Gleaning Hands began as a project to satisfy my Urban Farming Externship requirement through Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe, AZ. The dream began one morning while I was running in a community near my home. It has grown into a big dream with even bigger implications for my community, my country and my world.
As I ran along the quiet country road that morning, I was thinking about all the changes I had been making in my own life. The biggest change was my diet. I had slowly changed the foods I ate from those purchased at a big name grocery store to foods sourced locally and organically. No longer did my cupboards contain boxes, bags and cans with brand names and multiple ingredients. Now there were jars and containers with single ingredient foods. My freezer contained bags of frozen produce sourced locally and saved for use later in the year, locally raised and harvested grass-fed meat, broth made from the bones of the beef and organic free range chickens, wild caught fish right out of the ocean off San Diego, and pork from a local Pig ranch called Cook Pigs. In short, I had a bunch of Real Food hanging out in my pantry and freezers.
What was really on my mind, however, was how I could continue purchasing all this local real food. In my previous life I had worked in the Floorcovering Industry. I was an Interior Designer and made my living as an outside commissioned sales person for many years. After the economy crashed in 2008, my income crashed too. I took a job locally managing a pie shop and restaurant. Not my dream job but it paid the bills and I was able to walk to work. My daughter had two years of high school left and she wanted to finish school here, with her friends. So, I did what I had to do knowing it wasn't forever. It was then that I decided to change careers. I began studying Holistic Health & Nutrition at SWIHA. I was following my passion. Just after my daughter graduated high school I was laid off from my management job at the restaurant. I took a part time job at a new gym that had opened in town and begun collecting unemployment from my previous job. Taking full time classes and working part time was perfect for a year. But, it wouldn't last as I knew unemployment would soon end. And, end it did in September of 2012. With no unemployment I was facing a serious shortage of cash. I had been looking for full time work, but had found nothing that would cover my expenses. I took another part time job in town and did my best to tighten my financial belt once again. There wasn't much left to cut. I began by reassessing my priorities and tossing out everything else. That list got very small.
Eating real food is a priority for me. In the last year I had lost over 50 pounds and had regained my health. I was running, three miles from home, and I was happy for the first time in a long time. My concern was for my new way of living. I know if I'm not healthy, not to mention having no health insurance, I would have a much more difficult time changing my circumstances. My health care plan is the plan I make to care for my own health. But, how would I afford to maintain my healthy lifestyle and take care of my financial obligations on less than a poverty level income? How could I buck the system? First things first, get up, get out of the house and run.
On my run I was thinking about my Great Grand Parents. They lived well on very little. If they could do it, so could I. I began to reminisce about the memories I had of them and of my time with them when I was young. They bartered, they shared, they grew their own food. I could do that. I needed to make contact with others willing to do the same. Note to self.
I rounded a corner and saw a lone pear tree in the distance. I identified with that tree. The tree was in the middle of a field, loaded with pears. The pears were ripe and falling to the ground. Just like me, I thought, alone with so much to give and not knowing how exactly to do that. How did that tree come to be all alone in the middle of that field? Who did it belong to? Look at all that food going to the animals that could be used to feed those who needed fresh nutrient dense food in our community. Heck, that's me I thought!
I began noticing more and more of these trees, bushes and vines along my way. For the first time I began to notice just how much food there was all around. Most of it being left for the animals instead of being used for people. That's when the dream began.
What if I could contact the owners of these trees and see if I could pick the fruit for them? I will work for food. What if I could get the excess to those who need it? Who would help me do it? What would be involved? I couldn't wait to get home and begin this adventure.
It was about this time that I learned of a very special grant that had been awarded to our local school. It was a grant, one of only a few, given to schools by Michelle Obama to support her healthy schools initiative. It is called Farm to School. I was given the name of the coordinator, Tricia Elisara. I arranged to meet with Tricia to discuss my ideas. Thank God I did. Tricia helped me get my feet back on the ground and plan a more realistic scope of work to complete my Externship. Then, she said, you can move on to the big dream. I wrote my proposal and submitted my idea to my instructor. This is a part of that plan.
I want people to know how the dream came to life and how personal it is. I kept thinking of a quote I had read somewhere about a man who wanted to change the world. That man spent all his life trying to change the world, in the end he felt he had failed. He had missed his children growing up, and all the other important things in life because of his single minded goal of changing the world. On his deathbed he realized that had he just worked to change himself he could have helped shape his own children. His family would have changed. Had his family worked to change his community, his community could have changed his county. The county could have changed the state and the region. Region by region the whole country could have been changed. Country by country the world would have been changed. The one thing he wanted more than anything else in his life was to change the world. He realized he only needed to change himself. And that is all I can do. I can change myself and what I do every day in my own life. Making my life better improves my family. My family is part of my larger community. A community which has been my family home for seven generations. The same community that has begun to let food go to waste while many of their neighbors go hungry.
I saw a need in my own life. I am working to fill that need. In so doing, I hope to help fill that same need for others. I hope to build a template for people to use as well. To build a foundation that can be duplicated. The rest is up to those who choose to use this foundation upon which to build a better life for themselves and those around them. Connecting those who have with those who can to serve those who need.
Gleaning Hands.
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