Gleaning

[Country]

Brian Kaller writes a very nice blog (from Ireland) he calls, Restoring Mayberry, which right now features a short piece on vendors and farmers' markets.

On Sunday he wrote an excellent, longer, article entitled, Gleaning, wine and jelly. It's interesting and well worth taking a look at.

[Bruce Earls]

The author is talking about picking wild fruit from an unharvested crop. That is not gleaning. Gleaning is picking the leftovers from a field that was already harvested by professionals, picking out the remnants that are too sparse to be profitable to gather. There is nothing shameful about this process, but it is done by the poor, those that are living on the edge of subsistence, needing that last calorie to make it through the next year. It isn't a gourmet activity, displaying all of nature's bounty, it isn't a braggart's display of cheapness, it is survival. It is all about getting the best return for effort, doing everything possible to ensure enough calories for tomorrow, and putting food on the table.

The author invokes Leviticus (which commanded the property owners, i.e. the rich, to leave something in the fields for the poor), but the author isn't poor, and is describing gathering from wild sources, not the leftovers from a rich man's farming efforts. If the concept were "wild sourcing", then it might have some meaning, but as an article about gleaning, it misses the concept, at least as far as I understand gleaning.

[Shelby]

Interesting. I have never heard of this.

However, after learning what it was, my husband does a sort of gleaning while I'm canning tomatoes.

After I'm done peeling, cutting out bad chunks etc. He goes back through my "leavings" and picks out even smaller bits that I don't take the time to carve out and he then runs them through the juicer to make tomato juice.

Edited October 19, 2011 by Shelby (log)

[Anna N]

Interesting. I have never heard of this.

However, after learning what it was, my husband does a sort of gleaning while I'm canning tomatoes.

After I'm done peeling, cutting out bad chunks etc. He goes back through my "leavings" and picks out even smaller bits that I don't take the time to carve out and he then runs them through the juicer to make tomato juice.

Now that's what I think of as gleaning-- going after the main attraction is over and finding the bits left behind!

[Country]

Bruce is right that what Brian Kaller is doing isn't, technically, gleaning. But he's nevertheless doing something I found interesting and, I think, he writes about it very well. Also, I've been reading his blog for several years (and we've exchanged some emails) and while he isn't "poor" I have the impression that he doesn't make a lot of money, and is certainly frugal. Like Shelby's husband, and Anna, and my mate Beedy - who will use stuff that I consider compost material.

[Lindacakes]

There is a wonderful movie on this topic by the filmmaker Agnes Varda called The Gleaners and I. I highly recommend it.

[Country]

Thanks very much, Lindacakes. I hadn't heard of it so did a search and, among other things, came up with this YouTube video of the first four minutes. You're right. It looks like a very good film. Thanks again.

[janeer]

In Rhode Island, my house backed onto a large farm. I would always go out and glean whatever potatoes were left after the harvest.