Hi Marv!
I would love to interview you both!!
*We are Honored
Happy anniversary!! And happy belated birthday to Pet!
*Thank you
You two are so inspiring!!
*May we take a bow?
I was out of town this past weekend but I hope the event went well!!
*Almost 400 people attended the scion exchange It was a cold day. I grafted more than 11 scions in less than two hours.
Please introduce yourself and share a little about your background (this could be where you grew up, or how long you’ve been in the area, your work, schooling, hobbies/interests? Maybe a few sentences?
* Marv grew up on his grandparents ranch in Peach Tree Valley. He attended schools in King City.
* Pet was born in England, lived in Africa where her father was a farmer in East Africa. Swahili was her first language.
* We’ve lived on the Central Coast since 1991. Pet worked for the Census Bureau. Marv worked for an utility company until his retirement He worked on low and high voltage lines including 500,000 volt lines while energized.
Has anything been surprising as you learn more about food access and hunger in our community?
* The surprising fact was how many people in the county didn’t have daily nourishment they needed for a healthy life style.
We’d love to know about the other work you’ve done previously
* Pet has worked several completely different lines of work starting out in a Telegraph office and she was a raisin farmer in the San Joaquin Valley where Pet taught Marv about Gleaning. Marv grew up in a family farming operation and started driving tractor as a pre teenager. Hay, and grain farming along with cattle, swine and sheep were his family’s lively hood. The only produce Marv grew was in the home garden.
Any other community involvement and what inspires you to be involved and give back to the community?
* When living in Coalinga we were both volunteers on the Neighborhood Watch Steering Committee and were representatives in Sacramento.
Do you have any ideas about the future of GleanSLO and the vision for a healthy community?
*GleanSLO has a steering committee and they work closely with the Food Bank. As long as people keep providing produce to harvest GleanSLO volunteers will be needed.
How can we improve our work and our reach?
*Praise the volunteers. Word of mouth is an inexpensive method of advertising gleaners are needed.
How do you see GleanSLO making a difference locally?
*We see GLEANSLO making a difference daily. Many people would not have any chance to eat healthy food without GLEANSLO, the Food Bank Coalition and the volunteers. You may spread the word that volunteers are a necessity to making the program run smoothly.
Do you have a favorite fruit or veggie recipe you’d like to share? Or a resource of where you find inspiration for cooking or healthy eating?
*We have more that 75 cook books all trying to be the Healthiest Cook Book.
Anything else you’d like to share about GleanSLO or a story that might be of interest to our readers?
*We both enjoy promoting what we believe in, especially to help the community and others. We are life members of CRFG (California Rare Fruit Growers) and on a teaching team. We travel to schools to teach students why grafting is needed and how to graft. At one of those schools we met Carolyn Eicher. When Carolyn, CLEANSLO co-founder was starting the gleaning program she recruited us for some help. As CRFG members we were able to help manage an orchard in See Canyon. We have also recruited a few people to help in the fields and backyards.
Marv & Pet Daniels