Hythe ECG Go Gleaning!!

The Bible tells farmers to: “leave corners of their fields unharvested, not to pick up that which was dropped (gleanings), and not to harvest any over-looked produce that had been forgotten when they harvested the majority of a field. These things should be left for the Poor, for strangers, widows and paternal orphans.” Gleaning was a right of the poor up to the late 18th century, under common law. After a farmer had harvested his crops, labourers and poor members of the farming community could gather any leftovers in the fields, providing a useful supplement to a family’s income or providing additional food. Present day food inequalities together with wastage caused by our perceived preferences for “perfect” fruit and veg, rising unemployment, increasing poverty and the need to support many people in their own homes have given gleaning an important position in community volunteering.

In the UK, the prime mover for gleaning is “Feedback” which is a campaign group working to “Regenerate nature by transforming the food supply system”. Waste is at the top of their agenda and they provide training and resources for local gleaning hubs to get up and running.  With their help, we now have a highly active and successful gleaning hub as part of Hythe Environmental Community Group.

The gleaning activity is only a small part of the story which would be pointless without an effective local distribution network who can target those in need and it has been fascinating identifying and working with all of the wonderful local groups whose aim that is. These include schools running foodbanks or supplementing free school meals, The Salvation Army, Rainbow Centre and Action on Homelessness in Folkestone, Kent Refugee Action Network, Folkestone Women’s Shelter, Home Farm Trust, Single Mums and the amazing Streetz2Streetz as well as the Covid Hubs/Age UK kitchens and The Pilgrim’s Hospice.

Community support for our gleaning has been great and we now have over 60 potential gleaners on our list. Unfortunately, many can’t always join the gleans, but we regularly raise a team of 8 -12 which is large enough to satisfy the needs of our local customers. In 2020 we ran 63 gleans, and rescued 35 tonnes of fruit and veg which would otherwise have gone to waste. 27 tonnes have gone to our local charities and organisations and the other 8 tonnes were picked by our teams for supply to London and Thanet foodbanks. Our wonderful farmers have given us access to their cherries, plums, apples, pears, potatoes, greens and squashes and our list of sources for produce grows all the time. We have started to include a little urban gleaning, where we go in and clear unwanted fruit from local gardens and private orchards, reducing the massive wastage that occurs every year. If you know of fruit or veg that going to waste anywhere, let us know and we will try to make contact with the owner and see if we can make use of the produce.

2021 has started slowly with potatoes every week and occasional opportunities for cauliflowers and broccoli, but has already totalled 10 tonnes. The weather has not been kind to farmers, with the extreme wet followed by cold and extreme drought and greens have been in short supply with very little waste on the farms (which is good news). But the weather has now improved and things are moving.

With the help of Ward Grants from local Town Councillors, we have purchased a car trailer which will be used for transporting produce, but will also be available as a community asset to other local non-profit organisations.

Our Hub already co-ordinates our gleaning with “Deal With It” in Deal and we are forming an East Kent Gleaning Hub run by Charmaine Jacobs in Folkestone which will hopefully encourage other hubs to set up within the area

Gleaning is fun, sociable, healthy (physically and mentally) and gives an interesting insight into the challenges of farming these days. If you’d like to join us or have skills/contacts that can help us – please drop us a line at hytheecg@yahoo.com