Viva Vitality: Gleaning helps prevent food waste
By Alison Van Dyke on July 26, 2019.
I’m sure many of you have seen fruit trees, bushes or vines that are heavy with ripe fruit in your neighbourhood. Or perhaps you have a friend or family member who posts on social media each year that they are inundated with apples or other fruits. Gleaning is a tradition spoken of in ancient religious texts of harvesting produce that’s left in the field for various reasons. It is a term that has come back into use as people want to prevent food waste by harvesting fruit from trees and bushes that may otherwise drop and rot. Harvest or fruit sharing commonly happens when a homeowner has an abundance of crop that they don’t have the physical ability or the time to harvest and they would like to see it go to good use. Many communities in Canada have founded organizations to assemble volunteers to pick these “leftovers.” The volunteers either split the pickings among themselves or divide them among the homeowner, food banks and the volunteers. These harvest or fruit share programs are often facilitated by municipal mapping of public fruit trees and bushes, or listings of similar fruit bearing plants on private property by their owners on a variety of websites or through organizational databases. There is a free program online which allows property owners to list their fruit and allows those who wish to glean to find those locations. The website is http://www.ripenear.me This website is designed for private homeowners who wish to connect with people who are interested in using and preserving local food. Gleaning is an activity that anyone interested in preventing food waste or home preservation can participate in, as well as an amazing way to access local fruit that you may otherwise not be able to source through regular avenues such as grocery stores. I myself have gleaned grapes, sour cherries, wild plums, apricots, pears, nanking cherries and apples. You may be astonished at the variety of fruits that your local climate can produce! Those neighbours, friends and family with all that extra fruit? You can suggest that they list their trees or bushes with a local fruit rescue organization or on the http://www.ripenear.me website. Alison Van Dyke is the Food Security Co-ordinator with Community Food Connections Association. For more information please see http://www.foodconnections.ca 9-8
