Gleaning

Yesterday, my students and I took our second gleaning trip this semester to a farm in Hendersonville, NC. We ended up with 40 students, filling two UNCA shuttle buses and several cars. It was another chilly but gorgeous WNC day, and in a mere 3 hours at the farm, we managed to glean 4,000 pounds of apples, a large crate of cabbages, and another one of pumpkins. I'm so proud of the efforts of these first-semester freshmen!

Thanks to our community partner, Society of St. Andrew, we were able to load the produce right into Rose of Sharon Mission's truck. I had met Charles and Wilene Williamson, the General Directors of the mission, on our last gleaning trip, and I was excited to see them again and asked about the 2,500 pounds of apples we'd gathered for their organization two weeks ago. Mr. Williamson smiled and told me that the people he and his wife served out in Canton were really excited to have the fresh fruit, but that it was long gone. Hopefully, what we were able to gather yesterday will last a bit longer, but the reality is that there will be little more to harvest in the months to come, and many families in WNC will be forced to subsist on what canned goods and packaged, processed foods they can get through the winter.

I'm excited to work with the Society of St. Andrew with my classes again next fall, but as there will be nothing ready to glean during the spring semester, I'll be looking for other ways to support the organizations in our community that work to make real food accessible to as many people as possible.  My students will continue their work in the community gardens at UNCA which the Student Environmental Center is hoping to expand enough to provide for local food banks, but I'd like to explore off campus opportunities as well. I welcome any and all suggestions!