Yesterday this field of potatoes was being harvested and today as I walked by I noticed that there were still little potatoes lying on the surface in places.  I don’t know whether they were too small to sell or had been dropped but admit I did pick up, or glean, a few from the field edge.  Gleaning saves crops being ploughed into the ground and in parts of Britain, Feedback Gleaning groups have been set up to collect good quality fruit or vegetables that will be  rejected by supermarkets because of their size, shape or colour.  Between 20 and 40% of crops never reach the shops so those collected by the groups are given to needy groups in the community.   Near East Linton there are acres of fields of vegetables and there always seem to be isolated leeks, cabbages or sprouts left after harvesting but probably there are insufficient quantities for an official gleaning group unlike areas such as in southern and eastern England.