By Sara Ferris
EUGENE AREA GLEANERS NEWS 5-18-2020
GLEANS
The Friday morning glean team of Rebecca McCroskey, Jet Eccleston, Holly Johnson, Therese Mary, and glean leader Shannon Cooper gathered more than 470 pounds of organic lettuce, turnips, and spinach. Another glean team will be going back for more today!
Gleaners: Please save and reuse your facemasks for future gleans so masks will be available for new gleaners throughout the summer.
Leaders wanted. If you are at all interested in becoming a glean leader, please contact Susan Chapen at [email protected]. Training can be done over the phone or via Facebook chat.
DROP SITES
Bread drops and glean extras are delivered to these locations, where members can pick them up.
- 1242 Garfield St., Eugene: The bread barn is located to the right of the driveway, and there is a refrigerator in the carport. Extra vegetables are also stored in the carport.
- 3180 Oriole St., Springfield (Gateway)
- 2830 Potter St. Eugene (South)
General Guidelines: Sites are open from 8 am to 10 pm. Please remember to use healthy distancing and PPE. Bring your own bags or boxes for loose items. Be sure to sign the sign-out sheet and note what you took. Items are for your immediate household use only.
Volunteers or hosts will post to Facebook and the email list when bread or other items are delivered to each site. Please don’t take anything that you have not been invited to take.
TIPS FOR EXTRA GREENS
Some group members’ suggestions for keeping all that lettuce and spinach fresh:
- Chop into manageable bits and store in a jar in the refrigerator.
- Perk up by putting in water to rehydrate.
- Adding a paper towel to storage bags can keep lettuce from getting slimy.
You can also dehydrate the greens to make powder (or use spinach in place of kale for kale chips). And finally, some recipe ideas:
https://www.recipelion.com/Cooking-Tips/How-to-Use-Up-Spinach
https://spoonuniversity.com/how-to/how-to-eat-turnips-10-ways
PLANT STARTS
Thank you to the Lane County Master Gardeners for donating the tomato starts available for pickup this past week at the drop sites! The Facebook group has also been active with people seeking or offering starts and cuttings. And be sure to post photos of your plants from the seed donations.
Note that the 2020/2021 seed donation is unlikely to be as large as those in years past. The huge demand this year is creating shortages. Please use your donated seeds wisely and try to keep some in reserve for next year.
DO IT YOURSELF
New on the EAG website: Rose Jacobs explains how to make your own mozzarella:
https://eugeneareagleaners.com/how-to-make-fresh-mozzarella-in-30-minutes/
RABIES SHOTS
Many thanks to veterinarian/physician Joanne Holland! She has generously offered rabies vaccinations for $20 to gleaner group members and met up with several last Thursday for parking lot shots.
Watch the Facebook group for notice of when she will be in Eugene next and reply to set up a time and place to meet. Rabies shots need to be done by a veterinarian and are required to get a dog license.
HELP WANTED
The Membership Coordinator position is still open. Details here.
Email [email protected] if you’re interested in helping build chicken coops or providing chicken-raising advice for group members.
BUYS
The Bi-Mart lid buy went smoothly, with all requests for donations covered.
Chung-Fei Tsai also coordinated purchase and pickup of 139 nursery pots.