Gleaning with Hannah Baxter at Pitchfork Farm
Marjorie: 7/8/2021
Last week, we tried our hand at “gleaning” with Hannah Baxter, the Gleaning & Food Rescue Program Coordinator at The Intervale. When we first spoke to Hannah about introducing our creative invasive recipes at the Fair Share CSA, we learned about the harvests that Hannah leads in the Greater Burlington Area to provide fresh produce to low-income families and individuals in Burlington.
Gleaning is the practice of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or in fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. By forming relationships with farmers in the area, the Fair Share CSA can both reduce food waste on farms as well as feed food insecure persons at no cost. Considering that approximately 40% of all food production is wasted nationwide, gleaning is a sustainable solution to widespread food insecurity. Access to nutritious food has become a particularly salient issue since the start of the pandemic nationwide and Vermont is no exception. According to a UVM study, nearly 30% of Vermonters have experienced food insecurity – nearly triple 2018 levels. Additionally, roughly 1 in 4 respondents are eating fewer servings of fruits and vegetables. This suggests an increased need for programs like the Fair Share.
The process of gleaning connects to our experience with invasive species in several ways. Invasive plants as well as the produce being gleaned are both under utilized resources. Instead of viewing invasive plants as nuisances to be eradicated completely, we feel that they represent an entire category of untapped nutrients and medicinal sources. In a sense, gleaning and foraging are quite similar, different only in setting yet both have the potential to address food insecurity. While geography and access are important factors to determine the feasibility of foraging, 9% of Vermonters foraged for food during the pandemic, a 50% increase from previous years. Our hope is that by introducing our invasive plant recipes to customers taking advantage of the Fair Share program, we can connect food insecure people to a practice that will increase food security, deepen connection to the land and creatively address the overabundance of certain species.
Thus with both the weight of the social importance as well as a natural propensity to enjoy playing in the dirt, all three of us were grateful to be given the opportunity to learn from Hannah by participating in a gleaning session. We met Hannah at Pitchfork Farm, located at 282 Intervale Rd, unsure if gleaning would still be happening despite the pouring rain. Hannah showed us the rows of leafy radish tops, beside a patch of thick purplish baby kale. She explained that we would be pulling bundles of radishes, rubber banding 5-7 together and throwing the bundle in one of the crates she had in the back of her truck. The goal was to gather 200 bundles of radishes, a number that surprised me at first but was completed easily. It poured rain while we worked, drenching our clothes and turning the plowed rows into muddy pools of footprints and rivers of rainwater.
Despite a short break in the truck due to thunder and lightning, it only took about an hour and half to gather 250 pounds of radishes, a number confirmed by the scale in Hannah’s truck. Some of the radishes were huge and some were tiny, others were round and many were long and skinny. I was surprised by how many of the radishes were in perfect shape, making me wonder why these radishes were not being harvested commercially. The only radishes that we deemed unworthy were ones that had grown so large that they had split down the middle, revealing their clear white insides.
Once all the crates were packed to the brim with radishes and loaded into the back of the truck, we were finished for the day. It was rewarding to hear that, because of the questionable weather, Hannah would have been gleaning alone that day and our help, although amateur, helped speed along the process. I also felt an overarching satisfaction of the tangible results of our work, the number on the scale and the weight of the crates full of radishes. This experience also enriched my experience tabling at the Fair Share CSA on the following Monday. It was fulfilling to see the boxes of produce on display and be able to visualize at least part of the process that brought them there. As a result, we are excited to implement both gleaning and tabling at the CSA into our weekly routine!