Peaches have always been my favorite fruit. More that the taste I love the memories that flood my mind. In 1973 I was ten and we moved into a house that had a peach tree. I remember pruning and tending to that tree. In the spring we would pick half of the green peaches off so that the ones that remained would be as big as softballs in the fall. Every fall the first thing I would do as I arrived home would be to stop by that tree and look for the ripest peach. I would only pick one at a time because they were so big I could only eat one. Sometimes I would eat it in the shade. Other times I would take it into the kitchen and skin it and slice it up and eat it with cream.

What happened next seems innocent even now. I was working with a guy named James. James and I sat on that scaffolding and started talking about all the food that goes to waste in our own backyards. James said “ I think you would control one of the biggest orchards in the world if you could find a way to network all the people that have trees in their backyards”. That conversation has stayed with me for ever since. I have no aspirations to control all the fruit or even just peaches for that matter, but the fact that so much food is never harvested has haunted me since that day.

Shortly after that day James and I were driving down the road and I was telling him about gleaning fields and that I had heard that some farmers would let you harvest what was left after he had harvested it. We just happen to be driving along a farmer’s field and James pulled over and got out before I knew it he has walking though a field up to a farmer that happened to be standing close by. As I rushed up James was asking if we could glean his field. Our timing was unbelievable. He said that we could have the next week to take as much food as we wanted. At the end of the week he was going to till it all under for the winter.

We had every type of pepper you can imagine. We had squash, melons, tomatoes, etc. but over fourteen apple boxes of peppers if I remember correctly.

James is a great friend and he has taught me a lot though our conversations but those two things.

#1 Dream big- I was just looking for a free peach that day. A free lunch.

#2 Do it now!!! There is probably a reason it came to your mind now so do it now.

To be continued…

It has been humbling to hear from so many of you that are showing a genuine interest and a willingness to help us. Our goal is to help all of Gods children, not just “children”. In the past Care for the Children has provided 30 million meals to children in third world countries. Now we want to turn our attention to help families right here in our own backyard.

All sorts of “disasters” hit close to home every day. We don’t feel it is our job to judge each ones tragedy. Each one of us deal with calamities differently. Among so much sorrow is so much joy. Our lives are full of blessings if we just have eyes to see. We want to be a blessing to all those around us.

As we have delved into this project the amount of food is staggering. Especially given that it is food that would otherwise have gone to waste. We have been introduced to people with more knowledge in processing mass amounts of food and people with the same passion to help people and stop wasting food.
I have been contacted by a number of folks that have volunteered to help. Believe me when I say as soon as I know to what, when and how I will get the word out.

So we will have to change the name of our program that we used last year to gather food. We don’t have a definite name as of yet, so I am open to any and all suggestions. What would YOU call a program to gather millions of pounds of food, distributing it to needy families by working together?

Have you heard of the “dirty dozen”? They are the fruits and vegetables that test highest for pesticide sprays. Top of the list is Peaches. My suggestion is to plant a peach tree! I have three. Here are the others in the top 12 to buy organic or grow yourself, whenever possible:

Peaches                                 Cherries

Apples                                   Kale

Bell Peppers                        Lettuce

Celery                                  Grapes

Nectarines                          Carrots

Strawberries                       Pears

Spinach has moved down on the list, out of the to 12, which is nice. sometimes I get taken to task by those who buy ONLY organic produce for not being a purist on the topic.

Here is what I have to say about that: if you can afford to buy all organic, that is EXCELLENT! Go for it. But I am above all trying to bridge the gap here for the majority in the middle, who have to balance health concerns with budget restraints. I always say, remember  (a) that animal protein and proccessed food have higher pesticide concentrations than conventioal produce, and (b) almost all the studies documenting the powerful effects of fruits/vegs in our diets were using CONVENTIONAL produce. Therefore (c) don’t avoid eating produce ( and eat something else) because you are afraid it may it may not be organic, but (d) wash your conventional produce well using a good fruit/veg wash.

Here is the bottom 13 of the produce ranked by the Environment Working Group examining 87,000 studies by the FDA and USDA between 2000 and 2007. These would be produce I would feel more comfortable about buying conventional and washing well:

Broccoli                     Sweet peas (frozen)

Watermelon             Papaya

Eggplant                  Cabbage

Kiwi                          Asparagus

Mango                     Pineapple

Avocado                 Corn

Onions                   Tomatos

May I make another summertime suggestion: before you cot up your melon, rinse the rind before cutting it up, because the knife slices through the pesticide-coated rind, and those chemicals end up on your fruit.