Gleaning, gardening efforts target food security
Between more fresh produce at food banks and a new community garden in Presque Isle, the mission of feeding the hungry is, more and more, focusing on affordable nourishment.
About a quarter of Maine children and 15 percent of all households are estimated to be food insecure, “meaning that they don’t know where the next meal will come from,” said Richard Brzozowski, food system director at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, at the Aroostook County Extension’s annual supper on Nov. 19, 2015.
The concept of food insecurity, Brzozowski said, can be hard to understand given the rising prevalence of obesity, which increased from 10 percent of Maine adults in 1990 to 28 percent today.
“It seems like there’s an obesity problem out there, and it is a problem and occurs because of poor nutrition. Kids are just filling up on things that are not so great,” Brzozowski said. “The other end of the spectrum are older people. A lot of times they’re on limited income. They only get so much a month from savings, Social Security, or whatever and they too are at risk for nutritional food.”
Community service advocates like the Good Shepherd Food Bank and Catholic Charities are starting to tackle that paradox of obesity and insecurity by focusing on food education and access at once.
Kristen Miale, president of Good Shepherd Food Bank, remembers going to free community dinners and being troubled by a lack of fresh, wholesome food. A typical meal featured pasta, bread, a bland iceberg lettuce salad and cake for dessert, she said in an interview with The Maine Show podcast.
“I felt like we didn’t feed them,” Miale said. “We didn’t nourish them.”
With the pursuit of fresh food supplies and cooking classes, the Good Shepherd Food Bank, which supplies food pantries statewide, is trying to get lower-income Mainers eating fresher, more wholesome foods, in tandem with a number of local efforts around the state.
The Maine Harvest for Hunger, led by the Cooperative Extension, has let “backyard gardeners, farmers and even businesses get involved with hunger as an issue,” said Brzozowski.
The program is based in part on “gleaning,” a part of the Biblical tradition “that you’re supposed to leave something behind in the field for people to come and glean after the harvest,” he said. Farmers will give some away or let food agencies pick crops like sweet corn, strawberries or beans.
Some food aid efforts have started from the ground up. On a six acre farm in Chapman, Catholic Charities has been growing fresh produce for food pantries and free meals since 2013. The nonprofit also now is providing some of its produce frozen, year-round, with the help of the Northern Girl, a micro-processor in Grand Isle. A related effort, the Houlton-based farmers cooperative Friends of Aroostook, led by Dale Flewelling, has donated more than 200,000 pounds of fruit and vegetables in its eight years.
Along with providing fresh food, community advocates are trying to help lower-income people who rely on assistance grow their own food.
A community garden in the Birch Street Presque Isle Housing Authority neighborhood is trying to create a “community of gardeners” and “show people how they can garden low-budget,” said Christa Galipeau, of the Aroostook County Cooperative Extension 4-H.
Galipeau and the 4-H club started the garden this year after being asked by the Presque Isle Housing Authority to lead a new growing initiative. In plots near the housing neighborhood, 15 residents and 4-H members grew a range of vegetables and herbs.
The community garden is going to continue next year and could expand on the housing authority’s two acre patch of open land.
It’s is a good way to engage children and families who may be unfamiliar with gardening and cooking, and it can also connect people, Galipeau said, noting that some of the older participants grew up farming and gardening. “They know how to garden and it’s great to see them get together with young families,” Galipeau said.
