‘Bridging the gap’from trees to tables

Vegetables collected during gleaning. Right: Paul Madeira holds a box of “gleaned” vegetables.

This summer, Community Assistance Network (CAN) and the Del Norte 4-H Citizenship Group are teaming up to provide another option: schedule a volunteer harvest crew to pick your fruit and donate it to families who need help getting enough fresh, healthy food. Through a new Community Gleaning Project, CAN and 4-H will provide labor, equipment and boxes to harvest fruit and vegetables and deliver it to local distribution sites. Much of the produce will be distributed through CAN’s food bank program, but 4-H members are identifying other distribution sites as well. The Community Gleaning Project will bridge the gap between those who have fruit trees (or over-productive home gardens) and those who need fruit.

Gleaning is an ancient practice usually associated with farm fields: “to glean” literally means to pick what is left after the harvest. In feudal Europe, landowners were required to allow tenants and the poor to glean in fields after harvest. Contemporary gleaners do send teams to farmers’ fields, but modern gleaning programs found throughout the country have expanded the tradition of gleaning to back yards and even stores, farmers markets and restaurants. CAN currently gleans at the Crescent City Farmers Market—producers have donated over 800 pounds of food so far this season!

If you have fruit trees or an extensive home garden and you are interested in participating in the Community Gleaning Project, please contact us. Let us know what kind of fruit trees you have and when the fruit typically ripens. (Or call us the morning you discover 47 full-size zucchini that weren’t there the night before.) Donations to CAN’s food bank may be tax-deduct­ible and we will provide a letter acknowledging the donation and its value. Many people worry about liability in donating food, but for these purposes, the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act protects donors from lawsuits.

Even if you don’t have any fruit trees or over-active zucchini of your own, you can still participate by volunteering to help pick and distribute the fruit and vegetables. Contact us through any of the numbers listed above to sign up as a volunteer.

Call Connor at 464-9190 ext.119 or 4-H at 464-4711, or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it