Rachel's Table
A Story of Gleaning in Western Massachusetts
What is Rachel's Table?
Originally founded 30 years ago as a program of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts, Rachel's Table aims to alleviate hunger and to reduce waste of our food resources in Western Massachusetts.
In the map above we can see all the farms Rachels Table has gleaned from (dark orange) and the organizations they have delivered to (light blue-green).
By working with local farmers, restaurants, grocery stores, wholesale distributors, and over 200 volunteers, six days per week Rachel's table picks up and delivers food to approximately 60 agencies serving women, children, senior citizens, people with disabilities, veterans, and many others who experience food insecurity.
Central to Rachel’s Table’s holistic approach to food security is the role of equity, reciprocity, and personal agency when it comes to people having a voice and a choice in what they eat and feed their families. One way Rachel’s Table pursues its goals is through Bea’s Harvest: The Gleaning Program of Rachel’s Table.
Rachel's Table Springfield - Working to Alleviate Hunger & Reduce the Waste of Food in Western Massachusetts
What is Gleaning?
Gleaning – the ancient practice of gathering grain or produce after harvest – has its roots in Torah:
“Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God.” - Leviticus 19: 9-10
In addition to the practice of gleaning from corners (pe’ah), also embedded in these verses are the laws of leket and shichecha, fallen and forgotten fruit. These laws dictate that once fruit has touched the ground, or if we forget produce in the field, it can no longer be considered ‘ours’ – it becomes ownerless and available to anyone who may need it (10).
Because ancient Jews were a land-based people, distinctions between different types of edible plants were important; leket referred specifically to grain, while peret and olelot referred specifically to grapes. (Peret/leket apply to fallen produce, while olelot refers to the clusters on the vine with only a few grapes) (10).
Volunteers harvest produce through Rachel's Table during a "pop-up" glean in 2022.
A common emphasis in these laws is taking only what you need and leaving the rest for others. These laws help ensure that enough produce is left in the fields to feed people who need it. In contemporary times, these ancient Hebraic laws can provide important guidance about how we might understand our place in Creation, our responsibilities towards each other, and how to approach land and food equity in our communities (9).
Although the Jewish roots of gleaning are largely forgotten or ignored, gleaning has remained an important act of social welfare for over 2,000 years, especially in England and France where the rural poor’s right to glean was legally protected (5).
Over time and around the world, changes in private property law and farming technology hampered gleaners’ rights and access. In the 1970s in the United States, non-profit organizations, community groups, religious groups, and even some states began to distribute excess produce from farms among vulnerable community members. In the 1990s, gleaning was further revived when President Clinton signed the "Good Samaritan Act,” which encouraged donation of excess food (5).
Why Glean?
In Massachusetts, "21% of children do not know where their next meal will come from" (7). Rachel's Table works specifically with organizations that feed families, like Christina's House. Photo from a glean with Christina's House pictured above.
People are hungry. Hunger in Massachusetts is steadily on the rise. Presently, over 16% of individuals and 21% of children do not know where their next meal will come from. The reasons for such high rates of food insecurity are numerous: poverty, high prices of nutritious food, U.S. subsidies on cash crops that underlie the production of junk and fast food, insufficient or non-existent public transportation, and the utter absence of grocery stores in some communities are just a few of the issues (7).
Approximately 30% of food grown on local farms is wasted annually. Farmers often grow more than they can sell to ensure they will have enough for their customers (8). After harvest, they often leave food in the fields because it is not ready to harvest, yet it is not cost effective to send workers out for a second harvest. There is also often edible produce that farmers cannot sell because it is imperfect in appearance (small, misshapen, scarred). This produce either gets tilled back underground or is sent to landfills, where its decomposition releases methane gasses and contributes to climate change (11).
The Reach of Rachel's Table
In 2022, Rachel's Table gleaned with 8 different farms, collecting 16,584 lbs of food. These farms are represented with warm-tone circles: the larger the circle, the greater the number of types of produce donated. The color of the farm is determined by the pounds of food donated. Explore the map to see how many pounds each farm donated and the types of produce, as well as how much food each donation location received in 2022. These donation locations are also colored according to the number of pounds of food they received in 2022. See keys to both below.
Gleaning locations (farms) are symbolized with warm-tone circles, where size represents number of types of produce donated (above) and color represents the pounds donated in 2022 (below).
Donation locations, where food was delivered, are represented with a range of blue-green dots, where each color represents this corresponding range of poundage.
Each farm didn't just donate to one location, but had quite the reach of impact. Let's examine some of these farms, starting with Next Barn Over Farm, which is the large red circle.
Next Barn Over owner Ray Young with produce (1).
Next Barn Over Farm
Next Barn Over donated 5506 lbs of food across 10 different types in the fall of 2022. Rachel's Table brought this food to 11 formal organizations and additional informal groups across different towns. Deliveries to formal organizations are marked on this map with lines, where line weight indicates the pounds of food delivered. Color of donation location indicates pounds of produce donated by Next Barn Over Farm in 2022.
Pounds of food received at an organization site in 2022. Locations to which Rachel's Table has delivered produce, but not from the farm discussed, are marked in gray.
The largest single delivery was 881 lbs to Kate's Kitchen and Loreto House, a program in Holyoke run by Providence Ministries that provides hot meals to those in need. They serve around 200 meals a day during the lunch hour (2).
Northern Valley Farms
The next highest donating farm is 2022 is Northern Valley Farms, donating 3,346.5 lbs of three different kinds of produce. Rachel's Table brought food from this farm to 14 different locations. The most deliveries were made to Springfield Rescue Mission, Oasis Food Pantry, and the Gray House. Color of donation location indicates pounds of produce donated by Northern Valley in 2022.
Pounds of food received at an organization site in 2022. Locations to which Rachel's Table has delivered produce, but not from the farm discussed, are marked in gray.
Easy Pickin's Orchard
This Enfield Connecticut orchard donated 3066 lbs of produce across 14 locations in 2022. As an orchard, they only donated apples, but on October 26th they donated 760 lbs to the Amherst Survival Center in one day. Color of donation location indicates pounds of produce donated by Easy Pickins in 2022.
One of the locations Easy Pickin's donated to in 2022 was Lorraine's Soup Kitchen, where Rachel's Table delivered 150 pounds of apples.
Pounds of food received at an organization site in 2022. Locations to which Rachel's Table has delivered produce, but not from the farm discussed, are marked in gray.
Crucial Connections
As you can see, the reach of these various farms is far, even just examining the three highest-donating. Rachel's Table delivers produce from them across the Pioneer Valley and even state lines. Through their work, Rachel's Table creates an important network of food from where it has been left behind to where it is needed.
Expansion Since 2021
Rachel's Table has seen significant growth in the reach of its program in the last year. Slide the map below to see how many farms they have expanded to working with and how many more locations they've delivered to since 2021. They've gone from 4 to 10 farms for gleaning, and 4 to 37 formal donation locations.
Click on different donation locations and farms to see data such as number of pounds donated or received or number of types of produce donated, with 2021 on the left and 2022 on the right. Data is symbolized as in the previous maps, with warm-tone circles presenting farms and blue-green smaller circles representing donation locations. For farms, color represents pounds donated (from yellow being the least to red being the most), and size represents number of types of produce. The color of donation location represents pounds received; the darker the color, the more pounds of food were delivered there.
Rachel’s Table’s Approach To Gleaning
“We do not own the land. We serve the land, and each other.” - Cara Michelle Silverberg, Rachel's Table Gleaning Coordinator
Thanks to the visionary Bea Loevy, Rachel’s Table joined the gleaning movement 14 years ago. As a Jewish organization, Rachel’s Table relates to gleaning as a practice with not only ecological and economic implications, but also spiritual implications. Gleaning practices fall under the concept of tikkun olam, which essentially means giving back to make the world more whole (tikkun meaning to repair, and olam meaning world or universe) (10).
To truly contribute to tikkun olam, Rachel’s Table believes it is important to limit transactional approaches to food insecurity. Rather, the organization aspires to more holistic and reciprocity-driven relationships between communities and the land.
Cara Michelle Silverberg, the gleaning coordinator at Rachel's Table reflects, "What are we perpetuating through our methods of food distribution? For example, while exposure to food system issues and food insecurity is incredibly important (people have to know there’s a problem before they can do something about it), having groups of people with relative wealth glean a little bit of food and then deliver to a low-income community has the potential to become a voyeuristic activity that makes the gleaners feel good about themselves but does little to meaningfully serve food-insecure people.
"It’s important that we don’t fall purely into a model of 'those who have given to those who have not' and then disappear. This doesn’t build relationships, or reciprocity, or systems-level change. We need to be thoughtful about the questions we ask and focus on building long-term relationships."
Gleaning in the Field
Below are maps illustrating some principles previously mentioned, namely pe'ah and shichecha. While Rachel's Table doesn't necessarily adhere to these rules, or ask farmers t either, they still can provide a good frame of reference for how much farmers should be donating from their fields.
This is a field at Northern Valley Farms.
The circles in the middle represent an approximation for the range of amount of produce left in the field, which is shichecha. This can vary a lot from farmer to farmer and year to year, as well as who you ask. So the solid green circle in the middle represents the lower threshold of about 10% of their field and the larger hatched circle represents the upper threshold of about 30% (10).
Pe'ah is shown in the corners of the field. Since there isn't actually a set amount of a field to qualify for Pe'ah, this can also vary throughout farmers and years. Here, about one sixtieth of the field is set aside - which is a minimum set by rabbis, but not actually an official amount (10).
This is just a visual to show how much of a field can end up gleaned. What gleaning looks like varies a lot between different fields. This visual in particular is only meant to illustrate how much of a field is gleaned, not what gleaning actually looks like.
Here again, you can see Shikhhah and Pe'ah on a patch of Mountain Orchard's apple trees.
This is a slightly more accurate picture of gleaning. The produce left is scattered throughout the plot of trees, much like it would be in real life. This time, the circles account for about 20% of the field (10).
Here you can also see that the corners left are much larger. Farmers can choose how much of their field to leave for gleaners and corners are one of the ways they can really control that. Much of gleaning is forgotten or dropped produce, or crops that are past their peak, which are not conscious choices on the part of the farmer. Leaving corners ensures that gleaners are also getting a portion of the highest quality produce (10).
Cultivating Relationships
"We need to be thoughtful about the questions we ask and focus on building long-term relationships." - Cara Michelle Silverberg, Rachel's Table Gleaning Coordinator
Rachel's Table cultivates these relationships through a few different types of gleaning.
Volunteers gather during a pop-up glean in early November, 2022.
Educational gleaning trips (high school and college students, interfaith groups, etc.) cater to people who are eager to learn about the issues and get involved in their communities. These programs also explore the Jewish roots of gleaning.
Pop-up community gleaning brings together anyone from the public who wants to attend a scheduled glean; many people who attend pop-up gleans harvest for their own families and neighbors as well as for the agencies that Rachel’s Table delivers to.
Rachel’s Table also schedules gleans for agency constituents; mothers and children who have escaped domestic violence and youth from a Christian agency are two examples of groups that gleaned for their immediate communities in 2022. Many gleaning programs help community members support themselves rather than depend on external resources.
As an extension of the gleaning program, Rachel’s Table also runs a program called Growing Gardens through which the organization supports agencies in establishing and maintaining gardens that are reflective of their unique communities’ needs, preferences, and visions.
Growing Gardens with Christina's House.
With regard to the farmers, Rachel's Table has made a lot of connections over the years and uses those connections to schedule gleans. "We start out at places where relationships already exist rather than cold calling. Farmers are really busy and conditions on a farm change really fast, so building on existing rapport with farmers can ease communication,” Cara explains.
By connecting with the farmers, the recipients, and the gleaners, Rachel's Table is growing relationships with the community. People in need of food are receiving it, the farmers move food that otherwise wouldn't be eaten, and the gleaners gain experiences and knowledge about gleaning and local agriculture. There is a wellness component of gleaning that doesn't exist solely for the recipient. Gleanings can be meaningful for everyone involved.
Gleaning with students from Amherst College.
Gleaning has significant meaning for Cara, too. "My favorite thing about gleaning is being outside on a beautiful autumn day harvesting food with and for folks who need it, getting dirty, and hauling boxes around. I love the physical labor. I love the beauty of so many of these farm fields. They are in such beautiful places. When I’m out there I feel like, ‘What else could I possibly be doing right now that could be better than this?’"
A Growing Future
Rachel's Table has significant ambitions to expand the depth and breadth of the work that they do. Recently, they received a USDA grant to not only distribute more fresh produce to food-insecure communities, but also to explore food-related employment pathways for food-insecure people as well as economic incentives for farmers. They have plans to increase food gleaned by more than five-fold and will partner with different organizations for the purpose of not just gleaning and distribution, but also education, storytelling, technical assistance, youth engagement, and community outreach.
This all relates to Rachel's Table's broad vision. They recognize the looming threats of climate change and a changing economy on top of pre-existing inequities, and they are working towards resilience in a broad and diverse landscape of need.
Rachel's Table is continuously working for a better food future. Cara says, "I want to see farmers and farm workers be more well sustained by their labor. I want to see quality of life improve for farmers and farm workers. I want farms – particularly those that use regenerative farming practices – to be more viable. Regenerative farming practices keep top soil in place, sequester carbon, and keep land out of development. These are all really important ways of keeping the land healthy, keeping communities healthy, combating climate change, and forging holistic community-based solutions to food insecurity."
Harvest from a pop-up glean with a diversity of different root vegetables.
Links/Sources
(1) River Valley Co Op. (2022, July 14). Growing for a Greater Good at Next Barn Over. Growing for a greater good at next barn over. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://rivervalley.coop/main-nav/news-events/co-op-blog/vendor-profiles/vendor-profiles-details/next-barn-over
(2) Providence Ministries for the Needy, Inc. (n.d.). Kate's kitchen. Providence Ministries. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://www.provministries.org/portfolio/kates-kitchen/
(3) publisher, H. F. (2019, January 9). Fit to eat. Issuu. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://issuu.com/hazon/docs/fit_to_eat
(4) Overall (all ages) hunger & poverty in Massachusetts: Map the meal gap. Overall (all ages) Hunger & Poverty in the United States. (n.d.). Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://map.feedingamerica.org/county/2020/overall/massachusetts
(5) Jellum, L. (2022, August 25). What is gleaning? past, present & future. Food Forward. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://foodforward.org/food-recovery/what-is-gleaning/#:~:text=Gleaning%20has%20been%20an%20important,for%20themselves%20and%20their%20families .
(6) Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts. (n.d.). Outrun Hunger – Let's Race to Fill the Bowls! . MailChimp. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://mailchi.mp/jewishwesternmass/check-out-what-rachels-table-is-doing-in-your-community-60g4uv2e9u-4171120%C2%A0
(7) Project Bread. (n.d.). Hunger & Food Insecurity in Massachusetts: Project bread. Hunger & Food Insecurity in Massachusetts | Project Bread. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://www.projectbread.org/hunger-by-the-numbers
(8) rst. (n.d.). Food waste in America in 2022: Statistics & Facts: RTS. Recycle Track Systems. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://www.rts.com/resources/guides/food-waste-america/
(9) Silverberg, C. M. (n.d.). Rachel's Table Quarterly Newsletter: March 2022 issue. Rachel's Table Springfield. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://rachelstablespringfield.org/rachels-table-quarterly-newsletter-march-2022-issue/
(10) Silverberg, C.M. Interview. Conducted by Abigail Dustin, Margaret Bassney, and Kari Berntson. December 12-20, 2022.
(11) Wozniacka, G. (2019, August 20). Study Finds Farm-Level Food Waste is Much Worse Than We Thought. Civil Eats. Retrieved December 19, 2022 from https://civileats.com/2019/08/20/study-finds-farm-level-food-waste-is-much-worse-than-we-thought/
