The MV Gleaners, a project of Island Grown Schools and the Sowing Circle, brings volunteers to farmers fields when the farmers have food they won’t be able to harvest. We “glean” what’s there in the fields and bring the food to schools, low income housing complexes, senior centers, churches, the food pantry, and the county jail.

This fall, our gleaning program has harvested more than 5,000 pounds of food from Morning Glory Farm that would not otherwise have been harvested for our community. This past weekend, more than 40 gleaners harvested over 1000 pounds of potatoes, 150 pounds of carrots, and 40 pounds of beets. This food has been delivered to islanders in need, in time for the holidays and the lean winter season, and to our school kitchens, truly changing the menus of school meals on the island.

Thank you to Jim and Debbie Athearn, Lily and all at Morning Glory for you incredible generosity, and to all the volunteer gleaners for getting this food out of the ground and onto the tables of our school children and community members.

To learn more about the gleaning program, contact Noli Taylor, IGS Coordinator, at noli@islandgrown.org. To join the MV Gleaners listserve, to be alerted when there are opportunities to glean, email Rebecca Gilbert of the Sowing Circle, rebeccanetf@hotmail.com.