Gleaning Blessings From The Fields

^" When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.  When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.  When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow." Deuteronomy 24:19-22New International Version (NIV)

My dear friend, I wanted to tell you about a wonderful group we have started working with.  It is the Society of St Andrew. (this is their fb page of our local group).  It is a group that goes to local farmers' fields and gathers the gleanings to take to the soup kitchens and children's homes, etc to help feed the poor and struggling.

Sometimes we are out in the field, but also sometimes the farmers have already harvested and bring the culls to a place where the SSA volunteers can sort through and bag the perfectly edible food.

Farmers have a lot of excess because grocery stores will only accept the most "perfect" looking fruits and vegetables and have strict guidelines.  One store will reject the ENTIRE shipment from a farmer if they open the first box and see one sweet potato that is too long, too short, too thin, or crooked.  

We are not just gleaning blessings of food for the poor, but are also gleaning blessings for ourselves as well:  fresh air, honest labor, the joy of doing unto others. 

The Boy and I are having tremendous fun with this!  Harvesting is always my favorite part of gardening, so this is right up my alley.  The Boy seems to enjoy the manual labor on behalf of another (and he gets out of schoolwork for the day ;) ).  The poor get food.  The farmers have a place to take their excess (and probably get to write it off) and we get to honor the Lord.  It is a win-win-win!

Yesterday we were going to go two places:  Huntsville and Cullman, but the Huntsville field took more time than we thought, so we will get to Cullman another time.  The lady who runs it here is such a ray of sunshine!  So sweet and friendly!

I love working alongside my son, of course, but also people from all walks of life--some struggling, some successful, young, old, black, white....all of us working together to bring food to the hungry.  It's like a preview of heaven (though heaven won't have hungry people, but it WILL have joyful people who come together, and the evil human biases of age, race, color, etc will be gone forever!)

If you are interested, here is the web page for the Society of St Andrew 
(This is different than the fb link I posted above :) )

This is a GREAT opportunity for Scouts, homeschoolers, children to learn about charity, for retired folk...for everyone!  I cannot encourage it enough :)

Love, Steph