Gleaning Log: August 2, 2014

Hello Gleaners and BAG Supporters!

This is the first Gleaning Log entry in a few weeks, mainly because we have been so busy with gleaning and delivering the gleaned food to our hunger relief partners, which is a very good problem to have!  So far in 2014, we have gleaned and donated 27,688 pounds of farm fresh fruits and vegetables. This total includes the 17, 388 pounds of produce that we have gleaned during the 2014 growing season and the 10,300 pounds that were gleaned from the previous year’s storage crops during the winter of this year. 

Currently, we have been slowing down a little bit with gleaning trips.  At this time of the year we mainly get calls from farmers to do post-harvest pickups of cucumbers, and summer squash/zucchini, which there seems to be plenty of this year (2,925 pounds and 2,780 pounds, respectively, gleaned so far this season).  Earlier this year, we were gleaning a lot of greens such as kale, arugula, mustard, and mizuna, but in the high summer, those crops stop producing as much as they were as in the beginning of the summer.

However, we hope to start getting some calls soon about gleaning corn, and then just around the corner is tree fruit season (peaches and apples), so if you are itching to volunteer to glean, just sit tight!  There will be plenty of opportunities to help out soon enough.

To the Harvest!

PS. Listen to the song below that describes our work recently - "(I'm A) Roadrunner" by the Motown great, Junior Walker & The Allstars.  We feel as though we are roadrunners - driving all around eastern Massachusetts to harvest surplus crops and deliver it to those in need - and we enjoy every second of it!

---