Gleaner Adventure Part Two

 Let's backtrack a bit from yesterday's post, and explain why we're in the Okanagan, in November, no less. 

We weren't planning to be in this part of the world, at this time of the year, but an offer came up that we couldn't refuse. We were given a condo to stay in, with a suggestion that we work at the Gleaner's, the one in the south Okanagan that we hadn't been to yet. We liked that idea, so here we are. 

 We didn't know we would be thrust into the tail end of a week of actual soup mixing. This was an aspect of the whole gleaning process that we hadn't yet experienced . 

Here is a picture of the set-up we found ourselves in:

It's a metal shelf with a COVID shield separating masked people on both sides. Not exactly a conveyor belt, more like a shuffleboard. The white stuff you see is salt, to facilitate the buckets sliding down the "runway".

I'm there in my trusty purple cashmere work sweater, with Terry behind me. I'm scooping lentils into a yellow bucket as it comes shooting towards me, every three seconds! Terry is scooping dried carrots. Because he's only the third person in line, his bucket occasionally tips over, it's so light. I have to be on my toes to scoop my lentils before the next bucket comes sliding along. If too many buckets stall together, they're more likely to tip over. Eventually I get into the rhythm of putting out my left arm to intercept the carrot bucket, while scooping with my right hand into the lentil barrel. A man off to the side keeps his eyes on my barrel, always making sure it's full, so I don't have to strain my back leaning down too much. That's valuable servanthood on the sidelines. 

See the big square bin? It was two-thirds full when we started, and we went through about one and a half in a morning.

I was so thrilled with this fast-paced operation I refused all offers to have someone take my place, despite the fact that by the end of the morning the fingers of my right hand seemed permanently fused in place. And despite the fact that, as a newbie, I had probably displaced someone who regularly worked on the line. But they humoured me, and I toughed it out. We did have a stretch break after half an hour, and then a welcome coffee break. Despite the chilly weather, most of us sat outside bundled up in tuques and warm jackets. That's what you do during COVID, right?

The part I didn't see was the actual bagging.   The buckets, which now contained dried potatoes, beets, carrots, lentils, barley, peas, salt, and other mixed vegetables, were tipped through a large funnel, into sturdy plastic  5 kg bags, and sealed. I had taken part in this aspect at the North Okanagan Gleaners in Lavington., B.C.                                      

All these dried vegetables flying around creates a lot of dust, so we spent the next day washing walls and floors. I had to laugh to myself. When I heard we would be cleaning, I said to myself, But I'm not washing walls! God has a sense of humour. That was the very job I was assigned. I did my best to eliminate all traces of dust in my section of wall.

Stay tune for the next installment: apples! 

I can't wait.