The food rescue nonprofit Forgotten Harvest is working to harvest 1 million pounds of food by the end of the year.
Mike Yancho, the farm manager at Forgotten Harvest Farms, has been working at the farm for 13 years. He says farm staff till and prep the fields, but most of the planting is done by volunteers.
“There’s not a lot in the vegetable world that can be harvested by a machine, and so we do a lot of hand harvesting,” he explains.
Last year 3,100 volunteers came out to the farm. Yancho says volunteers plant, weed and harvest plants.
Lori Setera, assistant farm manager at Forgotten Harvest Farms, says several crates have already been filled.
“We’ve already loaded the trailer once and sent it back in with seven crates of cabbage. Those crates run anywhere from about 750 to 950 pounds,” she says.
Over 40 volunteers harvested more than 10,000 lbs. of cabbage.
The farm’s funding comes from grants and donations. Setera says the space is donated by a previous board member.
“She leases it to us for $1 a year… the farm property itself is about 1,500 acres. But we only farm 100 of that, and then they lease out to other farmers in the area,” she explains.
The farm supplements healthy foods people need or request, like hot peppers, which are popular.
“I think about 20 different crops, and our main, our total harvest goal this year is about a million pounds. So that’s taking everything, you know, the cabbage, the corn, the broccoli, everything, and adding it up and getting to a million pounds,” she says.
Soon they will plant carrots and spinach in a greenhouse to harvest later in the winter months.
Volunteer harvest
Abu Bangurah with Midland Credit Management demonstrates how to harvest a cabbage.
Abu Bangurah came out with his company, Midland Credit Management to help out.
“Trying to save some cabbages from some pesky raccoons, one cabbage at a time,” he laughs.
This year the cabbage has a disease. Volunteers strip away the outer affected layers.
Deborah Mahomes is also with Midland Credit Management. She comes out every year with her children and grandchildren.
“Last year we planted broccoli, and then we always planted zucchini, zucchini, lots of zucchini. We’ve done that several times. It’s just every year is something different,” she explains.
Mark Eskola is a senior trainer with ITC Holdings Corp., which manages high-voltage power lines in Southeast Michigan. He’s putting a cabbage in one of the large bins.
Mark Eskola is a senior trainer with ITC Holdings Corp., which manages high-voltage power lines in Southeast Michigan. He’s putting a cabbage in one of the large bins.
“I’ve never done this before, so it’s awesome to be working with all these other volunteers today, and it’s been a lot of fun,” he shares.
Eskola says it was an opportunity to give back.
“This is all about helping people who are hungry and need food, so that’s why we’re here today, just to help people out,” he says.
Steady progress
Yancho says the farm grows produce with plastic mulch , using drip irrigation tapes. “It’s a super efficient way to water the crops,” Yancho says.
Setera says the food grown in the field goes to the Forgotten Harvest warehouse, where it’s later dispersed.
“Mostly our stuff here goes farmers market style, just how you see it here in these crates. A lot of our brick-and-mortar pantry partners don’t have the equipment or the space to store these giant crates, so most of our things go to the mobile pantries,” she says.
Yancho says the food is the highest quality.
Volunteers at the Forgotten Harvest Farms in Fenton, Michigan.
Volunteers were harvesting the food on a Thursday afternoon, but Yancho says the food could get to people in days.
“Well, one thing that we know about the food that comes from the farm is it’s the freshest of the fresh. The cabbage that’s being picked today will leave here tomorrow, and it could be on somebody’s plate as early as Saturday,” he explains.
Setera says volunteers harvested over 10,000 pounds of cabbage that Thursday.
“It’s really important for us, for everybody, to know what the weight is of what they harvest because one pound equals a meal,” she says.
And for families in need, that could make all the difference.
Dining and Cooking