Patch Goes Gleaning at Green Gulch
Afternoon stint picking greens at farm off Hwy. 1 with Marin Organics helps get high quality food to families who need them most.
Now that was a lot of ruffage.
Patch editors joined the Marin Organic Glean Team on Monday afternoon to pick greens - all kinds of greens - under gorgeous sunny skies at Green Gulch Farm off Highway 1.
About a dozen volunteers gathered to pick kale, chard, collard greens and broccoli leaves, among others, as part of Marin Organic's School Lunch and Gleaning Program. The organization uses gleaning, or collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they've been harvested, to provide high quality produce for under-served communities in Marin.
During the school year, that means through public school lunch programs like that of the Mill Valley School District, which serves free and reduced price lunches to low-income students. The district just inked a deal with San Ramon-based provider ChoiceLunch, which uses produce gleaned by Marin Organic.
"We’re connecting these farms with the people that can use this kind of food the most, “ said Chester Densmore, the organizations’s school lunch and gleaning program associate. “In the summertime, when school is out, we get this food to community centers and day care centers.”
The Glean Team is always looking for volunteers and holds regular events on farms throughout Marin. For more info, click here.
Derek Wilson
12:20 pm on Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Hope you had fun Jim. Tracy and I did the same thing a few weeks back and it was a lot of fun. It's great to see the food going to worthy organizations.