Helping at harvest time at HTF Farm
A small but hard-working group of PCA Milwaukee members, along with one member from the Fox Valley region, helped with harvest of greens today at the Hunger Task Force farm in Franklin.
Steve from the HTF farm staff greeted us and gave us a brief orientation. He then invited us to wash our hands and described the task that was in front of us. Huge bins of greens awaited our helping hands.
The collard and mustard greens had been harvested recently and needed to be sorted to remove weeds, clover and any damaged leaves. After sorting, the greens were soaked in a tank full of water. Members removed them from the water, and placed them in containers that were weighed and placed on a pallet. The club members washed 510 pounds of greens, enough to feed 2,000 families.
It was gratifying to know that within a few days of our work, these greens would be on the dinner tables of many families in the greater Milwaukee area.
According to the HTF farm staff, area food pantries supplied by HTF request greens more than any other produce.
The farm processes annually more than 500,000 lbs of produce.
Thank you to Roger Franzel, who has served as chair of the region's charitable outreach, for many years. Roger worked with the HTF staff to find a day that we could help after our apple picking day was rained out. He also brought coffee for us to start the day and sub sandwiches for lunch at the conclusion of our work.
Thanks also to these members who gave up their Thursday morning to work at the farm:
Roger and Patty Franzel
Gene Guszkowski and Ann Stevens
Jon Knopp
Rick Schiel
Dale Miller
Bev Jurkowski
Robert Geiser (FV member)
