 Matt Crawford, 2013 Gleaning Coordinator Hello Gleaners!
Although it is with great sadness that we said goodbye to our beloved Miriam Stason as Gleaning Coordinator this spring, there is great cause for celebration both for her and Boston Area Gleaners. Miriam has returned to farming, growing micro-greens and other specialty crops in a new business called Dancing Tomato Farm. We wish her and her new business partner the very best of luck. She has also agreed to be a Gleaning Coordinator substitute and to help train our new staff, so we are thrilled to still have her in our back pocket. AND...we introduce to you our new Gleaning Coordinator, Matt Crawford! Matt comes to us by way of Burlington, VT., and is originally from Beverly, MA. Matt will also be working as a Garden Educator at Waltham Fields Community Farm, where he will instruct the local community in gardening. He is a graduate of St. Michael’s College in Colchester, VT., with a degree in Spanish and Human Geography. Matt also studied abroad in Peru, about which he said, "I became mesmerized by that country’s local food system. At the many neighborhood markets that I visited, I loved having more options of fresh produce than I had ever seen in the US. I wondered what the difference in the amount of resources, both human and environmental, it took to make a market like that happen. I was also amazed at the vast difference in the quality of the food at these local markets when compared to the quality of food found in the produce sections of the large supermarkets in the US. These thoughts regarding Peru’s food system led to my interest in promoting local food systems and improved food access in my home country." Matt has since worked on a number of different farms in Vermont, including Bread and Butter Farm and Jericho Settlers' Farm, working toward his goal of providing communities with access to healthy, local food. While farming, he often wondered about ways to take advantage of excess crops that otherwise would be fed to the pigs. Matt is excited that in both his positions he will be able to increase community interest and involvement in food issues, while at the same time directly improving food access in the Boston area. Please join us in welcoming Matt! Comments are closed.
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