Stanford Glean and Fruit as Resistance!

Photo by Adam Cole

There was an article in the Stanford Daily a day or two ago about Stanford Glean, a really amazing group of fruit pickers that was initially organized by a friend, fellow Free Farmer, Stanford professor, and totally amazing guy, Page Chamberlain, and has really taken off to the point where it is largely student driven at this point. From what I understand, the task was to form a project as an act of civil disobedience, and thus Stanford Glean was born. This semester they are bucking the system by guerilla gardening on campus. It would be quite an understatement to say that I am impressed and inspired by the work that they're doing and the way that they are thinking about it.

I've been asking myself a lot of questions lately about why do this work, what are the benefits of challenging such monolithic problems with such grassroots efforts, what are the pressure points that can open a channel of progress, what do these intangible phrases that we keep using to describe our work, like "food justice" and "systemic change" actually look like? I think more and more that the answers are just in the asking of the questions, that if we keep asking, we will create change by understanding the small steps we take and how those do steadily move us forward as long as we keep at it.

I have always thought of the gleaning and gardening work that Produce to the People does as an act of resistance, resistance against an industrialized, consumptive, unethical, unsustainable (I could go on....) food system, resistance against the crippling lack of consideration for the needs of poor and homeless people, people struggling with disabilities, mental illness and addiction, and an economic system that holds people in a constant state of struggle, resistance against the breakdown of connection by socio-economic status, age, and cultural background, resistance against people living in isolation.

It's a small, subtle, community and home-based resistance, but that is how I see the dismantling of these larger systems that we have created that don't actually care for us or tend to our needs as real cities made of real communities of real people. Individual people, embracing what they love, what they feel capable of, what they feel confident in, and sharing their capabilities as a resource.

Just some thoughts, and I'll leave you with a quote from Margaret Mead:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Yes, that's a heart-shaped potato from the Julian Pantry

Spreading the potential of urban gleaning and gardening AND PttP Tasmania!

I have been doing my best to keep up with the small handful of inspiring folks that have been contacting me about starting their own version of Produce to the People in their local community, whether it be a gleaning group, or a community garden, or a youth program, or a combination of any of the above. So far I admittedly mostly just tell the story of how PttP got started since it is still a fledgling project, offer how we currently are doing the things we are, some ideas about what has really been successful and what has really not worked so good, and then do my best to answer questions. It is important to me to be as forthcoming and transparent with way things operate as I can, because while I have no interest in starting other PttP's myself, I do have a great interest in helping other folks start their iteration of this work in a way that is local, grassroots, and in tune with the needs of the community that they live in.

I have been in contact most regularly with a woman named Penelope, who was super excited to start a similar project in Tasmania, and just heard from her recently that they received a government grant and are up and running! Very exciting! They are calling themselves Produce to the People Tasmania (after asking my permission, which I admittedly had some initial reservations about which I am doing my best to break myself of. In thinking through where this discomfort was stemming from and realizing it was largely based in succumbing to creating an identity based in private ownership, I felt a bit yucky, so I agreed to share the name. I might be naive, but really, what's in a name?) Anyway! Check out their blog, they are doing some seriously awesome work!