These links will take you to stories recorded in the field at gleans.
To search for gleaners and find their stories, go to the alphabetical
Search page.
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Iceberg Lettuce (September 4) |
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For this inaugural Friday glean, fewer than 30 gleaners met at the Giant Artichoke in Castroville and caravaned to a field a few miles south owned by Ocean Mist. Henry pulled the flatbed truck up close to the field, so we didn't have to carry our baskets too far. A couple of the young men tended the bins on the truck and saved our backs by exercising theirs. The comraderie was wonderful. A breeze kicked up, making a balmy day even more pleasant. With fewer gleaners than the Saturday gleans have been getting, it took the whole morning to fill the 6 big cardboard bins with over 5000 pounds of lettuce. |
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Iceberg Lettuce (August 29) |
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The day threatened to be hot and humid, with a whiff of smoke in the air from the fires to the south.
The field was one of Ocean Mist's near Castroville, just a short drive from the Giant Artichoke where we all met.
Plenty of iceberg lettuce left in the field, so with 50 or so gleaners working together,
we made short work of filling the 9 big cardboard bins on the flatbed truck: an hour and a half to cut, clean, carry,
and load over 8000 pounds of lettuce. With two microphones, we collected some fun stories, including that of one of the gleaners
running from bull oxen in a sweet potato field in S. Korea.
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Iceberg Lettuce (August 8) |
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Another morning of iceberg lettuce, this time just north of Salinas in fields owned by Martin Jefferson & Sons.
And real gleaning. The commercial harvesters (some of whom we could see in the field next to ours) had been through this
field awhile ago, so it took some real dedication and lots of back-bending and lifting to find fresh heads in a sea of
harvest remains. Lots of brown leaves to strip, and we had to be careful to check the cores for rot. But we managed to glean
over 8000 pounds of lettuce for the food banks and found plenty to take home ourselves. As always, by glean's end we'd only
made a small dent in what was there for the taking.
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Plums (25 July) |
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A real glean in an organic plum orchard near Castroville. The farm had been in the same family since the late
19th century. We were doing the third pass through this orchard, so pickings were slim.
It took sharp eyes and
a little luck to find the remaining plums that were ripe but not over-ripe. The ground was dotted with too-ripe
plums that had already dropped, and we had to be careful shaking the trees not to bruise the remaining fruit.
Still, we gleaned a couple of hundred pounds of wonderful San Jose plums that the food banks and food pantries
will be delighted to get. And we got to take plums home. Most of us grabbed a bag of slightly over-ripe fruit
to slurp on the spot or take home to cook into a favorite jam or sauce.
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Red Lettuce (20 June) |
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Ag Against Hunger is on a lettuce roll! We were again in one of the fields of Tanimura and Antle near Salinas.
It was cold and windy, but the
field was dry and the lettuce was close to the truck. Beautiful red lettuce ... a whole field gone just a little too big for
commercial harvest. Plenty of gleaners to make fairly short work of filling the big truck.
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See Photos of the Glean |
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Lettuce (6 June) |
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The iceberg lettuce field today was one of Valley Pride's just south of Salinas. We had more folks than there
were knives and crates, so teamwork and division of labor were the order of the day. A mild day,
with overcast sky turning sunny as we cut, cleaned, and carried the lettuce heads. With so many working,
it wasn't much over an hour and a half after we had all gone into the field before the 16 big bins on the
truck were full and we were free to glean lettuce to take home for ourselves. |
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Lettuce (30 May) |
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The glean on May 30th took place at one of the fields of Tanimura and Antle in Chualar. Ag Against Hunger had their
big truck and we gleaned 14 bins of delicate head and robust romaine lettuce. We had to carry our crates
a little farther than usual, but had a dedicated groups of carriers who brought us empty
crates and carried our full ones back to the truck. The field had been watered recently, so our shoes picked up more and more
black mud and got heavier and heavier. The weather was overcast. The wind blustered while we gleaned. There
was a wonderful spirit of camaraderie.
more ... |
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Lettuce (16 May) |
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The glean on May 16th took place in one of the fields of Lakeside Organics near Watsonville.
Ag Against Hunger had a little trouble getting the flatbed truck going, but we managed to harvest 6 bins of
4 different organic lettuces. The day was sunny. The field was dry. The gleaners, many of whom
were first timers, were wonderful.
more ... |
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Gleaning Stories Blog
Partially Funded by the California Council for the Humanities, UC Santa Cruz, and INTA - TrainingWeal.