Joe and Chris Miller, owners of a 600-acre farm near Denver, Colorado, decided to open it up to the public for a weekend of "gleaning" - the practice of letting neighbors help themselves to vegetables that remain in your field after harvest. Because their farm is so large, they expected a crowd of 5-10 thousand people, but they were shocked when 40,000 people showed up, waiting for hours in a long line of cars to reach the farm.

The couple decided to open their farm to the public for gleaning after hearing people were stealing food from local churches. But they had no idea that the response would be so huge. They had to convert dozens of acres of their farm to parking for the 11,000 cars that people drove to get free potatoes, carrots and leeks. Chris Miller told the Washington Post, " 'Overwhelmed' is putting it mildly. People obviously need food." You know the food riots aren't far away when you hear stories like this.

[via Washington Post]

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