Gleaning in Klamath Falls

What is ‘gleaning?’ In the strict sense of the word, gleaning is “the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers’ fields have they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest.” Wikipedia

Gleaning Today Linking underutilized food resources with people willing to tend and harvest, for example: You have a pear tree, no time to tend or harvest A gleaner maintains the tree and harvests the fruit when its ready You would get a share of the harvest, the rest goes to gleaner for consumption, sale, or donation Leah, transitionashland.org

Klamath Falls There are opportunities to provide fresh foods to those who need it most, including: Community and home gardens: ‘grow a row/bed/garden for the hungry’ Privately owned fruit trees with “too much fruit” Foraging: wild/public sources for fruits, nuts, berries Rotary production garden Grocery stores and restaurants?

How do we do it? A brand new project requires a large time commitment, expertise and resources Several local groups already have food gathering and distribution efforts in place that we might leverage The intent is to ‘capture’ foods we see going to waste. The first project could be local, privately owned fruit trees.

Considerations Someone must take charge and drive: Identifying purpose and scope of the project Defining who would get the food and how And all the details in between: How to gather (and who, when, and where) – what will really be happening on the ground? Organization of the project and group Processing, distribution, accountability, publicity, celebration Sustainability – how to build it so it lasts

Should we do it alone? Possibility: work jointly with one or more organizations, using their existing programs Easier than setting up a brand new project In the future, splitting off might be worth pursuing Would organizations welcome our contributions? Most food-oriented groups and people like at least something about gleaning, but They may not be open to incorporating the idea of harvesting local private foods into their program

The goal is the FOOD! We want to avoid food waste and help people , not “reinvent the wheel” How “partnered” do we want to be? We could: Spend time, energy and resources to establish a separate group linked with multiple organizations, or Become a ‘sub-group’ within an established one Challenge with working within an established group: That group decides what to harvest or glean Not certain we could still get produce from private fruit trees and gardens

Proposal: the FOOD and the People Recommendation: we connect with an existing organization and offer our services We’d want to be clear in our intentions and make them known/supported Alternative: Set up harvest/gleaning program and then utilize an existing group’s distribution chain.

What’s Involved? Just a lot. Harvesting logistics What we can harvest? What happens to the harvest? Connecting with the community Recruiting owners and harvesters, training, communicating, mobilizing Getting the harvest done Tools, supplies, insurance, transportation, follow-up After the harvest Distribution, processing, disposal/composting Partnership logistics Point of contact for each stage of the harvest Policy, coordination, overall communication and oversight

Anyone, anyone? Everyone’s time is valuable and limited The choice to drive this program is not a small one Keeping momentum seems important What can happen now without a huge commitment? Collecting contacts and resources (other programs, interest list) What can happen later, if/when resources open up? Communicating, researching, designing an inaugural program Can start very small, and focus on later-season harvesting Almost “proof of concept” size Would include learning any partners’ processes Revisiting, redesigning in the winter for yearly incremental success and design improvement

Examples and Potential Partners Klamath-Lake Counties Food Bank Food assistance for thousands http://klamathfoodbank.org/ Rotary First Harvest Maintains production garden in Klamath Falls http://www.kcrotary.org/FirstHarvest.cfm Society of St. Andrew Maintains national gleaning network; motto: “Gleaning America's Fields ~ Feeding America's Hungry” http://www.endhunger.org/V-SoSAWest.htm Ashland Food Angels Gets food from markets, bakeries, and farmers; works cooperatively with other organizations http://ashlandfoodangels.org