Guest blogger Jamie Schuman wraps up our series on sustainability with a post on the gleaning program at CKP’s parent organization, DC Central Kitchen.

I’m back to tell you about DCCK’s new gleaning program. Here’s how it works: we take volunteer groups to local farms. They pick produce, which we then bring back to the Kitchen. Last summer, we got thousands of pounds of fresh collards, kale, strawberries, turnips and even eggplants, which our cooks turned into delicious dishes like ratatouille and vegetable stew.

All of the produce we pick is from fields that the farmer would have plowed over (usually because a portion of the crops were a little past their prime or because there wasn’t enough demand in stores). The gleaning trips extend upon our idea that “waste is wrong,” because we’re making sure surplus crops don’t go to waste.

There are many benefits to this program: our clients get healthier and fresher food than before; we spend less money on food and get to use vegetables that would be prohibitively expensive for us to buy; and our volunteers get to learn more about where their food comes from. Collards on the farm look so much different than the ones you find at grocery stores, and our volunteers (many of whom are city-dwellers) really enjoy connecting more with the food chain. (Plus, we always let them take home some of what they pick!)

Leading the gleaning trips is one of my favorite job duties at the Kitchen. I get out of the city, hang out with volunteers from all over the country (last year, groups included teenagers from Oregon as well as people stationed at a nearby Air force base), and help make sure that our clients have access to nutritious and delicious food! Plus, the farms we go to have farm stores, and I am addicted to homemade apple cider doughnuts (not too nutritious, but oh well).

As part of the trips, I give an orientation where I tell the volunteers about DCCK, and about why it is important to provide our clients with fresh, local and healthy food. People always talk about how low-income families don’t have enough access to healthy food. It’s eye-opening for our volunteers to see how much healthy food is available – and potentially wasted – at farms. The problem isn’t that there’s not enough healthy food available. The problems are that there aren’t enough avenues to give people easy access to the food that’s sitting on these farms, and there isn’t enough nutrition and culinary education.

Enough rambling from me. If you ever want to talk about starting a similar program at your campus, let me know. Colleges – with their various student groups and sports teams – have legions of volunteers to mobilize. If your campus is in the DC area, definitely get in touch with me, because I could hook you up with farms that we already work with. I’m at jschuman@dccentralkitchen.org.

Share on Facebook