Mother Earth Farm: Providing Organic Produce for the Emergency Food Network

Mother Earth Farm is an organic 8 acre farm working with the Emergency Food Network to provide them with around 150,000lbs of fresh produce yearly.  Mother Earth is in the midst of its 11th season of growing produce and raising awareness of hunger issues in Pierce County.  Mother Earth Farm is located on private land near Orting donated by a 3rd generation farming family. 
 
I have to say it is a beautiful section of the valley with great views of the Cascade foothills and Mt. Rainier, but perhaps the most beautiful thing is the mission of the farm to serve fresh healthy foods to Pierce County folks.  Mother Earth Farm relies heavily on volunteer labor to produce the amount they produce.  To get involved on the farm contact Carrie at 253.691.4921 ormotherearthfarm@gmail.com.  Mother Earth Farm also hosts work parties weekly on Saturdays from morning to evening with no appointments needed.  For other information, visit:http://www.efoodnet.org/Page11.aspx. 

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Pierce County Gleaning Project: Feeding our County's Hungry With Food That is Already There

Today I’d like to tell you about an organization called the Pierce County Gleaning Project.  The Project is a collaboration spearheaded by St. Leo Food Connection with partners from the community.  The PCGP aims to “collect surplus produce from farms, orchards, residential gardens and fruit trees for distribution to food banks and hot meal sites.”  The PCGP says: “About 25 percent of commercially-grown food goes to waste in this country.”  It is in that quarter of our food grown that PCGP wants to capitalize.  Relying heavily on volunteers, the PCGP gleans for the nearly 1 in every 5 of our approximately 800,000 Pierce County residents who seek help in finding food.  They say: “Each month in Pierce County, more than 140,000 children, seniors and adults seek help finding food in Pierce County.  Of these individuals:
52% are children and seniors.
98% fall below the national poverty line.
Almost half are families with at least one working adult.”

You can get involved in these efforts.  You can volunteer your time to glean or volunteer your fruit trees to be gleaned.  For information on how to be a part of this project, visit: www.piercecountygleaningproject.org