Kickstarter

Update: We are so excited to continue soaring past our goal! This means working with more farmers, getting more freezers, and turning more otherwise lost food into tantalizing dishes. We've added Kickstarter exclusive benefits-limited edition bumper sticker for all backers from $5 to $50, and limited edition hand made T-Shirt for all backers over $50. Let's keep going-help us make tasty food, show the world how supported this kind of project is. Every dollar contributed expands our projects capacity.

We are asking for your help to create a more resilient and viable food system. The Gleanery wants to preserve the excess perishable food in our area, and provide it to the community year round. We need your help to do this!

We have the culinary skill: We aren’t just talking about freezing bruised tomatoes here, either. We’re talking peach and goat milk ice cream, tamales, and the perfectly spiced sambal, all from food that would otherwise be compost.

We have the awesome produce: We have farm partners who are offering us seconds and surplus crops every day. These vegetables are incredibly delicious, and going to waste just because the market can’t absorb their short shelf life-meanwhile we are all yearning for the taste of that farm fresh basil in the winter.

We have the passionate community: We are using a community supported restaurant model. We have raised the bulk of our start up money from widespread community investment. The town of Putney has gotten together and put their money where their mouth is to fund a restaurant that is commited to good food and good farms.

Our project uses that culinary skill to preserve that awesome food and provide it to to the community year round. We are looking to purchase a commercial dehydrator, freezer, prep tables, smoker, pressure canner, food processor, and an ice cream maker: the tools of Gleaners. After we have identified surplus goods through our open lines of communication with our farmers, with the equipment you have helped us secure, we will be in our kitchen fermenting cabbages and cucumbers, pickling almost everything, making farm fresh baby food, tasty sorbets and ice creams, dehydrating flowers, herbs and fruits, smoking and curing meats, freezing vegetables, and making fresh juices.

The benefits of our project

Reduces Waste:

With our gleaning program, we will be able to annually convert over 2,000 pounds of food that would otherwise go to waste into tasty foods. These are crops that skilled farmers on excellent land are growing organically. The food is excellent, but it is perishable. A short shelf life means that if it is not sold within a week, it goes to the compost.

Creates stability for farmers:

Our gleaning program means that our partnersfarms' can rest assured that if they grow it, we will cook it. They will have to spend less time worrying about selling those perfectly ripe greens, and be able to spend more time farming. With this program, we will be a guaranteed market for three farms in our first year; we will promise that we will buy whatever seconds and surplus crops they have. This will develop significant market stability for the farmers.

Creates tasty food for consumers year round:

This project allows us to provide locally grown food to the community year round. People who come in during January will be able to get a jar of corn relish off our shelves, or a bowl of heirloom tomato soup, and know that they are still supporting their local farms.  We will be able to play a key role in the local food system and the health, tastiness, economic vibrancy, and environmental benefits that consumers receive.