photo credit: Marc Albert/KRCB
Gleaners get to work on a row of kale 10/24/23

Known for its agricultural bounty, it can be said that Sonoma County feeds the nation, with a handful of crops at least. At the same time, the prevalence of hunger here is perhaps a great irony. KRCB News spent part of a day with one group trying to change that.

On a recent Tuesday, a team of dedicated volunteers assembled in a Healdsburg parking lot.

"Today we are going out to Little Saint Farm to harvest kale," Dani Wilcox, founder of Sonoma County Gleaners told about a dozen volunteers. They are a group made up mainly of retirees, who gather for weekly forays into the fields.

After some greetings and catching up, we caravan along Westside Road, then down an embankment into a valley ploughed over centuries by the Russian River.

Boxes, gloves and knives come out and Wilcox provided directions.

"Typically, with kale, we're going to bring it back here, and then trim it up and rubber band it here, and put it in the boxes, as opposed to rubber banding in the field," Wilcox said.

The goal today, as Sam Gregory, the farm's general manager explained, is both harvesting maturing leaves, and encouraging new growth.

"This is rainbow lacinado kale and what we're going to do, you can kind of see how the kale grows from these top crowns here, and y'all are going to come through and just grab like the leaves from the bottom six inches or so, and leave the centers of the kale, which is where the new growth will come from and then, kind of leave this much here," Gregory said.

All of the food being picked today is bound for local food banks and pantries, supplementing canned, dried and shelf stable staples. As the gleaners fan out and get to work, I asked Gregory, the farm manager, what the operation gains. She says it's about giving back.

"A lot of the things we grow are either, turn out to not be saleable, they're blemished, so they are not the top tier quality that we would want to bring to our farmer's market or send to a restaurant in downtown Healdsburg, but are still perfectly edible products are things that we want to make available and to share with folks that are needing increased access to food products," Gregory said.

According to Wilcox, her and her platoon of volunteers harvest and deliver between 15,000 and 20,000 pounds of produce to food banks and pantries a week.

And not just kale.... its pears, persimmons, figs, pomegranates, whatever.

Wilcox relayed a tale of pulling 325 pounds of pomegranates off a single tree.

The group doesn't have much in the way of infrastructure or equipment, but it does have automobile, health and liability insurance. That's enough to reassure nine out of ten property owners in letting the Sonoma County Gleaners onto their property.

Wilcox said she is perpetually on the hunt for new potential clients.

"So, if I'm driving down the street, or sometimes walking a neighborhood, and we see a tree full of produce, I'll knock on the door and ask if, if they want the tree donated, or harvested and donated, there's no cost to them, there's no cost to the people who receive it, and typically, people say yes, but they'll say, leave the left half or leave the half closest to the house or leave the bottom so I can reach up and get it, or, oh yes, I'm so thankful you're here, I don't have a picker, and then we'll pick them and give them some. We feel very helpful when we discover a tree that's not being harvested that we get to pick and donate."

While the gleaners are motivated to help others, they also gain some direct benefits, as Jeanette Zwinger explained.

"We're exercising, it's a lot of hard work lifting 40 pound box and rubber banding stuff, so you get some dexterity, you get some arm and leg movement, and sometimes its fun and we're friends and we're neighbors helping neighbors and the properties we get to see are, you couldn't go into some of these places, they are just stunning."

You can find more information about the Sonoma County Gleaners on the group's Facebook page.