In response to the rising cost of groceries, Seacoast farmers are helping residents of Cross Roads House to servings of healthy, fresh, locally grown food in New Hampshire’s largest emergency and transitional shelter.

Each Saturday at the Portsmouth Farmers’ Market, volunteers from several area organizations gather food donations from farmers who have enough to share. Visitors to the market can assist the effort and increase the amount of fresh vegetables being delivered each week by making donations of food themselves.

The practice of “gleaning” makes use of fresh produce that farmers and growers have in excess one week, but would probably not remain fresh for the next week’s market. Rather than seeing the food go to waste, it is used while still at the height of quality, helping to relieve the food budget of a local nonprofit.

Gleaning is a tradition going back to when religious texts instructed farmers not to harvest their fields all the way to the edges, but to leave a few rows of produce for those in need. In addition to giving to the shelter, many modern farmers on the Seacoast donate to soup kitchens and food pantries in the area.

Cross Roads House volunteer coordinator Diane Bundow said the donations are having a significant and varied impact on residents, “saving us money at the grocery store and feeding our residents better than ever, even introducing them to foods they have not had,” she said in a press release. “I can’t wait to see what comes each week.”

Food donations from the public can be dropped off at the informational tent near the front of the market during Portsmouth Farmers’ Market hours, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays in the City Hall parking lot on Junkins Avenue. The initiative is a joint effort of Seacoast Local, Slow Food Seacoast, Seacoast Eat Local and the Seacoast Growers’ Association.