Hawaii Home Harvest is a fresh take on the ancient art of gleaning

MOILIILI—Aaron Brown is a medical student at the University of Hawaii who was born and raised in Wahiwa. In addition to his coursework, he volunteers at several clinics around town. Two years ago, while working at Kokua Kalihi Valley (KKV), a community-organized and community-operated non-profit corporation serving the valley’s residents, he met Dr. David Derauf. The two medical professionals worked together to address various health concerns and participated in KKV’s community gardening program. Brown’s extensive knowledge of fruit trees, thanks to his “country” upbringing, came up in conversation, and the two started talking about the need to better capture Oahu’s bounty.

There is currently an abundance of produce going to waste on this island because it is not being harvested or distributed. In particular, there is fruit from neglected trees that could be picked and delivered to Hawaii’s hungry. Through these discussions, the concept for a gleaning organization was born, followed by the securing of a grant to cover the start-up costs.

The mission for Hawaii Home Harvest (HHH), founded in August 2009, is “to reduce the waste of fresh fruits and vegetables, and provide food-insecure individuals with access to healthy foods.”  The concept around which it is centered is gleaning, the age-old practice of gathering what is left over after a harvest or, in more general terms, gathering what is unwanted. 

In Biblical times, gleaning was a common and accepted practice. Crops were intentionally left under-harvested so that poor people and widowers had access to food. In today’s more urban society, gleaning has extended to include unsold food from supermarkets or restaurants that would otherwise be thrown away.  In short, this practice has been a primary means for feeding the world’s hungry throughout history, but one that has become increasingly and unfairly maligned in modern society. This is unfortunate because a great deal of healthy food is going to waste instead of going to the numerous populations on Oahu that access to fresh produce .

HHH focuses primarily on the gleaning of fruit trees, although crops from fields are certainly welcome.  Brown modeled HHH on similar organizations sprouting up across the Continental United States, such as Village Harvest in the San Francisco Bay Area, that managed to harvest a record 173,000 pounds of fruit from local backyards and small orchards in 2009. 

The premise behind both organizations is that a backyard fruit tree usually produces far more fruit than a household can use themselves, and that there is more than enough “waste” from local backyards and farms to provide for our local community’s hungry. In other words, we have a food distribution problem that can be partially addressed by organizing volunteer teams to harvest backyard fruit and donate it to charitable food agencies and organizations.

Of course, there is the minor issue of legality. Unsurprisingly, it is not just socially unacceptable to enter someone’s property and pick fruit from their trees without permission—it’s illegal. It is OK, however, to pick up fallen fruit from the sidewalk or an area outside the confines of their property. So the way HHH works is that individuals or groups of volunteers would go out looking for trees that look like they have fruit to spare. The volunteer would then knock on the door or just leave behind a card inviting them to call a HHH to help them pick and distribute their bounty. 

Imagine this scenario: I’m out on a run and notice a mango tree spilling copious amounts of fruit left to rot. I might opt to knock on the door with one of Brown’s cards. Perhaps an elderly widow lives there, and would love to enjoy her mangoes as she used to but has no one nearby to help her pick them.  Besides, there are more than she can eat by herself, anyway. So, she gives me permission to return with a picker, and I gather several bags of mangoes.  I leave one with her, save one for my family, and still have several left to donate to Hawaii Home Harvest. Next, I clean up her yard a little bit—some sweeping, some weeding, some pruning. Before I leave, I ask if there is anything else she needs help with. “Well, yes, as a matter of fact,” she replies, “I have this lightbulb that’s been in need of a change for three months and it’s too difficult for me to get up there anymore.” I change the lightbulb. I give her my phone number, and make her promise she’ll call me with other tasks she might need help with in the future. I now have more than fruit; I have formed a relationship.

Beyond the obvious benefit of reducing wasted food and helping people, gleaning also reduces local populations of rodents and insects by removing their food source. The other aspect of this idea that I find so intriguing is the community aspect.  Being on the lookout for fruit trees in one’s neighborhood makes one more attuned to one’s surroundings. It promotes conversations with neighbors, strengthens ties between young people and the elderly, and helps to beautify the community. Involvement with HHH also offers a lot of flexibility; it can be as much or as little as you want.

My conversation with Brown certainly expanded my thinking regarding food sustainability and security on Oahu. Previously, I have been singularly focused on the preservation of agricultural land on our island. While preventing short-sided development upon our already shrinking farmland and keeping existing ag land affordable to farmers are still central strategies, it is also crucial that we optimize our current edible resources. Gleaning is a strategy for doing just that, and it can be implemented immediately and on a very local level. So is planting fruit trees in our parks and schools, and all it takes is some organization and interaction with like-minded individuals within the community.

If you are interested in getting a group together in your community, or doing some gleaning on your own, contact Aaron Brown at [email protected] or (808)-228-2014. You can also visit Hawaii Home Harvest at Kanu Hawaii.

If you don’t live on Oahu, don’t despair! There are similar organizations on our neighbor islands. Check out Fruit Busters on Hawaii Island and Waste Not Want Not Foundation on Maui.