Tired of forcing your excess garden produce on friends and neighbors? The website Ample Harvest makes it easy for gardeners with extra produce to connect with local food pantries in need of fresh vegetables.
Food pantries are usually small-scale operations that receive donations from larger food banks. Fresh produce is often lacking, as food banks may not make frequent donations, and the pantries may not have refrigeration to keep fruits and vegetables fresh. But through Ample Harvest, food pantries can request deliveries from gardeners on certain days of the week, so the produce can be quickly distributed to recipients.
Even if you don't have a garden, you can search Ample Harvest for a local pantry, school or soup kitchen in need of canned goods or other shelf-stable foods. Or help out by spreading the word the next time a gardening friend tries to foist 10 pounds of zucchini on you.
• Check it out: Ample Harvest
What do you do with excess garden produce?
Related: Food Swap: Start Your Own!
(Image: Flickr member Ksayer1 licensed under Creative Commons)
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That's awesome! I was under the impression this sort of thing was illegal in at least Santa Clara County after some produce swap site posted warnings about my area.
Tks for posting this. I take citrus and veggies to a local food bank. I continually suggest that people not only should consider donating, but why not intentionally grow extra for donation. A few people and even church groups could easily grow enough to fully subsidize their local food bank. It is just as easy to grow extra, and the water cost would be minimal. It is time people step to the plate to help and stop expecting the govt to make expensive and wasteful programs to address needs. One gardener can make a massive difference.