Sister Judy told us of the Book of Ruth and gleaning as we finished a tour of the Bahr Farm. It was 2016. Read Ruth and you will feel the bonds of family, deep love and loyalty. By 2018, we found with who and where we could glean blueberries, lettuce, tomatoes, blackberries and kale. What about corn?

We bought some ears, best in years, at a roadside stand near the corner of Sharon Rd and Rt. 42. Went back, bought more, and found out where. Went there, met Ashley and Karen and little baby Ruth. We talked farms, the harvest, sharing and gleaning. Their eyes, and my heart lit up. I was invited to come back and help, so that I will know the set up. It might not have happened exactly this way or that way, but I do know this story is true. It was summertime 2019.

Day 1 – Getting to know

Before the crack of dawn, it's dark. The chickens are just now wiping the sleep from their eyes. Listened to 91.7 on the 19.2 mile ride to a new adventure. Karen had let Bobby know I was coming.

The buzz in the barn is ears. 500 dozen or 1000 dozen. Ms. Kathy was clearly in charge, Bobby was at her side. The harvest crew was Reed, Marc, Jude, Michael, Tim and me. We had greeted each other with smiles and nods. Some wore rain pants and some steel-toed shoes. These were neighbors and friends, old and young and one FNG. Tim was the wise owl. Worked there eight years part time. He and Bobby were in the know. You could hear their brains sync as Bobby fired the engine, just when the sun poked its head up.

The stories started when we took a breath, and there was a pause in the action. Something about somebody in the corn mafia. One year they had an eleven-year-old girl on the crew good enough to drive the tractor. One year a fifteen-year-old girl could do more push-ups than anyone in the city except a boy from St. X. One of the crew, Michael, worked for a landscaper one county over. He had just switched from pharma to AG / landscaping at UC and loved helping with this harvest.

It was the end of the corn harvest season. We picked and threw, bagged and hauled. I got to see up close how this farm helps feed lots of people across counties, across borders, at roadsides and stands. We ended up with 110 bags holding five dozen each. I went home tired and very much at peace.

Day 2 – Trust and Confidence

Did it again. One week later. Dry and cool. Drove down into the valley, across the Big river or was it the Little one? Passed through a tiny town, where at that hour there is no room to, you know, do your business. Pulled in a quarter hour before sunrise. Once again Ms. Kathy came first, then Tim, then Bobby and Ryan and Jude then Stephanie. It was quiet in the barn, but alive, just like right before you leave the locker room for a big game. It was another crack of dawn.

The math makes my head spin and I love math. Practical math is spoken in plain English. . 30 bags. . 90 or was it 100 acres. 500 dozen. 1000 dozen. Do five rows at a time or three. Depends on what Bobby thinks and Tim says. Depends on the crew. While sitting on the big red machine or was it green, Bobby said it was just right for the late afternoon rain yet to come. The Firestone tire, or was it Goodyear, came up to my chin. The engine fired. We climbed aboard the trailer. I needed a little help getting up and in. We drove and bounced around to a far field toward the rising sun.

They carefully eyed and scoped five rows to pick as clean as we could. Bobby lined it up and Ms. Kathy took the wheel. Five pickers with Bobby picking up the rear. We covered the floor of the trailer with maybe fifty or was it a hundred dozen ears and climbed on top of them on to another field. We passed soybeans and pumpkins just blooming. I know ‘cause I asked what are those. Heard that Stephanie had a baby at the sitter, Jude had a farm and a stand not far away just over the hill two towns over.

We went down and back to another field. We snapped each ear and tossed or threw, hitting most and missing a few. Harvest as much as we could. “Move up”. “Move up”. “Move on up”. The snap of the wrist needed a twist and sometimes that ear did not want to give up. Bobby knew how to clean up what I missed and gently nudged me forward. They let me be one or two rows from the trailer. Watch out for that wheel. The experts were five rows away. Every now and then there was a shout “HEY – your throws are missing”. So be careful. We filled that trailer. A huge pile of corn stacked tall, just about ready to spill over.

We climbed aboard the heap of corn and rode in. Jude lost his niece to cancer or he wondered, if it was her love of diet pop? Her funeral was the next day. She was 63. We pull back in the barn. Bobby and Tim drop the rails. It was time to count to fifteen with each drop of four ears and fill each bag with five dozen. Three of us counted together so we knew. Not too loud, cause the crew on the other side were doing the same thing. We filled each bag that day to the tip top. Last week the ears were smaller and the bags got ¾ full. Little ears one week. Big ears the next. Just depends.

Wholesale customers in pickups parked right next to the barn and loaded up. Heard a guy from Michigan comes in the middle of each July and buys 2000 dozen. Barb, Alexia and a big tall guy in a red shirt came and went as we wound down. Karen came to help finish the bag and drag. She helped me load two bags into my SUV to share, one for Jacque and Jerry at Tryed Stone and one for DJ, LaVerne and Carmen down in the Valley at Friendship Baptist.

Ms. Kathy and Bobby have a mind meld and I heard 120 or was it 240? Wait, aren't we done? We went back out. Ms. Kathy, Bobby, Tim, Karen and me. Karen made it clear she preferred being with customers at the market stand. We went not far, just across the road to the nearest field. This small catch was not bagged up. The ears just laid loose on the trailer that Bobby then drove a mile or two to the market stand. People were waiting. It was about 10:20. There was a rush to grab a dozen or two.

Behind the farm stand, I saw a white box. Inside that was breakfast. Donuts and sweet treats. I was one happy boy. Some had Mountain Dew with half a cinnamon bun. We talked rural fire departments. How much corn? Workers. Twelve steady, reliable high schoolers. 75% don't make the cut. Come back next July. Three crews. Right there across the highway. People line up to watch the action. Handpicked is way better than machine picked. Special seeds and family tradition. This is a third-generation farm setting the stage for the fourth.

Not many left anymore. Brown’s down to 20 acres. This farmer gone. That farmer gone. Garver's since 1963. The Amish guy. The Mennonite guy. Grandpa. 100-year celebration. Jobs, food, and farm stands.

Finally, “Ok. Come and glean on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. In the field right next to the road across from the barn that we picked earlier. Come and take what is left. Then we'll plow it under.”

Day 3 – Glean and Share

Nine came on real short notice. We were just some of the gleaners of southwest Ohio. Michelle and her niece. Rosalind and Anthony. Levi. Mike. LaVerne, her granddaughter and Hazel. That day it was for HUGS, JEE Foods and Valley Pantry. We began to arrive about 2pm. Bobby walked over from his house with a welcome smile and friendly handshake. It was a little muddy, 80 degrees. Not bad for Labor Day. We gleaned 25 or 30 dozen on foot and by hand, into bags that came up to our waist. The gleaners loaded the bags into their trunks and back seats and shared those ears with neighbors in need. Ms. Kathy stopped by right before we left. We thanked her for her family's gracious invitation to glean at their farm.

May God bless the Burwinkel family and all of our local farmers in the Central Ohio River Valley.

(CORV Guide)

To learn more about the gleaning movement in southwest Ohio – click here

Gleaning in southwest Ohio was originally inspired by VITALITY Cincinnati

Mike Eck retired after a 40 year career in information technology sales and business development. Refired as a volunteer at places such as VITALITY Cincinnati, Gorman Heritage Farm and the Princeton Education Foundation. Collaborates with others to help launch new initiatives, such as the Gleaning movement and the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition program in southwest Ohio. Enjoys journaling, writing essays and getting ink. Married to Denise, father and grandpa. Residents of Butler County, OH.