818-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 6, 1997
Gleaning Network Ministers To Hungry
(ContlniMd from Pago B 12)
fatherless, and the widows; that
the Lord your God may bless you
in all work of your hands.”
Said Roche, “In the streets
and in the fields, that’s where
we spend most of out time and
that’s where Jesus spent most of
his time.”
In reality, George Roche
spends a good deal of time in his
home office on the phone, too
Lining up transportation for the
volunteer gleaners from the
inner cities where a good many
of them come from, and then try
ing to find someone with a CDI,
who can drive the donated
trucks filled with the results of a
day’s gleaning can be over
whelming. He and Tom
Chandler also take care of all
the paperwork involved in run
ning the network, from writing
grants to farmer’s taxes.
North Carolina, Virginia and
Maryland all have a state glean
ing law that "encourages the
farmers to put up with these
people coming all over their
farms," Roche said.
Most of the gleaners at
WAGN come from the inner city
in Washington. Many are from
church groups. Large numbers
of older women tend to come.
There are a group of "regulars"
who come out from public hous
ing. Other gleaners are home
less or recovering addicts. There
are groups as diverse as attor
neys from the D.C. Bar
Association, and students at the
Naval Academy. September and
October are the biggest months
for volunteers because of schoo’
groups coming out. The Jewisl
Holy Days were very busy,
according to Roche, who says the
Jewish and Seventh Day
Adventists often glean on
Sundays. "People will come out
who will never walk through a
church door," said Roche, "But
when they see the tangible, visi
ble benefit of helping people
then it all starts clicking. It's for
our benefit that we should be
doing it. If you come out a half
dozen times I'll guarantee you'll
experience reconciliation
between diverse people groups."
Gleaners are encouraged to
take all the food they want back
to their communities. They have
the opportunity to benefit first
from the work they do. Leftover
food goes to agencies that feed
the hungry like food banks, soup
kitchens, assistance facilities,
and shelters. "In Baltimore
there's a small city of 27,000
people who live below the pover
ty line," said Roche, "In D.C.
there are another 25,000. So
within one hour driving time we
have a good-sized city of over
50,000 that live below the pover
ty line. One third of all the
homeless people are veterans
who put their lives on the line
for you and me, and they're won
derful workers," he said. "The
burden is growing and hopefully
our mission is to respond to it.
The need is not getting smaller,
it's getting bigger."
The gleaning season for
WAGN starts with spinach on
the Eastern Shore in May, July
brings sweet corn and once sum
mer really hits, cucumbers, bell
peppers, and tomatoes. This
year a farmer let them glean
almost 400 watermelons. Tens of
thousands of pounds of apples
come from orchards in Maryland
and Virginia, and this year for
the first time WAGN forayed
into Pennsylvania, gleaning
peaches at a Stewartstown
orchard. There are cabbages and
broccoli to be picked, and fall
brings collards and kale right up
until Christmas if there are not
major frosts, said Roche. He is
hoping for some overwintered
collards and kale in January
and February this year.
And the sweet potatoes.
"We'll probably do sweet pota
toes through the winter for the
first time," explained Roche,
"because they're the most nutri
tious vegetable." WAGN's goal
this year was one million pounds
of fresh fruit and vegetables,
and they had passed that by
September "The only way we
did it was sweet potatoes," he
said The sweet potatoes come
from Parker Farms, one of the
largest vegetable operations in
Maryland and the largest single
donor to WAGN. They are culls
from the wholesale vegetable
operation's grading line, and
All Gardens
Great & Small
by
York Co.
Horticultural Agei
Tom Becker
Christmas Bayberry:
A Holiday Favorite
Northern bayberry, Myrica
pensylvanica, is a fast-growing
shrub used in the landscape.
This versatile native plant was
introduced in 1752. Northern
Bayberry bears scented, waxy
fruit on female plants. The waxy
coating on the fruit is aromatic.
When removed from the fruit, it
is used in finely-crafted
"Christmas" candles.
Northern bayberry has semi
evergreen upright stems. Each
plant produces a rounded top
and fairly dense growth. Its size
can vary, but a good average
height is about nine feet. Its
height generally equals its
spread, and as the plant gets
older it needs more room, the
plant will tend to colonize an
area with suckers that need
periodic thinning to control
overall plant size.
Bayberry has a leaf shape
similar to laurel. The actual size
of Myrica foliage can be up to 4-
inches long and an inch wide.
Leaf color is a lustrous dark
green above, and both leaf sur
faces are only slightly pubescent
(hairy).
Another unique quality of the
leaf is that it is aromatic when
brushed or crushed. Even the
slightest contact with the plant
releases the pleasant spicy,
sweet aroma. There is no real
fall color to the foliage, since it
will retain a green color well
into the fall before it drops.
The flowers on the plant are
small and greenish and of little
value, even though they appear
in late March or early April
before the new crop of foliage.
However, the plants are general
ly dioecious, which means there
are male and female specimens.
The female plants, when sup
plied with pollen from a male
plant, will produce a very attrac
tive fruit.
arrive at a warehouse by the
tractor load in bulk bins. The
potatoes are sorted through and
bagged by volunteers, then
delivered on large trucks
throughout the region. Each
trailer load weights 39,600
pounds, and this fall WAGN was
bagging a trailer load every
Saturday.
All this work has not gone
unrecognized in the Washington
area. This fall WAGN was hon
ored at the National Summit On
Food Recovery with a Hero of
Food Recovery award. Dan
Glickman, Secretary of
Agriculture, attended a gleaning
session with the group. But
George Roche focuses less on the
recognition he has bought to the
organization, and more what he
sees as the bigger picture
He savs, "It gives us an
opportunity to offer to people
something we in agriculture and
close to the land take for grant
ed; that we are one nation under
God."
The dense and durable fruit
covers the stems, bayberry fruit
is actually a drupe that is botan
ically equal to a cherry, peach or
plum. Each bayberry fruit, how
ever is only about 1/6 inch in
diameter and quite hard. The
unique part of the fruit is the
TO ORDER FILL OUT FORM AND SEND (ALONG WITH CHECK OR MONEY ORDER)
TO: PENNSYLVANIA FARM BUREAU
c/o Dolly George RR 2, Box 500, Catawissa, PA 17820 or call (717) 356-7482
NAME
(Print)
ADDRESS
PHONE NUMBER ( )
Tomatoes are loaded into boxes to be distributed. Volun
teers are encourage to take as much food back to their com
munities as wanted.
grayish white waxy coating over
the inner seed. People find the
fruit interesting both for this
coating and for its color, which
contrasts with its surroundings.
The fruit on bayberry bushes
becomes visible on the plant in
September and may remain on
the stems until the following
spring. A wide variety of birds
have been reported to use the
fruit as a food source during the
winter months.
Bayberry is adaptable to
many soil types. It thrives well
in poor, sterile, sandy soil condi
tions where it is found naturally
along the coast of the eastern
states from maryland up into
newfoundland. Many attractive
specimens are seen along the
rocky coast of Maine.
COUNTY
The plant also performs well
in heavy clay soil and tolerates
full sun or half shade. Along the
coast, the plant can withstand
salt spray from the ocean, a tol
erance which suggest a possible
use along highways.
Bayberry is excellent for
mass planting in groups, bor
ders or combining with
broadleaf evergreens. It will
respond well to periodic pruning
of older stems to keep a fuller
form. In addition to all its other
advantages the versatile
Bayberry plant has no serious
insect or disease problems.
For Northern areas, use only
plants grown from Northern
seed sources. Plant seeds in Fall
after cleaning off their waxy
coating.
100% Cotton Afghan,
Machine Washable,
50”x65”; Made In the
USA B v
/hiDDLE
L^OCKRgLL
Afghan Color Is
Hunter Green &
Cranberry Red on
Natural Background.
The Pennsylvania
Agriculture Afghan is
Offered Exclusively
By The Pennsylvania
Farm Bureau. It Was
Designed By Their
Women’s Committee
As A Fundraiser For
The Ag Awareness
Foundation, That
Runs The State’s Ag
In The Classroom
Workshops To Which
All Profits Will Go.
8 50°°JBU
4$