Gleaning lets neighbors ‘help themselves’ to fields
Corn used to feed workers, donated to soup kitchen
CASTLEFORD, Idaho – The golden tassels of cornstalks begin to shake as Lance Phillips makes his way to the edge of the field.
Phillips emerges, parting a row of 7-foot stalks, the bottom half of his shirt bulging. He unfolds his shirt and dumps eight ears of corn into a yellow wheelbarrow.
The low amber sun and the slight chill in the air mean fall has begun – the perfect time for gleaning in the Magic Valley.
This is the second time Phillips’ group has gleaned this cornfield – or collected from a field that has already been harvested – and they haven’t even made a dent in the field’s 50 rows and 100,000 plants.
“This is what the Native Americans used to do; they would go out and find areas where there would be prickly pear out in the desert and gather the fruit and preserve it,” Phillips said.
Gleaning is the practice of gathering crops that would otherwise be left in the fields to rot or be plowed after harvest.
“We hate to see it all go to waste,” Andrew Jarvis said.
Jarvis co-owns Rock Ridge Dairy in Castleford along with Don Gaalswyk and Bill VonderPol. The three of them own the cornfield and planted it so their employees could take what they needed. Because of the field’s plentiful crop, it turned into a community garden where the owners allow people to glean as they need.
“I tell neighbors to help themselves,” said Jarvis, who was in the field Sept. 4 to pick four ears of corn for dinner.
“This can take $100 to $200 off a grocery bill,” Phillips said. “This is a tough time for people.”
Phillips is the executive director of the Farm Service Agency’s Twin Falls County office and a member of the Kimberly Church of the Nazarene. While meeting with the owners of Rock Ridge Dairy, Phillips overheard them talking about the cornfield. He asked if members of the Kimberly church could come out and glean the field.
The corn will be donated to the soup kitchen at St. Edward’s Catholic Church in Twin Falls, the Shoshone Food Bank and the Salvation Army, in addition to elderly church members and families. The gleaned vegetables will also supplement meals made at the church every Wednesday night for the price of $1; the meals use fresh produce from a garden co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Kimberly Church of the Nazarene through a program called the “People’s Garden Initiative.” Phillips is the coordinator for the Kimberly garden and four other People’s Gardens statewide.
“Gleaning … is a blessing,” Phillips said.