Gleaning

To glean: (definition from Merriam-Webster)

1: to gather grain or other produce left by reapers

2: to gather information or material bit by bit

This weekend I attended the first George Jones Farm documentary viewing of The Gleaners and I, a French film investigating many aspects of gleaning.

• gleaning after the harvest to get all the tasty foods the mechanical equipment missed
• gleaning the edible food dumped by factories because it somehow doesn't meet size or visual standards
• gleaning free furnature and objects people leave on the side of the road
• gleaning from dumpsters (dumpster diving)
• gleaning in paintings
• gleaning for produce so you know where it comes from
• gleaning for food because you don't have enough money to buy it
• gleaning scraps for art projects

After watching the film, the 16 of us plus Marco Wilkinson, head farmer at George Jones, we went out to the bean and lettuce fields and gleaned what was ripe before the plants were lost to frost. The produce we collected amounted to:

7 pounds of beans (purple, green, and yellow)

7 pounds of butternut squash

15 pounds of lettuce

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$100 of food !

All of the food was donated to Oberlin's food pantry, Oberlin Community Services. It is towards the end of the month when money for food becomes tight for those on limited budgets, so I know it will be appreciated.

Other News:

Interested in learning about poverty and the Benefit Bank and making a difference in people's lives? Talk to me about a 1-credit private reading for the second module of the semester that starts after fall break.

Interested in doing community service for Winter Term? I have a Benefit Bank project you can jump into, and Sarah Ho and the CSRC are compiling other service WT opportunities. Stop by and see us!

Echoing Green to Award $1 Million to Emerging Social Entrepreneurs
Echoing Green is looking for our newest class of fellows! For nearly 25 years, Echoing Green has focused its efforts on identifying and funding promising social entrepreneurs to help them launch innovative social change organizations worldwide. We’ve invested close to $30 million in seed funding to nearly 500 social entrepreneurs who work to solve deep-rooted problems in the world through their innovative ideas. Echoing Green has helped launch Teach For America, City Year, Genocide Intervention Network, The SEED School, Global Fund for Children and hundreds of others. Now we’re looking for the next generation talent to deliver bold solutions and social change. Fellows can receive up to $90,000 over a two-year fellowship. Interested? Apply by November 12, 2010: www.echoinggreen.org/fellowship