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Adventure Pick in South Georgia

05 Dec 2023, by Admin in Harvest Blog, Concrete Jungle

Savannah serves as the AmeriCorps VISTA for Concrete Jungle in Atlanta. She manages Produce Buyers Club, a program which reduces food waste and increases access by purchasing imperfect produce from Georgia farms for distribution at more than a dozen hunger relief agencies. 


In October 2023, Concrete Jungle hosted an Adventure Pick in South Georgia. An adventure pick is a gleaning, but with a twist. The twist is after they glean the produce, they go for a nearby adventure to have lunch and unwind from the labor. The adventure picks are taking volunteers from the city and surrounding areas and introducing them to life on the produce farm. 


With the farm partnership with D&D Ag in Sylvester, GA, Savannah cultivated the relationship between the farm and Concrete Jungle to help coordinate the day of activities. Over 30 volunteers attended the pick to glean 10,295 pounds of sweet corn. The volunteers and concrete jungle staff members worked for three hours pulling corn and packing into boxes. Volunteers helped make this a fun team effort activity all of while never losing sight of the task at hand. When gleaning happen, Concrete Jungle promotes donating the produce to local food banks or pantries in the area of the glean. While this corn pick is not new to the glean, Savannah was able to establish a new relationship with a local food pantry called Second Harvest. Second Harvest brought their 12-pallet reefer truck in which was filled with corn that would be distributed to pantries in the local area. Making this new relationship really streamlined the process of food to families. 


After our tireless efforts of pulling corn, volunteers and staff members enjoyed an evening at Calhoun Produce in Ashburn, GA. From trivia corn maze to pig races, this allowed time to unwind and have some refreshing lunch before heading back to Atlanta. The adventure pick was successful. Concrete Jungle looks forward to more gleaning opportunities in 2024 in South Georgia.

CJ group photo