Boston Area Gleaners (BAG) held their sixth annual June Food Day on Saturday, June 21 on a comfortable late afternoon and early evening, before this week’s heat wave hit.
BAG has been operating at Stonefield Farm in South Acton since 2021 when the food rescue and hunger relief organization purchased the property from the Simeone family who had been farming it since 1929. Brothers Paul, Mike, and Carl, the most recent family members to be working the farm, were ready to retire then, but wanted to ensure the land would continue to be used to grow crops. Acton’s Town Meeting authorized, and appropriated funds for, an Agricultural Preservation Restriction, on another June 21 in 2021, preserving the land’s use for farming in perpetuity.
BAG holds the June Food Day event each year to celebrate its critical hunger relief work, offer gratitude to volunteers and sponsors, and highlight its many food access partners. BAG harvests and accepts surplus fresh food and shares it with communities that have less access to food. Since its founding in 2004, the non-profit has supplied food to programs across eastern Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.
At June Food Day this year, a meal ticket afforded attendees a plate piled high with food provided by the iCater Team of Pine Street Inn. Beverages and ice cream were offered free of charge. Mike Payette’s Acoustic Roadshow performed live music on a loading-dock-turned-stage.
Hayrides, a raffle, lawn games, t-shirt painting, and farm tours were also part of the event. Board members, volunteers, and staff meandered here and there, participating in tours, sharing information, telling stories, passing out ice cream, and announcing raffle winners. A few of the farm staff work here seasonally, spending the off-season in Jamaica with their families. Between them, they have 100 years of experience, and are instrumental to the success of the operation.
Dan Kamen, farm manager, led three tours during the event, showing off fields, greenhouses, and new farm equipment. He noted that this is the first growing season during which all food produced at the farm is going exclusively to BAG’s food access partners, food pantries, community kitchens, and food banks. They are no longer selling to markets. There is a delivery of two to four pallets every week to the Greater Boston Food Bank. In addition to harvesting, or “gleaning,” surplus produce from other farms, BAG’s mission includes growing culturally appropriate produce, meaning that it meets the preferences of underserved consumers and minority communities. Callaloo, a Caribbean leafy green in the amaranth family, is one such crop.
Romaine and tomatoes are also grown, and the farm team times the plantings so they complement the crops from other farms, ready to harvest just about the time gleaning at other farms slows down. Kamen shared that about 1500 heads of lettuce per week are produced.
Alissa Nicol is a member of Acton’s Select Board, and writes about community events for the Acton Exchange.