Photo credit: Austin King/Flickr
In GleanKY’s goal to prevent food waste, our top priority is getting edible food into the hands of those who can use it. Occasionally, though, a portion of food that we gather is no longer good to eat. It’s either overripe, has mushy spots, or is seriously blemished, and may even have signs of mold or pests.
The volunteers who keep GleanKY running are all passionate people who are dedicated to our mission of nourishing Kentucky’s hungry. Because of that, their first instinct when they come across some questionable fruits and vegetables is probably “Maybe someone would still use this.” We’d like to urge our gleaners to both foster and suppress that sentiment. When it comes to the quality of the food we supply our to community, we prefer to be more cautious than not. The question to ask is always “Would I enjoy eating this myself?” We do this because hunger can be as emotionally difficult as it is physically, and by offering only quality food, we are helping to preserve the dignity of those we serve.
However, that’s not to say that a questionable tomato is then unusable. By composting food that is no longer edible, we are preventing it from going to the landfill, and helping to nourish gardens which will, in time, nourish us and our neighbors. GleanKY has begun to partner with our friends at Seedleaf to address our composting needs, and gleaners can now bring us their compost! Give us a call or shoot us a text (859-444-4769) when you have compost from a gleaning trip, and we’ll let you know where to meet.
As the quantity of food that GleanKY rescues continues to increase, we also need your help to find new opportunities for composting. Maybe you have a home compost system and you’re willing to be a drop off location for GleanKY’s compost. Or maybe your place of worship composts, or your neighbor has chickens to feed. We want to hear your ideas! You can email Jordan at jordan@gleanky.org