Gleaning by Ron Marks

Apple season is upon us here at the Marks house and Saturday was the day to pick a majority of the apples. As we were finishing up Saturday, several people asked if there was something more they could do. I said, “Don’t worry we have “gleaners” coming on Monday.”

University students from Emmaus House were coming on Monday to finish the apple picking and the last pressings of apple cider. As two 70 year olds, Nancy and I with more than 20 years of apple harvests, were more than excited to have the enthusiasm of youth to glean and help us clean up.

I thought WHOA, this “gleaning” is biblical. It’s seen in Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Some of the crop in biblical times was left for the poor on the edges of the field for them to pick up after the owner of the field was finished with harvest. It’s also part of the story of Boaz, Ruth and Naomi in the book of Ruth. It was a legal right in Jewish law that the poor have some access to the excesses of harvest. It’s also a part of our stewardship as we share our bounty with others.

As we gather our apples here in Montana, we see that some of the apples are left in the top of the trees. I claim they are for the birds, and for the deer, maybe they are too hard for us to harvest. It becomes a part of sharing the bounty of our harvest of apples. It’s ecologically sound as the deer and the birds need the energy the apples will give them through the winter.

There are examples of this gleaning or sharing around today. The food bank comes to my grocery store to gather food that the store might have difficulty selling. I remember some of Nancy’s ISU classmates telling of gleaning for potatoes in southern Idaho. A sign of good farmers and good neighbors.

I can’t help but notice the Gospel text for this week in Mark 10 follows this example. Jesus tells the disciples that the “last shall be first and the first will be last” and we should be servants to others.

We feel truly blessed to be able to share with many people the joy of giving of our time and effort with the apples.

“Share the love of Christ with all”.

Ron, Nancy, Erik, Ike, Kathie, Bethanie, Freddie, and Joe Marks