Woah, what a post to read first thing in the morning! Thanks @riverflows for sharing :)

Howdy Tarah, welcome to steem! You sound like a superhero! River sent me this way to give you a welcome comment and try and summon up some support for you :) there's a lot of folks here on steem of like mind. I've heard of gleaning before, but it was referred to as "freeganism." I think that was by @powellx5, but she's gone inactive I think. Womp.

A lot of folks on here are very permaculturey. If you're looking for community, we've got it! And a budding economic platform powered by steem and merchants of sustainable goods. First, @riverflows has made the vast and growing @naturalmedicine community and NM Discord server. I think you'd fit right in with us there. Looks like you're big into herbs and (judging by a quick look around) alchemy. Then, @sagescrub has set up the extremely progressive @homesteaderscoop, and the Homesteaders Co-op online marketplace, where folks can exchange goods with Steem, SBD, USD, barter, and through a gift economy! It's only a few months old and we already have vendors all over the world, which I think goes to show how ready the world and the crypto space actually is for this kind of counter economic model. Next, there's @freedompoint and @freedomtowrite, the nomadic homesteady creators of @ghscollective and the Global Homesteading Collective discord server. A very active place for Homesteaders around the world to gather and grow. Then there's the people! @bobydimitrov and his wife @bghandmade. @porters, @mountainjewel, and @walkerland. @allyinspirit, @phoenixwren, and @papa-pepper. @sugarcreek, @goldenoakfarm, and @pennsif, our community steem guru and organizer of the State of Steem. And @stortrbeker, @makinstuff, and @metamethus. That'll get you started with a few of us. ;)

I hope we can see more from you and what you're doing, and I'm glad to see you earned the anarchapulco scholarship too! I'll be sharing your post to try and gather community folks to come show you some love :)

Be blessed

Nate