Thousands pick up free vegetables on Colo. farm

[deminks]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081123/ap_on_re_us/food_giveaway;_ylt=An6ghN_Ve7Yw0VtibPTsrv6s0NUE

PLATTEVILLE, Colo. – A farm couple got a huge surprise when they opened their fields to anyone who wanted to pick up free vegetables left over after the harvest — 40,000 people showed up.

Joe and Chris Miller's fields were picked so clean Saturday that a second day of gleaning — the ancient practice of picking up leftover food in farm fields — was canceled Sunday.

"Overwhelmed is putting it mildly," Chris Miller said. "People obviously need food."

She said she expected 5,000 to 10,000 people would show up Saturday to collect free potatoes, carrots and leeks. Instead, an estimated 11,000 vehicles snaked around cornfields and backed up more than two miles. About 30 acres of the 600-acre farm 37 miles north of Denver became a parking lot.

Some people parked their cars along two nearby highways to take to the field with sacks, wagons and barrels

(end snip)

[Lars39]

1. I'm so glad that they opened the fields up,

but that is one of the saddest things I've heard of in a while. :cry:

[BlooInBloo]

3. Yup, and yup. To their credit, they actually voted in accordance with their interests this time.

[Democrats_win]

2. OMG!

That's a lot of people for this area.

[jedr]

4. I don't know if this ends up being a commentary on the economy;

Or the greed of people when something is "Free". Never the less.....quite a response.

[all.of.me]

5. probably a little of both, definitely a sign of the times, though.

[DBoon]

13. I don't think people have gotten greedier in the last year

the economy has, however, gotten a lot worse

[elleng]

6. GLEANING is not new.

"Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. Some ancient cultures promoted gleaning as an early form of a welfare system. For example, ancient Jewish communities required that farmers not reap all the way to the edges of a field so as to leave some for the poor and for strangers.(Lev. 19:9–10., Lev. 23:22, Deut. 14:28-29, Peah)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleaning

[KittyWampus]

20. The Gleaners by Millet. We had a copy over our couch in my childhood home. It was unpopular

during the artist's time as it was seen as a nod towards Socialism and a dangerous glorification of the peasant underclass.

[Roon]

7. Me and my buddies were going to go today

but the field got picked clean in an hour on Saturday.

[elleng]

8. Familiar?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Millet_Gleaners.jpg

[Blue Diadem]

9. That's both sad and great.

While it's sad so many people need food, it's nice the farm opened up the fields to the people. I'd like to see more farmers do that.

There are organizations that glean fields and deliver the foods to shelters and other charitable organizations that help the needy.

http://www.endhunger.org/gleaning_network.htm

[Raksha]

16. Thanks for the link.

I'd like to become a volunteer gleaner on behalf of the needy (and also for myself, since I'm one of them), but apparently the Society of St. Andrew doesn't have a ministry in California. I filled out the form for them to send me more information anyway. They also had a link on their website to another organization called "Giving Groves" whose volunteers glean the citrus orchards in San Diego County. I don't know why they don't have something like that in San Bernardino County...we have plenty of citrus orchards here, and it looks as though many of them go unpicked.

[Blue Diadem]

18. I'm wondering if other programs exist.

I happened to hear about this one through our local news.

Maybe once you get the information, you'll be able to bring it about in your area.

It's shocking to read about how many tons of perfectly fine food are left to rot each year.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

10. Rec.

[Warpy]

11. I'm glad there are still farmers out there

who open their fields after harvest to gleaners. Gleaning has long been an important source of food for poor folks in rural areas, but I've often seen it done furtively in the morning twilight when the farmer hasn't exactly been hospitable to the poor.

I used to glean dry harvested cranberry beds every fall and make cranberry jellies, jams, and chutneys to give away as Xmas gifts. Dry harvesting got the berries on the flat bog areas but missed the ones in the ditches.

To this day, I can't stand the taste of cranberries.

[Sanctified]

12. Sounds like they live by their religious values.

With hard times coming it's good to know that there are some decent people out there who want to help their neighbors.

[Raksha]

14. K & R

[BrklynLiberal]

15. K&R

[uppityperson]

17. k&r. Glad they opened it up since obviously people needed it.

[Shallah Kali]

19. USDA guide to gleaning for charities & more - links

http://www.usda.gov/fcs/glean.htm

http://www.usda.gov/news/pubs/gleaning/content.htm

http://www.farmshare.org/

http://www.secondharvest.org/

more including other ways of helping end hunger
http://www.worldhungeryear.org/comm_conn/how_you.asp

Plant a Row for the Hungry http://www.gwaa.org/par/

Join or help start a community garden http://www.communitygarden.org/

[Odin2005]

21. WOW!!!

:wow:

[Catherine Vincent]

22. Here's the CNN video:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2008/11/24/vosot.harvest.food.shocker.kusa?iref=24hours

Does anyone know if this happens anywhere in Texas?

[Xithras]

23. Farmers here in central California used to do this when I was a kid.

Not anymore. I asked one of my farmer-neighbors about it a few years ago, and he said his family did it up until the late 80's. His insurance company told him to knock it off because he was creating a liability...if anyone were injured walking through his field, or if they became sick from the food, he could be sued and the insurance company would be on the hook for the bill.

So today any food that doesn't get harvested gets plowed under.

[Disturbed]

24. People could sign a waver before entering the property.

I guess that was not thought of?

[Xithras]

25. Waivers don't actually mean much.

They're a discouragement from suing, but hold little real value once a suit is filed. All a plaintiffs attorney has to do is prove that you have "known hazards" that made your property unsafe for the general public. If they can prove that, they'll have negligence and your waiver will be worthless. ALL farms are filled with known hazards.

Besides, it's not like farms are fenced. When I was a kid people just parked along the roads and walked out into the fields. It would be impossible to actually catch everyone and get them to sign.