Gleaning

In some cultures many years ago, after the owner of a field had gathered in his crop, the poor were allowed to go through his field and pick up anything that remained. The beautiful story of Ruth in the Bible explains how Ruth met Boaz, because she gleaned in his fields gathering food for herself and her mother-in-law.
I was reminded of that story this week on my way to work. Most of my usual route is through farmlands. This time of year, the corn has all been harvested and the stubs of corn stalks poke up through a coating of snow. One such field I passed had hundreds of Canadian geese gleaning the remains of the crop. A few miles later in my trip, I saw a group of about a dozen wild turkeys picking through the leftovers of another cornfield. I have also seen deer in these fields on some mornings.
It made me wonder what will happen to wildlife as the number of small family farms in our country dwindles. The birds and the beasts are the gleaners in our fields.