer's market, the Pullman farmer's market, both the Pullman and winter, Moscow winter farmer's markets and use SNAP bucks or EBT bucks to buy fresh produce from farmers in the area.

And so it's not just the gleaning and the gathering that Backyard Harvest does, but we also facilitate community members being connected with other growers in the area that are trying to make a living growing fresh local foods.

- [Sueann] I have a question about that, but first I want to Renee, thank you for telling us your story, because I think that'll encourage others to open their minds and also realize that they can partake.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

Why speaking for your parents or perhaps your insight into what is this perception that people are afraid of to ask for help?

Is that an American thing?

Is that a class thing?

Is that, what is this?

- [Renee] I think both of those things really, I mean, when you ask for help, you are basically saying that there's a problem.

And I think my parents didn't want to admit to there being a problem, at least that they couldn't make enough money to provide for us.

And so there's amount of individualism and pride that's associated with that, but they had three kids to feed.

So you have to weigh, not feeling comfortable asking for food and on the other hand, feeding your family.

And in fact, I've had conversations with my parents recently and they said, "We're sorry, we realize that "there's a lot of people that needed "assistance and we really shouldn't have felt that way.

"And we should have utilized "those programs a little bit more."

And so that has been pretty incredible for me to hear because there is nothing wrong with saying I need help.

And there's government programs and nonprofit organizations that offer this help and we're doing it because we know there is a need and we want to help people and make sure that especially children are well fed.

- [Sueann] I have a friend who said something that was really profound.

She was like, "Why is it a crime to care?"

Because she was saying that we should feed our children in school.

Like it should just be an automatic thing.

Why do we not do that?

They're the easiest ones we could get to.

They need it the most, it helps them study and retain knowledge.

And we have the ability to do that as a nation, while other critics were like, that's not what we should be doing, but it almost is like, why is it a crime to feed each other?

And on another while I'm on my little platform, I've often thought would I get in line for food?

And yes I would.

And I think it's because I feel as if I have contributed to this society and if I need help, I want my society and my community to help me because I will be there to help you.

So if I'm down and out and I need a little bit more, especially for my kids, setting aside the ego and I'm getting the help.

Hopefully then I can help others when I'm on my feet again.

- [Renee] Yeah.

And I think that's the whole importance of being a part of a community, right?

Being a part of community is to look out for each other, to be there for your neighbors.

And that's what we're trying to do.

And so it's not just like, I'm a helping you sort of program.

It's, we're there for each other and we're supporting each other and we're supporting each other in a very essential way of providing healthy food, so people and their children have the nutrition that they need to be successful in life and to grow and prosper.

(light music) - [Narrator 2] This podcast like so many programs on NWPB is brought to you courtesy of donors, people who watch and listen to NWPB for thought provoking programs like Traverse Talks, people who give what they can to pay for current programs and technology for future programs.

You can join them.

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(light music) - [Sueann] So I was reading up on gleaning and I love that, that Will, you're the gleaning coordinator.

I think this word glean has been missing from an action in our society.

When, like in the Old Testament, they talk about letting certain parts of the field.

A farmer would let the edges grow and not harvest them because others who need them, the poor or the orphans and widows would come and glean or whatever's left after they harvested their fields, then they would let people come to the field and take.

But I don't think this is something we have done and accepted as a society that perhaps a program like yours may be able to revitalize this idea of gleaning.

But of course, that also means access to your farmer, which may be very difficult.

So I'm on a dreamy thought there.

- [Renee] Well, that is what Backyard Harvest strives to do.

So we strive to connect the farmer.

We strive to connect the community members that have the fruit trees to the distribution sites that could get it to people in need.

So yeah, this is why an organization like this is so needed in every community, not just our region.

- [Sueann] What other programs are there in the United States like yours?

- [Will] There's actually a good amount.

Part of my job, I've been looking into other organizations like us to get ideas for how we can grow and in all different sorts of areas, there are organizations that are doing similar work to us.

I'm from Massachusetts and there's even one right near where I grew up and I never heard of it.

- [Sueann] Ah, we need some marketing money for these organizations.

- Right.

- [Renee] Yeah, I think a really good example, too, that, at least I would like to strive Backyard Harvest to work towards, I think their organization is in California, but it's called Soul Food Farm.

And they actually try to connect diverse people actually to the land and help those in need.

And so they do a very similar thing as Backyard Harvest.

They facilitate the SNAP EBT bucks, but they also grow.

They also glean and they help those in need.

- [Sueann] Wow.

Well this leads into what are Backyard Harvest's major big goals for the future?

- [Renee] Yeah, so we have a lot of goals and in general, what we're trying to do is we're trying to highlight the impact that small vegetable gardens and residential fruit trees can have on the community's food system, providing that we are able to distribute and disseminate those foods, the produce.

We want to keep helping the community feed themselves and reduce the wasted transportation needs, or at least the wasted food packaging costs in the area.

So there is a environmental component to this, and we're also just trying to feed those in need.

And so we're gonna continue with our goals, feeding the Palouse, feeding the greater area and also reducing waste and connecting people in the community with our educational programs, such as growing food on their own small little garden plots, trying to take care of their fruit trees.

Maybe helping them prune or educate them on how to better pick their fruit or what to do if their trees aren't producing.

And so there's an educational component, but in general, this is a community wide effort to supply food and transport food to those in need.

- [Sueann] Have you heard that Moscow parks and rec is planning to do a type of edible forest park?

- [Renee] I have heard that.

(laughing) - [Sueann] That's like a long-term goal though.

- [Renee] It's definitely a long-term goal.

Ye, so they approved it last year.

And from what I understand, it's gonna be mostly orchard trees or fruit trees.

There could be more to it.

- [Sueann] I hope there's some nuts, nut trees.

- [Renee] Yeah.

Yeah.

So I think that's a great model.

And you look at different examples of different countries and how land is used so differently.

Like we have a lot of open space here, but you can use your small little tiny backyard.

You could use your patio, you can use, little bits of pieces of land or soil here and there to grow food for yourself.

You just have to put a little bit of time and a little bit of water and pay attention to them.

But there's a lot of available resources that are unused.

- [Sueann] You mentioned that Backyard Harvest is there to help facilitate and teach people how to garden.

What are some common misconceptions that people may have about starting a garden and feeding themselves?

- [Will] Well, I mean, I think one of the main hurdles to a garden is, I guess there are two, maybe there's the knowledge aspect and then the logistical aspect, whether that's space or money or time.

And so what we try to do with our garden programs is we have a few plots at different community gardens.

And we invite volunteers to come to these plots and learn from our volunteers who are knowledgeable in gardening.

So they learn about gardening.

They have the space to garden in that is free of charge.

They're welcome any time.

And hopefully through that experience, they'll come away with the knowledge and be able to start, either their own community garden plot, or a garden plot somewhere else on their own property.

- [Renee] And a lot of people think that gardening is putting a seed in the ground and watering every once in a while and then going to do your job, but you do need to pay attention to it.

And I think that's the part that goes wrong for a lot of people is recognizing and paying attention to what's going on.

Even me, when I grow something, I have a big hoop house in our backyard.

If it starts to die, I think I need to water it more.

That might not be the problem, but yeah.

Oh, it's dying.

It must need more water, but that's not necessarily what it needs.

And so these community garden plots are important for just showing like high quality watering.

What is that?

Maybe using drip line.

Gardening is a lot of weeding and that's okay.

And weeding, it's helping to prioritize the plants that you want to grow big and making sure the roots aren't fighting under the ground.

How do you take care of the soil?

And so there are different ways that you could take care of the soil in between seasons.

And so that's our intent, at least with the community garden plots and anybody is welcome to contact us and try to learn from us.

- [Sueann] Now I'm just curious on a personal level, what are some fruits and vegetables that you wish you had more access to?

- [Renee] I have a huge list.

(laughing) So Backyard Harvest, actually we get a lot of fruit, especially because our gleaning program is very big and Will is doing such a good job with the gleaning coordinator position and organizing volunteers to go get those fruits.

But when we first started, we actually did grow more veggies.

And so I'd like to incorporate more veggies into the mix in the future and it doesn't have to be abstract veggies.

Like, people that don't know what chard is or don't want to eat chard.

We don't need to supply that.

But if we supplied say more carrots, onions, potatoes, the common produce that people would recognize and know how to use, I think that would be a big step in the right direction because fruit definitely does feed people.

But if you do fruits and veggies, you're absolutely feeding families in a diverse way and that's gonna be very important in the future.

- [Sueann] Well, I think that's pretty much it guys.

Thanks for hanging in there with us through the technical stuff.

- Thank you.

- Awesome, yeah thank you so much.

- [Sueann] Thank you.

(light country music) That's Will O'Neill and Renee Love of Backyard Harvest.

So many people are gardening now.

So consider growing a little extra and donating to a program in your area that's like Backyard Harvest or to your local food bank.

Let's feed each other and share the bounty.

This is Traverse Talks.

I'm Sueann Romella.

(light country music)