FOWLER – “It’s definitely a lot of leftovers that hopefully goes to the right places,” said Kevin Sudduth. Several people from the company, Dawson, volunteered to help with a new kind of food rescue mission in Southern Colorado. They are at HoneyGold Farms in Fowler, Colorado, where the farmer has agreed to let volunteers glean his fields.
It is an agreement with Care and Share Food Bank, as well as, Colorado Springs Food Rescue. “He’s letting us come out and take whatever we want really from his fields,” said Volunteer Lyn Root. Volunteers follow up after regular farm crews have gone through fields. They glean what is too big, too small, blemished, or just missed.
On the squash row, the vegetable is actually a byproduct. Removing it helps another harvest. “It encourages squash blossom growth and we sell blossoms to various restaurants,” said Farmer, Alan Smith, “It just seemed insane to just toss it by the side of the plants and have it rot.”
Smith is offering up the squash and extra heirloom watermelons. The volunteers bring in enough to fill the Care & Share semi-trailer. The thousands of pounds of fresh organic produce will be divided at the warehouse and sent to food banks across southern Colorado.
