An Adventure at Gleaners

This oil painting (1857) by Jean-Francois Millet comes to mind when you hear the word Gleaners. The modern day application is quite different.

Whirrr! Shovel! Scoop! Spread! Stack!

What a busy time at the North Okanagan Valley Gleaners plant near Vernon, B.C.  Early on the morning shift, I had just selected a wonderful knife on the shelf, that cut cleanly and swiftly through the various sized beets in the large bin beside me. Terry was happily splitting giant cabbages with his machete-like knife.

Various shapes of veggies that don't make the market find their way to Gleaners.

Then I was asked to help "spread".  Abandoning my calm and fairly predictable post at the cutting station, I joined my friend who was already spreading the mix of diced beets and shredded cabbage onto trays that were to go into the dryer.

The diced vegetables had to be quickly patted into place with a few deft butterfly movements of the hand, just ahead of the next scoop that was waiting to be thrown onto the tray.

Here are carrots that are being scooped up to be flung onto the trays in rapid succession. I had to restrain myself from tidying someone else's spreading job when it was my turn to fit the trays into the many-slotted rack.  Sometimes when there was a moment's lull, I would furtively pat some vegetables into an empty looking corner of the sheet.  But there really were not many pauses, unless the dicing machine broke down. 

Then the machine had to be opened and the reason for the breakdown determined. Usually it was something like too much cabbage, which had to be mixed equally with beets to keep the vegetable cubes running freely.














I thought I knew what I was doing when my friend and I wheeled the trays into the dryer. 
Hmmm.  Why is this extra space here on the side? I thought.

No, no, no!  The trays have to go in this way, and we had to rearrange them all, down to lining them up with all the metal sheets in colour-coded order, and the stacks with the extra trays placed on the sides of the room to create proper air flow. Some time during the night, when the right level of dehydration is reached, the dryers automatically shut off.

The next morning the trays are scraped, and the now dried product collected into huge barrels, labelled with their contents, ready to be combined together into a soup mix to be shipped overseas to needy nations.  Apples and pears are packaged separately to be re-hydrated or eaten as a crunchy snack. 

Medical supplies are also collected by the North Okanagan Valley Gleaners. 

Terry stands by a pile of wheelchairs, walkers, and crutches, and later, helps to load some of them into a container destined for Guatemala.

Some crutches from the surplus in our town made their way to the collection. In the background you can see barrels full of the dried product.

Packages of dried soup mixes and fruit go into the container  first.












Various countries around the world are grateful recipients of the generosity of Canadian farmers, and our labour in processing the bounty.

 A very worthwhile project!
For more information, see www.novgleaners.org