Did you know… that gleaning was mandated by God in the old testament of the Bible?
Gleaning is the ancient practice of collecting the remaining crop from the field after it has been harvested. You will find gleaning mentioned in the Bible as well as in Hebrew law. The French even have a five-hundred-year-old law that that commanded French farmers to allow for the practice of gleaning by the poor in their fields, orchards and vineyards. Charities all over the world continue to use gleaning practices to help supply much-needed food to people in need.
A branch feeds a family, a tree feeds a neighborhood.
Food Forward, whose gleaning program might seem like a newer chapter in the history of this ancient practice, actually used gleaning as one of the main sources of food they distributed when they first started out. Food Forward went on to build a strong organization that now distributes millions of pounds of much-needed healthy food every year. Over the past 11 years, Food Forward’s programs have rescued over 100 million pounds (more than 400 million servings) of fresh produce from backyards and farms with their Gleaning Program.
Ventura County is home to just under 1 million people. That means that there are over 233,000 backyard, front yards, side yards, orchards, hillsides, fields and plains that have food growing on them that can be harvested. They need your help if we are going to try and harvest all of the unwanted or unneeded crops in Ventura County.
The Wicked Wire Ranch U-Pick, U-Help
Kat Merrick, Totally Local VC’s founder, hosted a U-Pick, U-Help at her Wicked Wire Ranch. Several friends gathered on a hot Saturday afternoon to glean several of the avocado trees on the ranch. They picked, chatted and cheered each other on. It really was a great experience and ended up being a great way to catch up with friends. A few hours later, 10 bins were brimming with beautiful green avocados. Everyone got to take a bag of avocados home; we helped our community and the ranch. Without gleaning, the avocados would have ripened and fallen off creating a rodent problem for the ranch. The Food Forward team arrived promptly on Monday morning to pick-up the bins and the avocados were on their way to appreciative families.
Through the efforts of few, we can help many.
Need Gleaning?
Food Forward needs your help – if you have one tree or a hundred – they can bring a gleaning crew of volunteers in for a pick. Want to host a picking party with your friends? Just give the local Ventura branch of Food Forward a call. They will drop off the bins and pick them up when you are done. Or, why not volunteer?! They are always looking for a few more hands to help get the job done.
These are just some of ways to help give back to your community.
More information about gleaning
For more information or to schedule a gleaning, contact the Ventura branch of Food Forward at 818.764.1022, info@foodforward.org or go to https://foodforward.org/.
Sources: Gleaning the World, BibleDictionary.com, Gleaningtoolkits.com, FOOD Share
Image credits: Kat Merrick
