On a sunny summer afternoon I find myself raking through rows of dry earth, scrabbling for perfect little pearls of potatos. This is a gleaning event with a local non-profit,
Marin Organic. A local farm has opened their gates to the non-profit organization (and to us, their volunteers) so that we can come along and "clean up" after their regular crew has done their regular harvest. What most non-farmer folks don't realize is that there's plenty of good food left once a field has been worked over for market. On the day I went out to help harvest this "second crop", we filled boxes with potatos and bags with kale. The sun was warm, the breeze was fresh, the conversation was brisk, and the food we gathered is donated to local schools instead of lying in the field to rot. Marin Organic boasts that gleaning has delivered more than 160,000 pounds of organic produce to the schools since the program started. Who knew!
