Hey, My Question Is About...
Harvests
Nope! You do not need to be home for a harvest to happen.
We just ask that your yard is accessible and we know the best way to access your trees! This is especially true if you live in a HOA type of neighborhood. Please ensure to communicate the expectations for your tree, such as fully clearing them or leaving produce on the tree.
We understand that this can be frustrating. But, there are several options if we are booked.
➡️ You can book a You-Pick Home Harvest [bit.ly/YouPickHarvest]. You pick your abundance and FIFABQ comes to pick-up the harvest and distribute it!
➡️ Invite your neighbors, friends, and family over to pick as a fun social event.
➡️ Harvest your own bounty and donate it to a local organization. foodpantries.org/st/new_mexico
What is important is that you are sharing with our commUnity and avoiding food waste.
When you book a harvest, you will receive a confirmation email and a liability form for us to enter your property. This for MUST be completed before we can harvest your property. A few days before your harvest you will receive a reminder email.
We ask that you have your yard prepared before we arrive so that it is free of animal waste and safe for our crew to traverse.
Mother Nature doesn't care about our schedule, so we do our best to accommodate hers as this allows for the highest quality produce. We will not harvest unripe fruit unless it is a hazard to the tree's health or is very close to ripeness.
If the fruit is not ripe at your scheduled harvest, we will encourage homeowners to keep taste testing the fruit and keep in touch. FIFABQ sets aside times for these reschedules to be booked. There is so much more to harvesting than just shucking some fruit and calling it a day.
Part of our job as a Lead Harvester is to be prepared for this! We will keep in contact with you and check in regarding the status of your tree.
It’s more than gleaning.
It’s commUnity care.
We often work on the calendar of Mother Nature and not the calendar app.
Don’t worry. We understand the difficulty of determining the exact perfect time to donate a harvest. It’s never a waste of time to come to meet a tree and visit with a resident of the home, even if that means we’ll need to reschedule.
In nearly all circumstances, your tree is now entered into our Fruit Doula Rotation.
We are going to keep in touch with the tree steward and work together as a Team to find the right day to send in volunteers (sometimes it might just be the one Lead Harvester) to harvest your tree!
You-Pick Harvests
When you book a You-Pick Home Harvest, a FIFABQ team member will be notified. Once your You Pick is accepted by a team member, you will recieve a confirmation email with all the details of the date and time. You will also recieve a Home Harvest booklet of what to expect.
You will recieve a reminder email a few days before your appointment. Please have your harvest ready for pick-up at the begining of your pick-up window.
All fresh produce is eligible for a pick-up. We do ask that there is a minimum of 30 pieces of food. Your pickup does not need to be a single type of produce. It can be a variety of items. If it is a large pick-up, please let us know to ensure we have appropriate space in our vehicle.
We will require the food to be packed in a certain way for both sanitary and quality purposes.
Distribution
Our distribution system is a network of primary organizations serving the community, however, we practice Mindful Distribution so each harvest is different.
We are working with perishable foods, and this means they can come in many stages of ripeness. Some need to sit for a day or two to ripen up, some are just right and need to be eaten Right Now, others are just past that mark and just need to be made into jam.
Our produce can look very different than what you find in the supermarket. Blemishes, bruises, hail damage, or maybe even a worm but it is still edible.
Our distribution system takes all of this into account. We try to match the food with an organization that is best suited for what we have.
By doing this we are intentionally trying to honor the produce but more importantly the people who will be eating it. Underride & overripe produce will best serve those who can preserve for the future or bake immediately. Ripe produce, ready to be eaten and hold up to travel are what we want to give to the community.
Example: Giving unripe peaches to an outreach program would be a disservice to those community members, however, ensuring the same outreach program has ripe and ready to now foods is our priority.
Check out our Community Partnership page to find some of our partner organizations.
We started FIFABQ by giving out food wherever we happened to be. Sometimes it was a parking lot, and sometimes it appeared random. We love to do it when we can. Our distributions do take an enormous amount of person power. As a volunteer organization this is a luxury we are not often afforded.
As a result of people-power and food volume, we distribute to community organizations 99% of the time. These organizations specialize in distribution to those struggling with food insecurity.
When we do distribute to the community at large, we will post this ASAP on our social media channels. These distributions generally occur on weekends. Please follow us on Instagram or Facebook @foodisfreealbuquerque for updates.
We love expanding our community connections!
Join our Mindful Distribution List!
We will be in touch when your organization meets the needs of our harvests.
Volunteering
The answer is almost always YES!
There are only some circumstances where the harvest may not be a good fit but those are few and far between.
We feel strongly and passionately our children should have access to community giving and activism.
The future we want to build will one day be handed to them and it’s so important they get to play such an important role in creating it.
If you are looking for a family activity, but are not on a harvest, consider doing a tree mapping adventure in your area!
bit.ly/TreeMaps
When you sign up for a harvest, you will recieve a confirmation email and liability forms. These forms need to be completed before you will recieve harvesting information.
Generally a day before the harvest, you will recive another email with:
Your lead harvesters information
Meeting location
We will then caravan to our harvesting location.
Please be prepared with sunscreen, water, comfortable clothing and shoes that you do not mind getting dirty.
A box full of apples from a you-pick home harvest!
Just like the old days. Doing a weekend distribution right out of our trunks!
Seedling giveaway with our partners at Rio Grande Food Project!
A box full of apples from a you-pick home harvest!