Here comes the corn! As we transition into mid-summer, we have realized the change in crops that are offered for donation from our partner farms. Similar to the early season crops mentioned in the Gleaning Log from July 8, 2015, corn is also planted in successive plantings. Often, farmers will pick only the first ears from the stalks of a planting, leaving the second and third ears to be gleaned. Or, a farmer will have two plantings (called ‘blocks’) come ripe at the same time, leaving an entire block to be gleaned. In addition to corn, we have started to glean a lot of zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers, as well as smaller amounts of peas, green beans, and some spring plantings of carrots, beets, and scallions. It is also the time for the first few fruit tree gleans (peaches and early apple crops)! Farms that donated these crops in July include: Alprilla Farm, Appleton Farms, Hutchins Farm, Kimball Fruit Farm, Langwater Farm, Medway Community Farm (new partner!), Newton Community Farm, Powissett Farm (new partner!), and Silverwood Organic Farm (new partner!), among others. Our partner food pantries love it when we have this much variety to bring them, as they are able to ensure that their clients get a healthy variety of produce. In addition, working with our distribution partners (the Greater Boston Food Bank and Food for Free) ensures that a large amount of the commodity items that we glean, such as corn and zucchini, is donated to over 500 hunger relief agencies across eastern Massachusetts that are in these organizations’ hunger relief network. Help us as we harvest this surplus for donation! Visit our website to volunteer in the fields with us, or visit our donation webpage to support our work financially. The more resources we have, the more produce we can glean! To the Harvest! Posted by Matt Crawford, Lead Gleaning Coordinator
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We have instituted a new practice this year using box liners for most produce items that we harvest. These liners are specifically designed for banana boxes and the poly film is food grade quality. Although many people believe adding more plastic into the world in not sustainable, a cost benefit analysis reveals that proper packaging can greatly reduce food waste and improve the perishability of fresh fruits and vegetables (check out this study for more information). The main intention of using the liners in our operations was to improve our food safety practices, but we have already witnessed multiple benefits throughout our supply chain from harvesting, inventory management and ultimately distribution improvements to recipient partners and agencies. Some obvious benefits of using box liners include the reduced risk of product contamination, ease of harvesting for volunteers, reduced perishability, and improved product presentation in the pantries. We began using the liners in the beginning of July and so far all of our stakeholders have had nothing but good things to say about the liners. Volunteers have repeatedly mentioned that harvesting into lined boxes is easier and faster. Pantry managers say the gleaned product looks better and is easier to asses visually because the clear plastic allows them to see the product completely (as opposed to the old method of using white trash bags for greens). Harvesting crops like lettuce directly into the lined boxes allows for a standardized packing technique that improves efficiency in the field as well as significantly improves the quality of the product. Our largest distribution partner, the Greater Boston Food Bank, has commented on the improved quality and presentation which puts Boston Area Gleaners on par with wholesale suppliers. All of these benefits amount to improved product quality and professionalism in our operations. But these benefits come at a cost; at our current purchasing volume each bag costs 24 cents. Last gleaning season we gleaned 5,532 boxes. However, we do not intend to use the liners in every situation; for example, certain crops with high respiration rates and non-edible wrappings (e.g. corn) would not require a bag liner. Either way, we believe the benefits of these liners far outweigh the costs. Posted by Dylan Frazier, Gleaning Coordinator Over the past couple of weeks, gleaning coordinator Dylan Frazier has been busy building our new root washer! It was purchased as a kit from Grindstone Farm in New York, and after a few trips to the hardware store to get some remaining parts and a mounting system, it is now near completion and just about ready to be tested out. This new piece of equipment will allow us to wash root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, turnips, etc.) efficiently and effectively, which will be important as we strengthen our partnership with our distribution partners, The Greater Boston Food Bank and Food For Free. We can't wait to start using it this fall! Last year, we gleaned and donated over 50,000 pounds of root vegetables (1033 bushels!) and we had to borrow Waltham Fields Community Farm’s wash station to rinse off the dirt off of the ones that we had time to wash. This worked well but it was always tricky to schedule washing times amidst the farms’ busy schedule. Now, we will be able to wash roots as they come in, which will greatly increase the desirability of this type of produce with our recipient agencies. So far, the story of this gleaning season has been greens, greens, and more greens (with some radishes and salad turnips as well), including lettuce, baby kale, tat soi, bok choy, mustard greens, and arugula. This is very typical for the early gleaning season, as greens and radishes/turnips are the first crops that ripen in the summer, and farmers often plant many successive plantings of these quick-to-ripen crops so that they can be sure to have produce for their CSA’s, markets, and farmstands. Often times with these succession plantings, there will be more crops ripe in the field at one time than farmers can sell, which is when they call on the gleaners to come and harvest for donation! The farms that have donated these crops include Appleton Farms CSA in Ipswich, Hutchins Farm in Concord, Alprilla Farm in Essex, First Light Farm CSA in Hamilton, and Stearns Farm CSA in Framingham (a new partner farm!). Including some storage gleaning we did over the winter and some post-CSA surplus pickups from farms nearby to our office, we have gleaned over 9,300 pounds of produce so far in 2015. To the Harvest! Matt Crawford Lead Gleaning Coordinator |
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