Gleaning Task Force

The Garden Gleaning Project just finished up a very successful pilot year working to get nutritious, fresh, and healthy produce from our gardens and fruit trees to those who are unable to afford and access fresh produce.  The need for food assistance is on the rise, and food shelves are struggling to meet the community need for fresh, healthy produce. The initiative aims to build neighborhood engagement around local hunger issues.  The Gleaning taskforce has been working to improve neighbor-to-neighbor connections, fostering community gleaning and facilitating the distribution of healthy, fresh produce from community gardens to food shelves. 

For the launch year of the project, two food shelves explored different models of food collection and distribution in their communities: Little Kitchen Food Shelf in Northeast Minneapolis and Waite House in South Minneapolis. The year was a great success.  Together, the food shelves collected donations of over 1,600 pounds of produce from gardens, farmer’s market vendors, and urban farms. An additional 5,734 pounds of produce was donated from local organizations aside from food banks.

Both food shelves were recognized by the Emergency Foodshelf Network with an award for their innovative programs and involvement with the inaugural year of the Garden Gleaning Project.

    For a flier announcing our Spring 2010 unveiling of the project, click here. 

     Planning for the next growing season? To see the list of foods preferred by the food shelves, click here.

Contact Rebecca:  Rebecca@gardeningmatters.org for more information about the project!

Further Inspiration: Gleaning Programs around Minnesota, the US and Canada:

A spotlight on an array of inspiring gleaning programs.  Each takes a unique approach to improving connectivity between community food production and food shelf nutrition. 

Minnesota:

Fruits of the City, one of our Gleaning Project partners, is an initiative of the Minnesota Project. Utilizing a volunteer network, the organization captures fresh fruit that would otherwise go to waste and redistributes it to those in need. In 2010, they partnered with Second Harvest Heartland to glean over 23,000 pounds of fruit.

Produce for the People is an initiative of the Duluth Community Garden Program (DCGP) that helps Duluth area gardeners donate their surplus produce to those in our community who need it most. The produce will be delivered to local food shelves and soup kitchens. Anyone who grows fresh, chemical free produce can participate.

Broader United States:

Boston Tree Party: A unique, innovative and creative twist on public fruit trees, this project is "By the people, of the people, for the people" The Boston Tree Party is an urban agriculture project, a performative re-imagining of  American political expression, and a participatory public art project, working to build a decentralized public urban orchard that symbolizes a commitment to the environmental health of Boston, the vitality and interconnectedness of these communities, and the wellbeing of the next generation.

Washburn Community Garden donated more than 500 pounds of food this year to the Salvation Army and other meal sites throughout the community, and raised over $1,300 from small plot fees in LaCrosse, WI.

Produce to the People: collects excess produce from residential fruit trees and community gardens in San Francisco, and distributes the food to low-income families and individuals in our community through local food pantries, soup kitchens and single room occupancy hotels.

Canada:

Hamilton Food Share: The Hamilton Harvest program increases both the quantity and quality of food distributed in the community, while supporting local agriculture in Ontario.

More information on Hamilton:  http://www.hamiltonnews.com/community/food-bank-donors-clients-place-more-emphasis-on-nutrition/

Nanaimo Foodshare Society: The Nanaimo Community Gardens Society and Nanaimo Foodshare Society Centre launched the Fruit Tree Gleaning program to address an overabundance of fruit, nuts and vegetables.  The program includes cherries, plums, pears, peaches, apples, figs, walnuts, grapes, hazelnuts and vegetables growing in backyard gardens throughout the region in BC.