Friday, August 19, 2011

Do a Good Turn

Its that time of year when your garden is thriving, ripe tomatoes on every vine, summer squash literally doubling in size daily and fresh backyard food for every meal.  Do you find that after eating all you could possibly want and preserving your favorites that you still have a lot left over?

So far this week I've picked over 20 cucumbers. After squash bores destroyed our plants last year we decided to grow a lot more cucumbers in hopes of more survivors.  Only problem is we are now getting 10-15 lbs of cucumbers a week and we don't like pickles. My personal limit for cucumber consumption is one or maybe two a day if I eat only salad with lunch and dinner.  

In January I heard on All Things Considered about a major problem with food banks, getting nutritious quality food http://www.npr.org/2011/01/13/132864584/high-demand-nutritional-dilemma-vex-food-banks.  With unemployment still high nation wide there is a lot of need.  Food banks get lots of non-perishable canned and refined foods but frequently lack a variety of fresh vegetables and fruit due to high cost and short shelf life.   

Rather than unloading your extra on neighbors and friends please make a regular commitment to deliver your plenty to your local food bank that others might also be blessed by your farm.
 
~Allen Johnson
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7 comments:

  1. UnknownAugust 19, 2011 at 9:19 AM

    This is a wonderful thing for people with extra produce to do. We are so glad to see people sharing their food with those in need.

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  2. AnonymousAugust 19, 2011 at 6:31 PM

    I actually wondered about this. Are there any problems being a backyard gardener and donating food? Do food banks readily accept our produce?

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  3. MAYBELLINEAugust 20, 2011 at 1:22 PM

    Super suggestion! I'll check into that.

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  4. TxFarmhouseAugust 21, 2011 at 4:47 AM

    We're going to invest in a greenhouse because gardens around here dried up quickly with the drought. My sister even did the raised beds this year and got only one pickin'. Even the nursery at our local feed mill was dried up. Watering doesn't even help. Oh, how I wish we had all the produce to put up this year.

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  5. daisy gAugust 21, 2011 at 4:57 AM

    Love the idea! I just hope I get enough good stuff to share! ;0)

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  6. AnonymousAugust 27, 2011 at 11:28 AM

    We have a local food bank that not only accepts food from backyard gardens, but also sets up a consignment table at a few farmer's markets throughout the week!

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  7. Florin CiobanuSeptember 2, 2011 at 10:15 AM

    very nice and informative ideas you have shared in your blog.Thanks for sharing such a nice and informative blog.

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