A lot of times I talk here about the people of Hanover and Adams County and how good they so often are, how they’re always willing to pitch in and help.
I stand by that, though I realize sometimes in the day-to-day it can get lost.
That’s why you should take two hours.
You should go gleaning.
Photographer Brett Berwager and I were out with Jerry and Jan Althoff and their Adams County Gleaning Network last week. We spent the evening in a rutted field full of bugs and toads and string bean vines.
It was great.
Not that I was surprised. It’s been a few years, but I’ve done stories on the Adams gleaners before.
Still, I’m always amazed at such a simple idea, and just how effective and important it can be.
The Althoffs are in touch with farmers from all over Adams County and a little beyond, and farmers know that when they can’t or don’t need to harvest all of their crop, they can call Jerry.
In a day or two, Althoff will be there with a caravan of volunteers to pick what they can from the field (usually there aren’t enough people to get it all) and then deliver it to SCCAP or one of several other Gettysburg-area charities.
Voila.
Good, free food for the less fortunate.
And all it takes is a few hours in the field and a little effort.
You can look for the story and pictures from the string bean field likely over the weekend, but I thought it was important enough to make a plea here on the blog, too.
Get in touch with Jerry and Jan.
Email them at acgleaning@pa.net. Or call them at their business, Countryside Gardens, in Gettysburg, at 334-8321.
This is prime season, and once you’re on the Althoffs’ email list you’ll get regular updates with nights and times they’re going out to the fields.
You don’t have to go to them all, of course. And actually I’d say just resolve to go once, and see what happens.
I can tell you I decided the same thing last week. I told Jerry I’d be back without the iPad and the notebook, and instead with my wife and daughter. With such a produce-rich area all around us, we’d be silly not to help.
I’m usually the last person to spout off about what we “should” be doing for this cause or that. Your time is your own.
But I’m the first person to tell that little daughter each night to clean her plate, and to not waste food.
And, too, to help people when she can.
Seems to me that in two hours in a field at sunset — one beautiful fall night in Adams County – you can glean a lot more than beans.