Fresh cherries have found their way into emergency food boxes thanks to the efforts of Salem Harvest and its cadre of volunteer pickers. Harvests last week at the east Salem area farm owned by Carl Jensen yielded 3,271 pounds of mixed cherries for Marion-Polk Food Share. Thank you Salem Harvest!

Jensen, a Farmers Ending Hunger partner, already had had his orchards harvested by a commercial crew, but there was plenty of fruit remaining. He graciously allowed volunteer pickers to come in and harvest the rest during special times over four days. He even loaned the use of his orchard ladders. See photos here.

To take part in upcoming harvest parties, volunteer pickers may register at www.salemharvest.org. Property owners with trees, vines, full orchards and farm fields that need harvesting may register their bounty on the website as well.

The way it works is that volunteer pickers get to keep up to half of what they harvest and the balance goes to MPFS for distribution to food pantries and meal sites in Marion and Polk counties. For property owners, their harvests are not wasted and they can help feed people in their community.

Last year, 800 volunteers picked almost 55,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables and delivered 29,000 pounds of it to MPFS. They also partnered with Farmers Ending Hunger to help load nearly 72 tons of cauliflower, which was trucked to food banks in four neighboring states.

This is the group's second year. Find out how you can be a part of this great urban foraging effort. In addition to picking, there are many volunteer opportunities for those who wish to help.