Be Practical! Fight inflation at home: Practice the noble art of gleaning (Part 4)

The Noble Practice of Gleaning

Glean is to gather, as scattered grain from a reaped field. 

 Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

This is a romantic painting of three old women gleaning in a wheat field at sunset by J Francois Millet. A religious order - St Paul of Chartres - adopted the painting as symbol of its mission.

But it may mean differently. Markham looked at the painting as a symbol of social injustice, reinforced by Man with the Hoe, also by Millet. Markham wrote his message in forceful language.

Without reference to religious and ideological connotation, gleaning is a good practice. It reduces wastefulness and waste itself. It extends the use of a product, maximizing its value.  It is "value added" in itself.

Here are examples of gleaning in postmodern times.


1. Toothpaste. Cut spent tube with blade or scissor and glean. About a quarter of the content is ensconced in the tube. You can also use recovered paste as hand wash. Excellent to remove fishy and foul odor, grease and oil. It is refreshing, too. 

2. Pencil stub. Roll a piece of paper (preferably colorful) on butt end of pencil. Flatten and twist end three times at right angle each time. It is self-locking. There is no need of paste or type. Rolled paper extends length of pencil to make writing comfortable. It also serves as tip cover to prevent injury. It is an art, you can add to the crown a message, a cutout of a happy face - your own. The crown serves as clip in your pocket. Use paper that does not stain when wet. Collect those beautiful leaflets - they are indeed useful. 

3. Lipstick. Don't throw away your spent lipstick. Dig out the content with lip brush, just as it is shown in the photo. Much of the stuff lies inside the tube. Many cosmetic products can be gleamed: pomade in bottle, face powder in disc canister, perfume in atomizer, and the like. 

Remaining shampoo can be recovered by rinsing bottle, or cutting 

 sachet and turning it inside out 

Examples of food gleaning   

1. Rice crust (tutong)  
2. Corn on the cob
3. Biscuit crumbs
4. Ends of loaf bread
5. Ripe mango (seed flesh)
6. Watermelon rind
7. Banana heart (puso)
8. Leftover food
9. Fallen ripe fruits
10. Vegetables (maximize prep)
11. Bone gleaning, and
12. Head of fish, too. 

Continue on with the above list as you experience them.  There are 101 more ways of gleaning.  Examples of household gleaning

1. Coffee. Pour one-half cup water into empty bottle to loosen caked layer. Add hot water in the amount desired. (Don't pour hot water directly, otherwise bottle will break. If you do, be sure to put a spoon first, then pour hot water.) Stir or shake bottle gently. (Warning: don't shake bottle with tight cover. Hot water exerts pressure.)

2. Sugar. Follow the same procedure as in coffee, unless the container is plastic. For cocoa, fruit juice in powder, and salt, follow the same procedure. 

Gleaned coffee glass container.

Wipe  the bottom of condensed milk with bread

3. When eating fruits like mango, santol, atis, caimito, and banana, don't just discard the part that you do not like. It's a waste really if after the first bite and you don't like the taste for whatever reason, you simply throw the whole thing away. Eat apple to the pith. Scoop caimito and atis with spoon. Thinly peel green cucumber, in fact there is no need to peel it at all. Take time to glean the fleshy seeds of mango atis, duhat, rambutan and santol in your mouth. Glean watermelon and melon to the rind. Save the rind, "eyes" and pith of pineapple and make them into vinegar. Suha rind is made into confectionery. Coconut meal (sapal) is an excellent animal and poultry feed.

4. In preparing vegetables, such as lettuce, mustard and cabbage, include older leaves as long as they are clean and healthy. Older malunggay leaves are more nutritious, so with kamote tops. Damaged tubers of cassava, gabi, potato and the like can be saved - just cut off the damaged part. Prepare perishable fruits and vegetable promptly. Vegetable stalks and peelings are good green fodder for farm animals and fish.

5. Other food. rice crust (tutong) from pot; mayonnaise, jelly, jam, butter, from their containers. Learn practical techniques of gleaning in the kitchen and in the refrigerator. You will save a lot. And get rid of the mess and vermin that thrive on our wasteful living.

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Gleaning of non-food items:

1. Toothpaste. Cut spent tube with blade or scissor and glean. About a quarter of the content is ensconced in the tube. You can also use recovered paste as hand wash. Excellent to remove fishy and foul odor, grease and oil. It is refreshing, too.

2. Pencil stub. Roll a piece of paper (preferably colorful) on butt end of pencil. Flatten and twist end three times at right angle each time. It is self-locking. There is no need of paste or tape. Rolled paper extends length of pencil to make writing comfortable. It also serves as tip cover to prevent injury. It is an art, you can add to the crown a message, a cutout of a happy face - your own. The crown serves as clip in your pocket. Use paper that does not stain when wet. Collect those beautiful leaflets - they are indeed useful. Kids will simply love this project - paper caps for pencil and ball pens.

3. Lipstick. Don't throw away your spent lipstick. Dig out the content with lip brush, just as it is shown in the photo. Much of the stuff lies inside the tube. Many cosmetic products can be gleaned: pomade in bottle, face powder in disc canister, perfume in atomizer, and the like. Remaining shampoo can be recovered by rinsing bottle, or cutting sachet and turning inside out.

4. Wax and Candles. Gather candle stubs, spills, and broken ones, preferably of the same make and color. Remove impurities. Scrape and chop thinly, and melt in a suitable pan over low fire. Common molds are glass vase, bamboo or PVC tube Use pure cotton thread for wick.

5. Soap. Scrape and dissolve in water. Thoroughly mix, filter with cloth. Transfer filtrate into empty hand wash dispenser. You may adjust concentration according to use or preference. You may add freshener or perfume. You can reprocess remnants into "new soap".

6. Paper. Write on the back page, recycle as wrapper. Newsprint is used as glass cleaner, simply moisten and wipe dirt of window panes and mirrors. Use old paper as fuel for cooking, or fire starter. Shredded paper is good garden mulch and animal bedding.

7. Shoes – Repair worn out sole, or convert into slippers. Save the leather for several uses, from faucet repair to handle cover of garden tools. But first, if shoe is in good condition and outgrown by user, turn it over to someone it fits. By the way, when buying shoes consider foremost comfort and durability over style and fancy.

List down other applications of gleaning, which you can apply in your home and community. ~