Speaker 1: Welcome to Local AG. I'm your host, Melody Divers, a
Speaker 1: member of the Bedford County Economic Development Agricultural Advisory Board.
Speaker 1: It's time for another episode of Local AG. This is
Speaker 1: where we aim to bridge the agworld with the non
Speaker 1: agworld and strengthen community connections. Today's episode is the perfect
Speaker 1: combination of AG and community. We are here today with
Speaker 1: our EIDH podcast and we are highlighting the Society of
Speaker 1: Saint Andrew. This well established nonprofit is all about caring
Speaker 1: communities and offering kindness and nourishment to our hungry neighbors. Welcome.
Speaker 1: We're so glad you're here.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Also, I have a co host today.
Speaker 4: I am here today. Yeah, excited to talk talk about
Speaker 4: them and talk with them.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. So for those of you that don't know that
Speaker 1: sweet voice, that is Dorothy McIntyre, and you may know
Speaker 1: her from being the manager of the forest and mane
Speaker 1: at a farmer's market, correct direct, Yes, all right, So Dorothy's
Speaker 1: gonna chime in whenever she wants, and then at the
Speaker 1: end she's gonna talk all things farmer's market that she's planning. Yeah,
Speaker 1: getting ready for that. So I will say that we
Speaker 1: are happy to have Chesley and Ben here with the
Speaker 1: Saint and the Society of Saint Andrew. And Dorothy was
Speaker 1: really excited about having y'all on here, like she was
Speaker 1: so excited that you guys could join us, so thank you.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of bragging about your organization, so
Speaker 1: I'm curious to hear firsthand what what all this goodness
Speaker 1: is about. So we're just gonna jump in and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna start with you, Chelseley, just introduce yourself in your
Speaker 1: connection with what you do, and then when she's done,
Speaker 1: Ben just hop on in.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, thank you very much, Melody. I'm Chesley and
Speaker 2: I am currently the church relations director for the last
Speaker 2: six years at the Society of Saint Andrew, and I
Speaker 2: love the mission. This year, I've been blessed to move
Speaker 2: into a new position as the first ever Virginia Regional director.
Speaker 2: Congratulations sad. Now, now Ben has been our Virginia program
Speaker 2: coordinator for going on two years now, and so he's
Speaker 2: all things Virginia. Okay, I'm about to be all things
Speaker 2: Virginia and I'm just so delighted to be here today
Speaker 2: to talk about it. Sure, the mission of the Society
Speaker 2: of Saint Andrew. We bring people together to harvest and
Speaker 2: share healthy food, to reduce food waste, and to build
Speaker 2: caring communities. That is our mission. We have a business
Speaker 2: model that I consider a no brainer. We're a huge network.
Speaker 2: We use volunteer labor to go out into the fields
Speaker 2: or orchards, or farmers' markets or packing houses, any number,
Speaker 2: wherever it's offered, wherever it's it could be going to waste,
Speaker 2: and we glean. That just means harvest the leftovers after
Speaker 2: the harvest, after the commercial harvesters have come through. Gleaning
Speaker 2: is an ancient Biblical practice that they did back in
Speaker 2: two thousand years ago, Ruth and Naomi.
Speaker 1: That's the first thing I always hear. I think of
Speaker 1: Ruth one of the best stories in the Bible.
Speaker 2: But back in Bible days, the landowners were encouraged or
Speaker 2: commanded really to leave a portion of their fields or
Speaker 2: the edges of their fields for the widows, the orphans,
Speaker 2: the sojourners. Love to say that word sojourners, travelers, foreigners,
Speaker 2: And we're still doing that today.
Speaker 1: Wonderful.
Speaker 2: So we we rescue feud. We what could be destined
Speaker 2: for the landfill or for waste that's not marketable. We
Speaker 2: go in and we harvest it, and then we turn
Speaker 2: around and donate it for free to food pantries, feeding agencies,
Speaker 2: underserved communities. Wonderful. It is a no brainer. Yes, we
Speaker 2: are doing God's will. It's SOSA and that is what
Speaker 2: great stewardship. Yeah, yeah, charges charges me up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it all right, Ben? Can you follow that?
Speaker 3: Sure? I can. I think Chesley did did an amazing
Speaker 3: job of introducing what society sat Andrew does as she.
Speaker 3: As you mentioned, I'm the Virginia program coordinator, so I
Speaker 3: worked directly with our our local farmers who choose to
Speaker 3: participate in our ministry, as well as any gleaning groups
Speaker 3: or volunteer groups that come out to glean, and then
Speaker 3: then churches and uh and feeding agencies, food pantries, food banks,
Speaker 3: churches that have connections with underserved communities and.
Speaker 1: Help get the food to the organizations that can help distribute.
Speaker 3: Yes, or directly to the food pantry themselves.
Speaker 5: Correct.
Speaker 3: And we do this through a number of ways. When
Speaker 3: I send emails out to people who or talk with
Speaker 3: people on the phone or in person who've never heard
Speaker 3: of us before, I say we're kind of like the middleman,
Speaker 3: like we bridge the gap between you know, farmers or
Speaker 3: wholesalers or suppliers that have you know, excess produce that
Speaker 3: is still fit for human consumption and then communities, feeding agencies,
Speaker 3: food bank et cetera, that have a need of fresh produce,
Speaker 3: and it would provide improved health outcomes, improved spirits and
Speaker 3: lift people up in a positive way.
Speaker 1: Right. So you are really and I have put that
Speaker 1: in my notes about bridging the gap from the people
Speaker 1: that have what is needed and to the people that
Speaker 1: need that. So thank you for bridging that gap. I
Speaker 1: think this is going to be a wonderful interview and
Speaker 1: people are to use what you said could be charged
Speaker 1: to do good and participate and get involved. So let's go,
Speaker 1: and I don't care who answers this question. Let's start
Speaker 1: with simply the name of your group, which is the
Speaker 1: Society of Saint Andrew. Can we talk about what that
Speaker 1: means and where that comes from? Sure?
Speaker 2: Good for me to go?
Speaker 1: Sure?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2: Well once again, I love it. I come from a
Speaker 2: church background, and interestingly enough, the Society of Saint Andrew
Speaker 2: was founded by two United Methodist pastors forty five years
Speaker 2: ago nineteen seventy nine. I guess we're going on forty
Speaker 2: six now, aren't we. So two United Methodist pastors had
Speaker 2: come home from Vietnam and they were wanting to live
Speaker 2: sustainably off the land, ken Horn and rave U Cannon.
Speaker 2: Some bed for boys, but not to be confused with
Speaker 2: the Yeah. They came home and they spoke with their
Speaker 2: bishop and they said, hey, we want to live sustainably,
Speaker 2: girl and food and live off the land. Bishop said
Speaker 2: that's great. I have one salary and one parsonage. And
Speaker 2: the guy said great. They took their wives and five
Speaker 2: children between them, and they moved into this one house
Speaker 2: on Sweet Hollow Road out in Big Island, and they
Speaker 2: started preaching and preaching. And in nineteen eighty three we
Speaker 2: had our first potato drop where they had been over
Speaker 2: on the Eastern Shore, and Butch Nottingham, a farmer over there,
Speaker 2: said I'll give you potatoes if you get rid of them.
Speaker 2: They got forty thousand pounds potatoes delivered into the Lynchburg
Speaker 2: area and they're going, now what, But they they did it,
Speaker 2: and the truckloads kept coming and the Potato and Produce
Speaker 2: Project was born. But the name Society of Seen Andrew
Speaker 2: if you remember back to Bible times, Andrew was the
Speaker 2: disciple that found the little boy with the two loaves
Speaker 2: and fish and took it to Jesus, and Jesus blessed
Speaker 2: it and fed the five thousand. So we are the
Speaker 2: Society of Saint Andrew, and we go out and we
Speaker 2: find the small amount, and it's blessed by God, and
Speaker 2: it feeds the hungry. It feeds an abundance. So the
Speaker 2: Society of Saint Andrew doesn't operate out of sense of lack,
Speaker 2: but a sense of abundance. Beautifully said, y'all, we might
Speaker 2: have church today.
Speaker 3: We're having church.
Speaker 2: I can have church.
Speaker 1: We might have church today, and that's all right, that's
Speaker 1: all right. Do you have anything to add to that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I was going to say, that's an
Speaker 3: added operating out of abundance, I think is a great
Speaker 3: way to put it, Chesley, especially going back to that
Speaker 3: story with with Saint Andrew and the loaves and the fishes,
Speaker 3: that's an unexpected abundance. And I remember very distinctly when
Speaker 3: I was being trained back in July or well July
Speaker 3: or October twenty twenty three, one of the founders was
Speaker 3: speaking at a church, maybe the eighties or or during
Speaker 3: that time. During when he's speaking in the church, a
Speaker 3: farmer stands up. He's angry, he said, and he said,
Speaker 3: I don't I don't leave any potatoes behind. And the
Speaker 3: other one was like, I was like, okay, well, you know, yeah,
Speaker 3: we'll prove that there's extra. And then you know, they
Speaker 3: went out into the field and they got like tens
Speaker 3: of thousands of pounds of potatoes that were left that
Speaker 3: you know that the farmer didn't even know about, you know,
Speaker 3: but maybe but because we went out and looked for it,
Speaker 3: there was an unexpected level of abundance. And how many
Speaker 3: servings is that like sixty thousand servings, so you know,
Speaker 3: if it's twenty thousand pounds, I mean, this is this
Speaker 3: is crazy and right and and and seeing that abundance
Speaker 3: and you know, I never I never grew up in
Speaker 3: an agricultural environment and don't have any friends that were
Speaker 3: in agriculture, you know, grew up in Fairfax County. But
Speaker 3: so so seeing in the field seeing a massive amount
Speaker 3: of potatoes, massive amount of corn or apples is just
Speaker 3: like it was. It was my bog. It was mind
Speaker 3: boggling first, but you know, you see how quickly, how
Speaker 3: quickly it feeds hungry people, and how quickly it lifts
Speaker 3: up the spirits right of people.
Speaker 1: Absolutely well said.
Speaker 2: And I'm thinking about what Dorothy said about if you
Speaker 2: don't know, you don't know earlier. And I didn't grow
Speaker 2: up in an agricultural world either, and I had no
Speaker 2: idea until six years ago how much food goes to
Speaker 2: waste for sure, And Jesus said, you will always have
Speaker 2: the poor with you, right, And so our poverty level
Speaker 2: in this country is unbelievable. We're up to almost fifty
Speaker 2: million now, forty eight million Americans are hungry or food insecure.
Speaker 2: A third of those or children. We were better than that.
Speaker 2: And then so to look at the poverty levels and
Speaker 2: look at how much food goes to waste, one hundred
Speaker 2: and thirty three billion pounds of food goes to waste.
Speaker 2: If we can harvest that food and rescue it and
Speaker 2: redirect it, right, we're helping. We're exactly, we're feeding people
Speaker 2: that need the food. So to me, it's just it's
Speaker 2: not a production problem. It is a distribution.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to say just getting it from point
Speaker 1: A to point B. Yeah, I agree with that.
Speaker 2: And that's what SOSA does with the network of Farmers
Speaker 2: of volunteers.
Speaker 4: Farmers know that if they don't clean every if they
Speaker 4: don't harvest everything that's on their land, they can still
Speaker 4: have somebody clean and you'll be able to get something
Speaker 4: off of it.
Speaker 1: I was looking on your like your website and your
Speaker 1: Facebook page, and you spoke on this in your introduction.
Speaker 1: But the mission statement for the Society of Saint Andrew,
Speaker 1: which I think is so eloquently presented. Your mission is
Speaker 1: that the mission of Saint Andrew is to bring people
Speaker 1: together to harvest and share healthy food, reduce food waste,
Speaker 1: and build caring communities by offering nourishment to hungry neighbors.
Speaker 1: And I love the word nourishment, the word caring, and
Speaker 1: I love all of these words because they do give
Speaker 1: like a virtual hug, companionship. It's not we're giving you
Speaker 1: junk food, We're giving you spoiled food. I love the
Speaker 1: word nourishment because, like you said, uplifting, when you give
Speaker 1: somebody something that is of value, of nourishment that is
Speaker 1: not just to keep them fed physically, but keep them
Speaker 1: fed you know, spiritually, mentally, all of those components. And
Speaker 1: I love just the wording that it didn't come out
Speaker 1: of obligation. It was very heartfelt, and so I was
Speaker 1: really drawn to that when I was looking. So, I,
Speaker 1: you're right, this has been going on for over forty years,
Speaker 1: close to fifty years that this has been happening. So
Speaker 1: let listeners know where you are serving. Is this just
Speaker 1: a Virginia thing? Is it multiple states? Like what does
Speaker 1: what does this community look like that you're you're sharing with.
Speaker 3: I was gonna say, we're we're in We're in ten
Speaker 3: or eleven regional offices across ten, you know, in ten
Speaker 3: different states, mostly in the Deep South, like in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Carolina's.
Speaker 1: I saw where I'm from on there, del Marva, that's
Speaker 1: where Maryland, Virginia's left start that wanted to make sure
Speaker 1: my people were doing right and they were office. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was really happy to see that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then and then Ohio and Indiana.
Speaker 2: So Indiana was the next newest office opened in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1: And it all started here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, forty six. Yes, Yeah, that's a whole
Speaker 2: other conversation. Dorothy, are currently think big excuse me, pardon me.
Speaker 2: We are working on increasing our endowment and we are expanding.
Speaker 2: Currently we have a Virginia I mean not Virginia Funny,
Speaker 2: an Ohio gleaning coordinator right now in Ohio working around
Speaker 2: the Cincinnati area, and we are expanding and in the
Speaker 2: process of getting a regional director. So each of the
Speaker 2: ten offices that have been mentioned in the ten different states,
Speaker 2: they have two employees. They have a regional director and
Speaker 2: a program coordinator, and they're usually housed. Our overhead super low,
Speaker 2: which is another great selling point. And if no one
Speaker 2: believes us, please come to thirty three eighty three Suite
Speaker 2: Road and come see our headquarters, our office on a level.
Speaker 5: Roads come out of small places.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's right.
Speaker 3: And as I say, see where we really began. The
Speaker 3: shed right we're next to that's true. So the house, yeah,
Speaker 3: Marion's house. But no, our overhead is low. And that's
Speaker 3: a great thing that we can tell funders. But we're
Speaker 3: not out there spending you know, money in grandiose But
Speaker 3: the same goes in our ten regional offices. Most of
Speaker 3: the time the office is housed in a church, and
Speaker 3: the church will charge us one hundred and fifty or
Speaker 3: two hundred dollars a month rent whether we use their
Speaker 3: internet or not. I think is what that difference is.
Speaker 3: Sometimes the church donates the space as they're outreached to
Speaker 3: our community, so our overhead is low. Each office has
Speaker 3: two main employees, and we probably did across the United
Speaker 3: States in thirty three of the states. We gleaned last
Speaker 3: year and distributed to all forty eight states and probably
Speaker 3: about twenty two pounds roughly twenty one.
Speaker 1: So you're not just servicing where your offices are. It's
Speaker 1: going yond. Yes, look at y'all just pushing those borders.
Speaker 1: I love it. Yep.
Speaker 2: I somebody said, are you expanding? Yes, here are expanding
Speaker 2: because the need is great, and the need is across
Speaker 2: the United States, right, So what we do in Virginia
Speaker 2: helps Virginia, but we do help the neighboring counties weekly.
Speaker 1: That is also good to know as well. So the
Speaker 1: website is in hunger dot org and what I like
Speaker 1: doing what I just kind of alluded to, is you
Speaker 1: can click on a tab and see the regional offices.
Speaker 1: And I love seeing the breakdown of the pounds of
Speaker 1: food gleaned. I think everything right now is for twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four. Obviously the amount distributed, the amount of fresh
Speaker 1: food shared, volunteers events and recipient partners and more so,
Speaker 1: I think the transparency is very important for someone that's
Speaker 1: thinking about getting involved. I always advocate transparency anyway, and
Speaker 1: so like my grandmother said, if you don't have anything
Speaker 1: to hide, you just tell the same story to everybody.
Speaker 1: And so I always uh, I always value when when
Speaker 1: when businesses, organizations so forth are transparent. And also in
Speaker 1: the website, I saw and you have spoken about this
Speaker 1: that one in eight Americans struggle with food insecurity. But
Speaker 1: your organization, like you said earlier, Ben is bridging the gap.
Speaker 1: So then what does the timeline look like from the
Speaker 1: time a farm or orchard says, hey, you can glean
Speaker 1: on our property. So what does the timeline look like
Speaker 1: from we're gleaning and then the person or the the
Speaker 1: group gets the food.
Speaker 3: Well, I guess from from the time the farmer makes
Speaker 3: the offer to us to when we get there. I
Speaker 3: wish there was one answer on that. H Sometimes it's
Speaker 3: the day of okay, you know, if it's if it's
Speaker 3: a local, IF's a local farmer and I happen to
Speaker 3: be available, then I could say, oh, well do you
Speaker 3: mind if I show up today? Okay, but it could
Speaker 3: you know, typically they'll the ones we've been working with,
Speaker 3: you know, you know, consistently year after year they'll tell us,
Speaker 3: you know, at least a couple of months in advance
Speaker 3: or a month, and.
Speaker 1: So you have such like on the schedule, like very
Speaker 1: established like regulars that that donate.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we know generally, I mean, of course, of
Speaker 3: course your weather permitting, right and in climate permitting, you know,
Speaker 3: we know generally when you know an orchard around here
Speaker 3: may may choose to donate some of their windfall apples
Speaker 3: for apples that.
Speaker 2: It would be appropriate to do a shout out to
Speaker 2: Gross's or.
Speaker 1: John Is there anybody you want to brag Johnson?
Speaker 3: Oh, my gosh, shout out to Danny Johnson, Ronnie Gross,
Speaker 3: Darren Greer and Ryiner Virginia, Windy Hills Farm, beautiful property.
Speaker 1: And those are your regular Yeah.
Speaker 3: Some of our regular Yes. And then Marker Miller Orchard's
Speaker 3: and Winchester Virginia.
Speaker 1: Wonderful wonder on.
Speaker 4: That mm when they glean the farmer's market that afternoon,
Speaker 4: at the end of the market.
Speaker 5: Those produce makes it to the table that night, right.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: That makes it so it can happen that.
Speaker 4: That Gate Ministries comes to our market, at the Forest
Speaker 4: farmers market they will glean and then it'll be at
Speaker 4: a table that night.
Speaker 1: So just so people that may not understand stand that
Speaker 1: whole concept, what I'm understanding is if a producer doesn't
Speaker 1: sell everything at the farmer's market instead of taking it
Speaker 1: home at a other organization who's connected with Saint Andrew
Speaker 1: will pick it up.
Speaker 2: St. Andrew's Society is St. Andrew Volunteers, Okay, what.
Speaker 4: It is is society Saint Andrew identifies an organization which
Speaker 4: at forest is Gate Ministries.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 4: At the end of the day they go around to
Speaker 4: the different farmers in it and do you have extra
Speaker 4: you know, if it's something that's gonna spoil, like tomatoes
Speaker 4: or lettuce or things like that, they'll they'll glean that,
Speaker 4: they'll get they'll take the poundage of what they're they're
Speaker 4: donating and identify which mark, which farmer they've used, and
Speaker 4: the Gate Ministries goes and distributes to local families that
Speaker 4: have food insecurities that day. That that afternoon is when
Speaker 4: they get that the.
Speaker 3: Mouth and as far as I know, Dorothy, they hand
Speaker 3: the liver it. Yeah, sometimes too individuals. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: My next question is what are you accepting. Is it
Speaker 1: all fruits and vegetables? Do you do dairy products, do
Speaker 1: you do eggs? Do you do meat products? Like? What
Speaker 1: does that look like?
Speaker 3: Are I mean, I mean generally it's healthy food and
Speaker 3: fresh produce. I mean, by and large it's fresh produce, because.
Speaker 1: I mean that's what I think I want to thinking.
Speaker 1: But I didn't know if someone's like I have like,
Speaker 1: you know, eggs, or I have cheese, Like what what
Speaker 1: does that look like?
Speaker 5: We have eggs donated.
Speaker 4: There's also a lot of times the organ meats can
Speaker 4: go with the market, and I have known a few
Speaker 4: of the meat farmers that will donate that too.
Speaker 2: Okay, to answer that question, yes, it is primarily fresh produce,
Speaker 2: fruits and vegetables. But yes, we would take eggs, and.
Speaker 1: You would we have in North.
Speaker 2: Carolina we have an egg farmer. No, it's it's it's
Speaker 2: not bake forest. There's in North Carolina. There's a big
Speaker 2: egg distribution collection. In del Marva, they've done fish, okayish, yeah,
Speaker 2: and we've done milk and dairy and other places too,
Speaker 2: and water, but.
Speaker 3: I think catfish too, right and del mar Yeah, I
Speaker 3: think big catfish.
Speaker 1: So what I want to talk about next is it
Speaker 1: is two parts I want and you can split this
Speaker 1: up or you can chime in. I want to know
Speaker 1: how can farmers in this area get involved and what
Speaker 1: does that look like like? What do you need from
Speaker 1: the AG world? And then I also want you to
Speaker 1: say what folks that are not in the AG world
Speaker 1: what can they do to help you? So I want
Speaker 1: to see both sides of the fence perspective of what
Speaker 1: y'all what y'all need from everybody.
Speaker 3: Well, I was gonna say to start maybe with the farmers.
Speaker 3: If you have and this goes out to any farmer
Speaker 3: in Virginia or any of the areas we work. If
Speaker 3: you have, if you have extra produce you can't sell
Speaker 3: the market, you can't you can't sell on your CSA
Speaker 3: that's still still fit for human consumption, then you give
Speaker 3: us a call, give me a call.
Speaker 1: And so it doesn't have to be so if if
Speaker 1: someone thinks, like, we have some grapes and if we
Speaker 1: couldn't sell them all, we could call you up. Or
Speaker 1: would we have to have a pre registration that we're
Speaker 1: in the system where I could just literally say, hey,
Speaker 1: we're not going to get all these grapes. This year.
Speaker 3: No, there's no registration involved.
Speaker 1: They literally just call you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can call me. And as long as you
Speaker 3: know we would, we may ask for you know, you know,
Speaker 3: if we know ahead of time, you know, we may ask.
Speaker 3: If it's largely we ask for pictures sometimes of the truck,
Speaker 3: and we asked about the you know, you know, maybe
Speaker 3: the quality of it, but but by and large, yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean, if you know, if you if you are
Speaker 3: who you say you are, and you know you have
Speaker 3: and you have fresh produce to share that's still good
Speaker 3: to eat, We're not going to ask questions about that.
Speaker 1: And so you're talking about farmers not gardeners, or are
Speaker 1: gardeners included?
Speaker 3: They can be included, okay, they have extra and we
Speaker 3: and the wholesalers. Yeah, we worked with Cisco Virginia near
Speaker 3: Mount Crawford, near Harrisonburg. They they typically have you know,
Speaker 3: a few palettes of goods every now and then.
Speaker 1: So do you have a minimum like you won't come
Speaker 1: out like what are the real required like if someone's like, well,
Speaker 1: I have tomatoes just coming out of my ears this summer.
Speaker 2: Gardeners, Yes, we have a program called share our Surplus, okay,
Speaker 2: and that is when your backyard gardeners have surplus and
Speaker 2: they can bring it, they can call us, or they
Speaker 2: can take it to their church and sell it at
Speaker 2: their church or make it available to underserved people, Okay.
Speaker 2: And if they sell it, then you know, the proceeds
Speaker 2: go to society you've seen Andrew to help feed hungry people.
Speaker 4: One thing to note though, is when they donate, there's
Speaker 4: a certain I don't know the poundage, but there is
Speaker 4: a tax credit that goes to the farmer.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: So that's a good point in sative.
Speaker 4: For them to know that, yes, they're doing this donation
Speaker 4: and it's for the good of the community, but there's
Speaker 4: also a tax Okay.
Speaker 5: That's all that mon.
Speaker 1: That's a benefit. And before we wiked up, we were
Speaker 1: talking about the other kind of security if people were
Speaker 1: concerned about donating, whether from their garden or their farm.
Speaker 1: And I know we still need to talk about how
Speaker 1: that nonagg world. I'm just putting a bookmark right there
Speaker 1: for a second, but we did talk about the Good
Speaker 1: Samaritan Act that Congress passed in nineteen ninety six, and
Speaker 1: this is where the donor is protected from any liability
Speaker 1: concerns and donating. Did you want to speak on that
Speaker 1: to maybe encourage people like, hey, it's good, we got
Speaker 1: this under control.
Speaker 2: The Bill Emerson Act what's passed because some growers and
Speaker 2: farmers donors were concerned about being held liable if you know,
Speaker 2: now someone yeah, if there would been some illness or sickness.
Speaker 2: But they passed the Bill Emerson Act that provides protection
Speaker 2: for the growers.
Speaker 1: The farmers. So we have the text benefit, the tax benefit,
Speaker 1: and then we have the that's a security like it's good,
Speaker 1: it's coming from a place of goodness and tens and
Speaker 1: so forth. So you're protected. So there's really no reason
Speaker 1: not to protect right.
Speaker 2: Okay, And most most farmers that we talked to they
Speaker 2: grow their food to feed people, so they don't want
Speaker 2: it to go to waste. They wanted to go to
Speaker 2: feed people. So yeah, they're protected and they get a
Speaker 2: tax benefit. It seems like a perfect no brain.
Speaker 1: So did you have anything else to add before we
Speaker 1: hop over to the non farmers' efforts in helping. Did
Speaker 1: you have anything else that you wanted to say, how
Speaker 1: farmers could get involved or anything, or did you touch
Speaker 1: on all the key points?
Speaker 3: I say, I think I think collectively we pretty much covered.
Speaker 2: It, right, and I just would say, if a farmer
Speaker 2: can't get ben called Chesley, Chesley will come out to
Speaker 2: your farm and help lean too. It's an experience if
Speaker 2: you've never had it. And we talked about doing God's will,
Speaker 2: we've had it to go and glean in the morning.
Speaker 2: And my experience the first time it happened to me,
Speaker 2: I gleaned up in Covestville peaches and so two hours
Speaker 2: I spent gleaning through the peaches and then delivered several
Speaker 2: bushels to an at risk youth community in Lynchburg. And
Speaker 2: the looks on those people's faces when we walked up
Speaker 2: with a couple of crates of free peaches.
Speaker 3: You know, it's like a delicacy.
Speaker 2: But the looks on their faces and the feeling that
Speaker 2: it gives you you're doing God's will, I mean, and
Speaker 2: there's no better place to be or no better feelings.
Speaker 2: So I can preach it.
Speaker 1: Say it.
Speaker 2: I can preach it.
Speaker 1: Sorry it, it needs to be said. Say it.
Speaker 2: But if you've not had the experience of gleaning in
Speaker 2: Johnson's orchard and you're picking those apples off the tree
Speaker 2: and then you load them up in your car and
Speaker 2: you go deliver them to somebody who needs them.
Speaker 1: It's incredible gratifying.
Speaker 3: Yes, and sometimes off the ground too, like right next
Speaker 3: to the tree we do windfall apples.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I know with ag regulations, if it hits
Speaker 1: the ground, you can't sell it.
Speaker 2: We have to tag it to that it must be
Speaker 2: cooked before.
Speaker 3: And separated from that which came from the tree.
Speaker 1: Right. No, see, I mean it sounds like you have
Speaker 1: everything noted per requirements and it seems like you're this
Speaker 1: is not willy nilly.
Speaker 2: And all of our employees and some of our volunteers
Speaker 2: are trained in food safety training. We've been with Virginia
Speaker 2: Tech and we have food safety training that teaches our
Speaker 2: volunteers and our staff right from wrong right if you will,
Speaker 2: and what the regulations. Yeah, this is very mind safety.
Speaker 1: I think you know not to mention forty six you
Speaker 1: know going on forty seven years that you've been doing this,
Speaker 1: and then how you have everything already marked out and
Speaker 1: thought out, not just from the recipients but for your volunteers.
Speaker 1: I think this is just a very mindful nonprofit that
Speaker 1: you really have thought of everything in safety and in
Speaker 1: heart heartfelt generosity. So folks that do not have a
Speaker 1: farm or a garden. What do you want from them?
Speaker 1: How can they help you? What can what can they
Speaker 1: do to support you?
Speaker 3: I think at the most at the most fundamental level,
Speaker 3: I would say becoming more aware of food and security
Speaker 3: and hunger in our country, not just in our country,
Speaker 3: but you know, more more.
Speaker 1: Locally, like right in our backyard.
Speaker 3: Yeah, literally, I mean, you know, hunger. I think an
Speaker 3: important thing to keep in mind and something that I'm
Speaker 3: always reminded of while in this job at Society Saint
Speaker 3: Andrew is that hunger does not look like one thing,
Speaker 3: just one thing. I mean, it's you know, it can
Speaker 3: look like very many different things in different communities, and
Speaker 3: and thus there is not one If if it was
Speaker 3: one organization or one person that could that could bridge
Speaker 3: the gap, then we wouldn't be sitting here talking about
Speaker 3: this right now. I mean, you know, it's a collaborative
Speaker 3: effort across.
Speaker 2: Yes, everybody, Yes, And we partner with so many as
Speaker 2: we partner with the farmers, with the volunteers, with organizations,
Speaker 2: with churches, with individuals. It's partnership and a network that
Speaker 2: spans across the United States. It's incredible and across Virginia
Speaker 2: and we're strengthening that I have to say too. We
Speaker 2: were talking about we're strategic. You were talking about, you know,
Speaker 2: our nonprofit, we're strategic, and we're strategic and looking. We
Speaker 2: partner with Feeding America Tackle Hunger and USDA. We go
Speaker 2: on their sites. Feeding America for instance, has a map
Speaker 2: the Meal Gap, and you can go on there by state,
Speaker 2: click on it and it'll give you a map of
Speaker 2: your state and it'll show you where the highest rates
Speaker 2: of poverty are in your And you're saying, yeah, that's
Speaker 2: really cool. And so we're currently putting together our map.
Speaker 2: We've done one for Georgia. We're doing one for Virginia
Speaker 2: because I'm eating it up. We take that map and
Speaker 2: show where the poverty is, and then we put an
Speaker 2: overlay of where we're working in Virginia where we have
Speaker 2: an area gleaning coordinators and Tidewater, Winchester, Charlottesville, we have
Speaker 2: one in Roanoke now in southwest Virginia, and we put
Speaker 2: where we have providers, and then we're making sure that
Speaker 2: we're taking the food from the providers and zeroing in
Speaker 2: on that highest need area or if that area is
Speaker 2: not getting food, we're getting it there. So I'm like
Speaker 2: really excited and.
Speaker 1: I feel we're strategic. Yeah. Oh, I feel like this
Speaker 1: has been a really great podcast and I really hope
Speaker 1: people hear what has been spoken and want to get involved,
Speaker 1: which leads me to one of our last questions, how
Speaker 1: can people connect with you? And do you have anything
Speaker 1: coming up with a fundraiser or anything on the calendar
Speaker 1: that that you just need to talk about before we
Speaker 1: end this part of our podcast.
Speaker 2: We have lots We're not done yet.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, you can visit our website and hunger
Speaker 3: dot Org has contact info for all of our different
Speaker 3: regional offices and in our nationwide kind.
Speaker 2: Of eight number if you need to call us.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, you know you can stop by our office
Speaker 3: and three at thirty three eighty three Sweet Hall Road,
Speaker 3: Big Island.
Speaker 2: And uh, I don't think it's a stop buy situation.
Speaker 2: I think it's a field trip. Yeah, you take a
Speaker 2: day trip to come out to the country.
Speaker 3: But yeah, And and for our volunteer sign up system,
Speaker 3: we're on mobilized, So you can visit mobilized dot us,
Speaker 3: slash and hunger and you'll and you can find opportunities
Speaker 3: in your area to volunteer and glean.
Speaker 2: You can also click on volunteer on our website, right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: you should be able to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's there too, And we'll be sure to
Speaker 1: put your website and all that information when we have
Speaker 1: the podcast that's posted, we'll put that information to just
Speaker 1: really trying to connect, connect everybody that needs to be connected.
Speaker 1: So anything else you need to say before we go
Speaker 1: to announcements. This has been a eye opening interview.
Speaker 3: Are in oh you can go? Or where I can?
Speaker 3: In May, we're going to have two events coming up,
Speaker 3: going to have a nur May third slash fourth. More
Speaker 3: details to come, but I want to say it out loud.
Speaker 3: It's it's a Lunchburg, Virginia, a potato distribution. Uh and
Speaker 3: then one and and I think the town limits of
Speaker 3: Bedford coming up.
Speaker 2: You're not being specific, Ben, She's going to get on here.
Speaker 1: Y'all work this out. Do you say whatever you need
Speaker 1: to say?
Speaker 2: That was that contentious?
Speaker 5: We're not contentious.
Speaker 2: I'm just going to spill the fiends. After this meeting,
Speaker 2: we're going to go over to Bedford Elementary School and
Speaker 2: we're excited to promote and say and announce we are
Speaker 2: having a potato drop or a crop drop, which is
Speaker 2: going to be about twenty five thousand pounds of potato squash.
Speaker 2: That will be this summer that May third, on the Saturday,
Speaker 2: May third. It's going to be in the Bedford Elementary
Speaker 2: School parking lot. We'll have volunteers from all over Bedford.
Speaker 2: We're partnering with obviously the Bedford Elementary School in the
Speaker 2: Bedford Police Department.
Speaker 3: Yes, okay, that's.
Speaker 1: The part that the question.
Speaker 2: But I think we are and anyway we are. We
Speaker 2: are partnering with Bedford Elementary.
Speaker 3: Say, we've been in contact with them, Yes, with this.
Speaker 2: Event, and it's going to be a big event. Will
Speaker 2: give away twenty five pounds of fresh, healthy food and
Speaker 2: we're going to pack it up that day and distribute it.
Speaker 1: I think, and that'll be on your Facebook page.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, we'll announce it Facebook such as SOSA VA
Speaker 3: Glean and then our Instagram which is Sosa underscore VA
Speaker 3: Underscore Gleen. Someone had already took that. I don't know how.
Speaker 1: It's s O s A.
Speaker 3: VA and then the word Glean, ok. And then it's
Speaker 3: the same and it's the same for Instagram, except there's
Speaker 3: an underscore between SOSA and Virginia and then Virginia and
Speaker 3: glean okay, and for and for farmers markets and farmers
Speaker 3: and in general. I think the Farmers Market UH Bureau
Speaker 3: of Virginia posted on their Instagram page our new.
Speaker 4: Yeah, our work with Kim Hutchinson probably.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Kim Hutcheson and then and then Virginia Tech Sarah
Speaker 3: Grant for the for for for for gle gleaning safety training.
Speaker 3: So you like food safety training.
Speaker 1: I love all this well. I feel like there this
Speaker 1: could be an even longer conversation, but I think.
Speaker 2: We have.
Speaker 1: Really got people excited and interested and hopefully invested and
Speaker 1: being a part of bridging the gap and getting the
Speaker 1: food where it needs to be. So I want to
Speaker 1: thank you both for being here with the plethora of
Speaker 1: information and excitement and being part of this. So thank
Speaker 1: you for that. We're now going to turn to our
Speaker 1: ag announcements. Before we do that, I would just want
Speaker 1: to share that we would like to continue to grow
Speaker 1: our social media presence, so please like, follow, and share
Speaker 1: our Bedford County, Virginia Agriculture Facebook page. We want to
Speaker 1: reach as many folks as possible, And just so you
Speaker 1: know that today's episode will be posted on our Facebook
Speaker 1: page with a link provided, so then you can can
Speaker 1: share from this podcast and our social media presence as well.
Speaker 1: But anyway, as you know, we had a co host today, Ms.
Speaker 1: Darthy was here and so I'm gonna let her share
Speaker 1: all things that deal with Forest Farmer's Market and Anita's
Speaker 1: Farmer's Market and then we'll talk about some other announcements.
Speaker 1: But I just want her to get to expand on
Speaker 1: those two things.
Speaker 5: Thank you so much.
Speaker 4: So yeah, So Forest Farmers Market has one more winter market.
Speaker 4: It's April twelfth, nine to noon. It's starting to look
Speaker 4: pretty pretty full. A lot of guest vendors, a lot
Speaker 4: of interest in the market right now, both ag and
Speaker 4: artisan related. So that's pretty pretty interesting. We open up
Speaker 4: our main season April twenty sixth. We changed times from
Speaker 4: eight to noon and that should be a full season,
Speaker 4: starting to see the produce come back in.
Speaker 5: Right. We had that deep freeze what six weeks.
Speaker 4: Ago and a lot of the hardy greens just did
Speaker 4: couldn't make it through that, right, So we'll get to
Speaker 4: see the fresh greens coming in in April, and Menita
Speaker 4: Market will start the first Wednesday in May. That's from
Speaker 4: three to six on Wednesdays. I didn't mention forest is.
Speaker 1: On Saturdays and tell us the location of the.
Speaker 4: Location of the forest is fifteen five eighty three Forest Road.
Speaker 4: It's behind the Forest Library and Menita. I don't remember
Speaker 4: the address, but it is next to the Menita.
Speaker 5: Smith Mountain Lake Library.
Speaker 1: Excellent. So we partner with the libraries for that and
Speaker 1: Menita starts back what.
Speaker 4: The Menita will start back the first Wednesday in May three.
Speaker 1: To six, that's wednes Wednesdays.
Speaker 4: And I'm still looking for some vegetable farmers for that one.
Speaker 4: There will be a general meeting April tenth at the
Speaker 4: Smith Mountain Lake Menita Library from six to seven. That's
Speaker 4: a Wednesday for people that are interested and it's interested
Speaker 4: in coming and vending at the market.
Speaker 1: At the Menita Market, yes, okay, and so if they
Speaker 1: need so, do you have all your spots full for forests.
Speaker 1: In regards to vendors.
Speaker 4: Year, I entertained stuff that I don't have from oh
Speaker 4: venders that I don't already carry.
Speaker 1: Is there a particular genre that you're looking for that I.
Speaker 5: Would love to see cheese, but.
Speaker 4: That's not in our area, okay.
Speaker 1: So if anybody is an artisan cheesemaker, please connect with
Speaker 1: litter in the Bedfruit Area.
Speaker 4: Okay, Menita, I will entertain anybody at this.
Speaker 1: Point because it's growing, it's coming.
Speaker 4: It's only it's third year, so it's still in its
Speaker 4: early stages, so I would entertain pretty much.
Speaker 1: And Forest has been going on for how many years?
Speaker 5: Actually, this is the fifteenth year. We're going to celebrate the.
Speaker 1: Hi Happy birthday. Yeah, I didn't see that coming book excellent.
Speaker 1: So in comparison, Menita is the baby. It is, and
Speaker 1: so it's still getting established and creating it it's.
Speaker 5: Wrong base, Yeah, needs a little bit of growth.
Speaker 4: It really has a nice strong base both in customers
Speaker 4: and and vendors and board of the community wonderful.
Speaker 1: And I have reached out to Montvale to see information
Speaker 1: about their upcoming market, so hopefully next month on the podcast,
Speaker 1: I can share something about the Montvale Market. The Bedford
Speaker 1: Farmers Market. You can stay up to date on their
Speaker 1: Facebook page. I believe they have one. They have the
Speaker 1: fifteenth this week nine to one, and they're located at
Speaker 1: West Washington Street at the Farmers Market Pavilion. So just
Speaker 1: follow their Facebook page and stay tuned for what they're
Speaker 1: offering as well as hopefully Montvale Farmer's Market will have
Speaker 1: some information to share with us, and then swinging into
Speaker 1: some other agritourism items. Layman Family Farms located at eighteen
Speaker 1: fifteen Mountain View Church Road. It's off of four sixty.
Speaker 1: They say it's Blue Ridge. I consider it Montvale, but anyway,
Speaker 1: they are hosting a stunning new festival starting the weekend
Speaker 1: of March the twenty ninth. That's the Virginia Flower Fest
Speaker 1: and they will have to quote them a sea of
Speaker 1: over fifty thousand blooming tulups. So I think that that's
Speaker 1: going to be a beautiful scene to witness. All the
Speaker 1: details and ticket pricing are available on their website, which
Speaker 1: is laymanfamilyfarm dot com. It's sure to be going to
Speaker 1: be a new local favorite. I just know it is.
Speaker 1: It's going to beautiful and stunning, and I don't believe
Speaker 1: there's anything like that with tulips in our area. Now.
Speaker 1: Gross's Orchard is hosting something that is obviously a local
Speaker 1: favorite that's been going on for several years. On April
Speaker 1: the twelfth, they will be hosting their yearly Apple Blossom Festival.
Speaker 1: There will be food, wagon rides, music vendors, and obviously
Speaker 1: a beautiful spot to enjoy the apple blossoms. Information is
Speaker 1: available on their Facebook page and they are also doing
Speaker 1: like a hands on class this coming Saturday. Darthy, did
Speaker 1: you want to talk about what you saw on Facebook
Speaker 1: about their class that they're offering.
Speaker 4: Sure, there's a gentleman in our area in Bedford County
Speaker 4: that's Matt Fortune and he has Fortune Farm. I believe
Speaker 4: it's called He will be at Grocer's Orchard.
Speaker 5: Grocer's Orchard would be hosting it.
Speaker 4: They will be doing a grafting workshop for apples. They'll
Speaker 4: be doing hands on They'll have the the sion wood
Speaker 4: and you'll be able to graft off of some of
Speaker 4: Grocer's Orchard's apples which they take just a twig off
Speaker 4: and you kind of marry them together and they grow
Speaker 4: and it becomes a strong apple tree.
Speaker 1: I believe that is who worked with Johnny when we
Speaker 1: were doing some of that. He was a very insightful
Speaker 1: and knowledgeable person.
Speaker 5: That's ten to noon, I believe.
Speaker 1: Check their Facebook page and also this is not agg related,
Speaker 1: but this is definitely heartfelt and genuine. Be sure to
Speaker 1: follow and support all things Media Squatch. We are so
Speaker 1: grateful to partner with Woody and his team here at
Speaker 1: Media squatch. We had this idea about a podcast. What
Speaker 1: he said, Yes, we can make that happen. So please
Speaker 1: just be a good human and like, follow, share all
Speaker 1: things that deal with media squatch. All right. Lastly, if
Speaker 1: you want to attend one of our ag Board meetings,
Speaker 1: you are more than welcome. Ag Board meeting times and
Speaker 1: minutes are always available online under the Agboard tab on
Speaker 1: the Economic Development website. You're welcome to come and see
Speaker 1: what our board is up to at our monthly meetings.
Speaker 1: We value your input and hope to see you there.
Speaker 1: This is Melody Divers reminding you to be good to
Speaker 1: yourself and be good to others.