It was chilly on this early morning in November, 2008. The morning dawned sunny but the thermometer on the deck held at 28 degrees. It was just too cold to get up so early on this Saturday morning, but the Mr. and I rolled out of bed, drank our cup of freshly brewed coffee and headed out the door for an adventure.
We have Chris Miller, owner of Miller Farms outside Platteville to thank for our early morning excursion. The family needed to have their fields gleaned of the produce not harvested at season’s end, so they opened their farm to the public. Gleaning is an interesting term. Webster describes it is a ‘slow gathering’ or ‘to pick up the leavings.’ As the harvesting season ended we were going into the fields to help the Millers clean out their fields so they can ‘lay them by’ for the winter.
They were overwhelmed by the response as more than 40,000 people showed up with shovels, buckets, bags, and wagons to glean their fields.
The Mr. and I thought this would be a way for us to help several families we know
whose members have lost jobs, are faced with higher mortgage payments, salary cuts, or have lost food stamp assistance, etc.
We parked our car in one of the pastures, signed in and headed for the closest tractor that had any empty seats on its trailer. Friendly greetings were exchanged and when everyone was aboard, the tractor chugged off to the fields that needed gleaning.
Our trailer was loaded with a diverse group of people. Each had their own story of why they were there on this particular Saturday. Margarita said her single daughter had just lost her job and with four children to feed, she hoped the extra food would help. Others were gathering for their neighborhood co-ops or church ministries, etc.
As the tractor rolled over a bump, Margarita suddenly slipped off the bale of hay where she was sitting and landed on her backside in the middle of the trailer floor. As she bounced up and down, she assured us she was fine as we tried to help her back up on the hay bale.
We soon arrived to the fields of produce where we gathered huge red and yellow onions, red and gold potatoes, leeks, carrots, beets and pie pumpkins. Thousands of pounds of precious produce just ours for the taking.
Margarita told me she was 69 years old and had spent the first few years of her life working in the fields with her migrant parents. She said, “It was work back then; today it was fun.” I told her I would be 71 near Thanksgiving and that I was the original Thanksgiving turkey. She laughed told me her birthday is in April and that she was the original fool.
She then noticed that I didn’t have a pie pumpkin with my produce and offered me one of hers. I initially declined, but she insisted by placing it in my lap and giving me a big hug. As she climbed off the trailer to leave I called out to her. “Margarita” I said, ‘Every April Fools Day I will think of you.” She replied, “And I will think of you every Thanksgiving, my turkey friend.”
I decided it had been well worth getting up a bit early on this cold November morning in the Rockies. The Mr. and I were thankful we could gather enough produce to fill eight 10 lb bags that we distributed to neighbors who need a helping hand.
Thank you, Miller Farms, for sharing your bounty with so many people who need food. Sharing with others–isn’t that what Thanksgiving is all about?
It was chilly on this early morning in November, 2008. The morning dawned sunny but the thermometer on the deck held at 28 degrees. It was just too cold to get up so early on this Saturday morning, but the Mr. and I rolled out of bed, drank our cup of freshly brewed coffee and headed out the door for an adventure.
We have Chris Miller, owner of Miller Farms outside Platteville to thank for our early morning excursion. The family needed to have their fields gleaned of the produce not harvested at season’s end, so they opened their farm to the public. Gleaning is an interesting term. Webster describes it is a ‘slow gathering’ or ‘to pick up the leavings.’ As the harvesting season ended we were going into the fields to help the Millers clean out their fields so they can ‘lay them by’ for the winter.
They were overwhelmed by the response as more than 40,000 people showed up with shovels, buckets, bags, and wagons to glean their fields.
The Mr. and I thought this would be a way for us to help several families we know
whose members have lost jobs, are faced with higher mortgage payments, salary cuts, or have lost food stamp assistance, etc.
We parked our car in one of the pastures, signed in and headed for the closest tractor that had any empty seats on its trailer. Friendly greetings were exchanged and when everyone was aboard, the tractor chugged off to the fields that needed gleaning.
Our trailer was loaded with a diverse group of people. Each had their own story of why they were there on this particular Saturday. Margarita said her single daughter had just lost her job and with four children to feed, she hoped the extra food would help. Others were gathering for their neighborhood co-ops or church ministries, etc.
As the tractor rolled over a bump, Margarita suddenly slipped off the bale of hay where she was sitting and landed on her backside in the middle of the trailer floor. As she bounced up and down, she assured us she was fine as we tried to help her back up on the hay bale.
We soon arrived to the fields of produce where we gathered huge red and yellow onions, red and gold potatoes, leeks, carrots, beets and pie pumpkins. Thousands of pounds of precious produce just ours for the taking.
Margarita told me she was 69 years old and had spent the first few years of her life working in the fields with her migrant parents. She said, “It was work back then; today it was fun.” I told her I would be 71 near Thanksgiving and that I was the original Thanksgiving turkey. She laughed told me her birthday is in April and that she was the original fool.
She then noticed that I didn’t have a pie pumpkin with my produce and offered me one of hers. I initially declined, but she insisted by placing it in my lap and giving me a big hug. As she climbed off the trailer to leave I called out to her. “Margarita” I said, ‘Every April Fools Day I will think of you.” She replied, “And I will think of you every Thanksgiving, my turkey friend.”
I decided it had been well worth getting up a bit early on this cold November morning in the Rockies. The Mr. and I were thankful we could gather enough produce to fill eight 10 lb bags that we distributed to neighbors who need a helping hand.
Thank you, Miller Farms, for sharing your bounty with so many people who need food. Sharing with others–isn’t that what Thanksgiving is all about?
The Rejoicing Soul 