Farmers Mark Zamanian of Blessed Harmony Farms in Cobbs Creek and Christian Brown of Mush Love mushroom farm in Mathews visited a sweet potato farm in Farnham recently and gleaned over 1,000 pounds of sweet potatoes to donate to the local charitable organizations Hands Across Mathews and Bread for Life.
In addition, they gleaned a dozen 50-pound boxes of sweet potatoes that they intend to sell for $50 each at Blessed Harmony’s produce stand on Mathews Main Street, then donate the balance after taxes to Hands Across Mathews.Pat Hanners of the Forest Mushroom Growers Association transported the potatoes for them. Zamanian and Brown are also members of the association.
The sweet potatoes were oddly shaped, said Zamanian, which makes them hard to sell, so the farmer, a friend of his, had planned to plow them back under to prepare the soil for next year. Instead, told Zamanian he could glean as many as he liked.
“We left maybe 30 times as many,” said Zamanian. “Gleaning food like this is ha...