Sometimes it seems that the decision to become farmers is a
selfish one. We get to be outside under the sun all day, hang out with cute
animals, play in the dirt and eat delicious food. Luckily, the farmers we work
for are not going to let us get away with having this much fun without also
giving back to the community. But,
besides selling at the farmers’ markets, what can farmers do? They’re poor!
Actually, farmers often throw away a huge percentage of
their crops. Jonathan Bloom quotes farmers who do not sell between 25% and 50%
of their crops in his book American
Wasteland. So our farm is organizing a “Gleaning” project which aims to
reduce waste of this valuable food. Not only are we committed to sending our
excess crops to the local food bank, but we are also coordinating with other
local farmers so that we can harvest their
excess crops and bring them to the food bank too.
The project is still in its infancy, be we’ve already seen
some success. One of our farmer friends called us last week and said they
didn’t know what to do with a whole greenhouse full of spinach. Our little team
of four farmers went over the next day and harvested 32 pounds of the
nutritious green. It only took an hour and then a quick run to the food bank.
Now, our community members who cannot afford to buy all the groceries they need,
will be getting healthy, organic greens.
Most of us love to hate on vegetables, so maybe this doesn’t
seem like such a wonderful donation. But I have thought for a long time that
the “organic” movement is an elite one. Only those with money can afford to eat
healthy. As farmers, I realize that it will be very important to help make
nutrition accessible to everyone.
Many of you may be familiar with the amazing San
Francisco Food Bank, where there is a huge variety of fresh vegetables
available every week. We do not have anything like that here in Connecticut.
Our spinach was the only produce available that did not come in a can at this
food bank. Hopefully we can up the bar a bit more over the course of the year.
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