Remember that Generosity?

Welp, here is another example of it. A post over at Garden Girl, Patti Moreno's forums talks about gardeners helping out by donating fresh seed and food to Gleaners based out of Beaverton, OR with a list of seed needed to help the establishment out.

One thing that annoys me more than anything in the world is to see a field of beautiful orchard trees with a ton of rotting fruit sitting on the ground beneath it. *sigh* I went to a farm recently and this was the case. I tried not to let it bother me but it did. I wanted to say something to the owners but thought better of it. 3 or 4 pear trees with 50+ pears just rotting on the ground and that was only what I could actually see. There are hungry people, what is wrong with you!

In addition to helping out a place that will grow it like Gleaners, there are other emergency places that will accept the food stuffs. Fish Emergency Services comes to mind. They accept cash, packaged foods, canned foods and fresh produce and they are all over the place. Fresh produce being the key here.

Feeding America has a food bank locator that can be used to find a local food bank to drop off your extra produce.

I'm an American but I've lived abroad and know that other countries face the same challenges as my native home:

Canada has a variety of programs like the US. The Food Banks of Canada has "Plant a Row, Grow a Row" on their website and a list of the food banks they have or are affiliated with across the country. Both sites are in both English and French.

The worlds first food bank ever: St. Mary's Food Bank.

The European Federation of Food Banks. Has a map of participating countries in Europe. According to the site, there are as of 2007, 232 food banks with 14 in creation, serving about 17 countries.

Food Bank in Australia. Has listings of locations throughout Australia and a nice list of donors.

These are just a few of the big ones. There are lots more out there. One such is Second Harvest, in the US.

This was just a quick look around on the net. Imagine what else is out there with more time and a specific location. If you're going to grow it and you're not going to eat it, what is the point? On many of the sites I read through there has been talk of food and seed shortages. What happens when this becomes such a reality that the hungry rates goes up and up and up? Will it be as it was during the Great Depression where everyone eats more cabbage (the poor humble cabbage has never recovered since) than they really want because there is nothing else? I say not!

My own plans for my garden are to feed my family, sell at the farmers market, but what I don't sell, I intend to drop off at a food bank. With so many of us gardeners out there that are going to end up with more than we can eat, can or sell, it is the only logical choice. Don't let it sit there and rot. That is such a waste and we're living in a age were waste is the worst thing we can let happen.