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| Students for FarmingThe Students for Farming project makes farms accessible to school groups. We organize with farmers to host students for a half-day on the farm in the spring and/or the fall. Through this program the youth participate in curriculum-linked programming, farm gleaning, and service projects on the farm. What is Farm Gleaning?
Local Farmers - Community Volunteers - School Groups
Just Food is currently working with Grade 5 and Grade 10 students, although we can tailor the gleanings to various age groups. Just Food encourages the teachers to carry on the farm experience into the classroom through in-class activities and by developing on-going relationships with the farmers they glean with. Currently Just Food is looking for SCHOOLS and FARMS that would be interested in participating in this program. For more information please contact us at 236-9300 ext 301 or by email at info@justfood.ca. |
Gleaning
is the gathering of remaining fruit and vegetables from farmers' fields after
the regular harvest that is then re-distributed to food banks in the city. Sometimes
food is left in the field because it is missed during the harvest, or because
it is too ripe, too small, or blemished in a way that makes it unappealing to
consumers. After a season of farming, sometimes there is a surplus of food that
is left in the field because there is not enough labour on the farm to pick the
food or not enough market channels within the city to sell the food that is grown.
(We are working at improving farmers' ability to sell locally through the Ottawa
Buy Local Food Guide). The "gleaners" recognize the hard work that went
into the growing the food and in exchange for the donation from the farmer, a
service project is completed on the farm. If not gleaned, the produce would be
ploughed under or left to decompose. Gleaning is nothing new. It has been practiced
for thousands of years, as a way of ensuring the nutrition of all within a community.
At
any time farmers can call Just Food to notify us of excess produce in the field
that they are not planning to harvest or sell. The generous food donation from
the farmer is reciprocated through a service project completed on the farm by
the school "gleaners". The harvest is then brought to the Ottawa Food
Bank, or other community locations. An exciting aspect of the Gleaning Project
is the people who participate as gleaners also gain the experience of seeing how
a local farm operates, the social and environmental issues that surround agriculture
and access to food, all while being actively involved in a food security initiative.