Grateful for Local Farmers Sharing Delicious Produce with Our Community

The market gleaners have had some unexpectedly heavy days this fall! Usually our produce hauls slow down in the fall, but we have still been collecting 500-700 lbs of produce from the farmers market each week. We are grateful to our local farmers for sharing their delicious produce with our community. Our biggest gleaning haul this year was 1374 lbs on August 17. Thank you to Polly, Christine, Paul, Malva, Adria, and Hannah who did the heavy lifting that day! As 2025 comes to a close, I want to thank all of the gleaning volunteers who gleaned, lifted, and sorted produce for the food bank this year. If you would like to join our team in 2026, feel free to email gleanballard@gmail.com.

The gleaning program, part of Sustainable Ballard, is an opportunity for volunteers to donate their time to the community by collecting donated food from vendors at the Ballard Farmers Market and bringing it to the Ballard Food Bank. Last year, we collected over 18,000 pounds of food for the Food Bank! Gleaning is a great way to connect with other volunteers, vendors, and the farmers market staff, all while helping to ensure that our neighbors have access to fresh, local produce.