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In Spokane, Harvest Against Hunger AmeriCorps VISTA Annie Eberhardt has fully welcomed in the presence of plums. All over town, tree owners have been reaching out to Spokane Edible Tree Project with the intention of not seeing their beautiful little stone fruits go to waste. Spokane Edible Tree Project mobilizes volunteers to glean produce from fruit and nut trees that would otherwise go to waste in Spokane county. There are over 140 backyard tree owners and 28 farmers who are registered with the project, all hoping to share the bounty of excess produce with their neighbors who need it most.

Just two weeks ago, a long time registered tree owner of SETP hastily called Annie at SETP Headquarters, urging the SETP Glean Team to come harvest her lush, golden plums – to resuce them from the fate of rotting in her backyard, uneaten. “I have golden plums coming out of my ears,” she insisted. “They are just about to be at perfect ripeness within a couple of days; please come harvest as soon as you can, Glean Team!”

Rushing to diligently make sure these golden plums could find homes with hungry community members in need, Annie quickly banded together a group of employees from a local Spokane office. With the heat wave that has been encompassing the area lately and the significance of tone from the tree owner, there was a sense of needing to hurry.

The Glean Team met on a sunny morning at the gleaning site, just north of Spokane. They were excited to give back to their community and to take a refreshing break from the office. There was just one problem – most of the plums were not yet close to being ripe! The situation was looked upon by the SETP Glean Team with some humor and some good laughs, as the rushing had become a silly notion for the plums that were still a bit green and firm, with pointed tips at the bottom of the fruit signifying the need for further development. The team gleaned what small amount they could, and left back to the office to await the natural ripening to occur.

Puzzled, Annie researched into this phenomenon, and busted a long-time myth she had always believed – extreme heat does not always mean that fruit will ripen faster! In fact, with most stone fruit, extreme heat causes the fruit to slow down its ripening process in an effort to save the fruit from dropping its seeds in conditions that are not suited to seed germination.   

In the end, the same small group of local volunteers came back a week later with SETP, helping to glean 500 pounds of golden plums from the trees! There was no sense of rushing this time – only the zen satisfaction of being up in a tree, tasting the fresh sweetness of golden fruit, and the sense of peace that comes from participating in work that truly makes a difference.