I named this blog “Glean Daily” because both meanings of the verb “to glean” felt like challenges I should try to tackle every day.

Here are definitions from Merriam Webster:

Glean:

To gather grain or other produce left after reapers.

To gather information or material bit by bit.

The practice of setting aside a portion of our own abundance for those who have little can be a powerful way to increase our empathy and connect with members of our communities. Looking more closely at everyday things can flavor your life with a series of daily discoveries that make the ordinary infinitely more interesting.

I think both definitions of the word “glean” give us practical strategies to produce healthy growth – which I would love to see every day in my backyard and in my life.

My results so far have been mixed, but that’s okay, because gardening – and learning – are their own reward. There is a never-ending supply of lessons to be gleaned and shared in the dirt. Inside and outside of ourselves.

And sometimes in hot parking lots.

Earlier this week, I bumped into my friend Laurie Jones in the parking lot of a local shopping center. We have been in a “heat dome” in Tallahassee for the past few weeks (the National Weather Service has been issuing daily Heat Advisories for our area) – and I am convinced the highest temperatures of the day occur in the asphalt parking lots of our city. I hadn’t seen Laurie in a while, but we are both outdoor, active people, so the first bit of conversation we exchanged was about how the excessive heat has been impacting our normal routines.

As we caught up on the sidewalk, she mentioned she had worked in a garden that morning but had to quit her work early because it no longer felt healthy to be outside in the heat.

When sweat started to drip down our necks, we stepped inside a store to continue our conversation. I learned that she works with a local group of volunteers that plant, tend and harvest vegetables for a neighborhood in Tallahassee with a stubbornly high poverty rate – and limited access to a grocery store.

Most of the vegetables and fruits the volunteers grow are distributed to families and organizations with a well-established need and track record for their responsible stewardship of the donations. Excess vegetables are placed in a “Blessings Box” – like a free library book box – so others can have access to healthy fresh produce.

On a blistering hot day when I just wanted to focus on how uncomfortable I was – and complain about how my own garden was withering away – Laurie’s description of that local gleaning project (aka community garden) completely changed my attitude.

Community gardens are not a new concept – in fact, the concept goes back to a directive in the Old Testament Book of Leviticus – but they tend to operate quietly, off the radar, powered by dedicated volunteers and hardworking members of our communities. Numerous studies have been conducted on the positive benefits of community gardens (improved public health through increased fruit and vegetable consumption, education opportunities, physical exercise, enhanced sense of community, etc.), and it is estimated there are more than 18,000 community gardens across the United States and Canada.

The garden where Laurie volunteers is called the Frenchtown iGrow community garden and it is part of the Tallahassee Green Faith Alliance’s Divine Dirt initiative.  Volunteers plant and harvest produce for the surrounding community and for other families served by the “Sowing Seeds, Sewing Comfort” ministry.

The produce from the garden that is placed in the Blessing Box goes quickly, and the box is often empty, a testament to the continuing need for food in that community.

I gleaned so much from that impromptu parking lot conversation. And I am so excited to know that as a community, we are still gleaning! Daily. In community gardens, powered by the dedication and commitment of generous volunteers in collaboration with the dirt, the sun, the rain and the seeds.

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. Genesis 1:11