Sharing extra produce

A friend and I harvested ~ 20 lbs of chard and collards for the Kitchen Ready's Southside Kitchen today, from the Southside Community Garden, and then continued with another 20 lbs or so of chard, collards, and kale, that I took to the YMCA's Healthy Living food pantry for distribution this afternoon.

one of the boxes from last week's harvest (~ 10 lbs)

Another volunteer took ~ 30 heads of butter lettuce to the BeLoved Shelter, just one of the many organizations who serve meals and provide shelter to folks who need it here in Asheville.

Volunteers have created a productive garden here, with the support of the Housing Authority of Asheville and Green Opportunities, a local non-profit.

It's great to see abundant harvests going to good places.

Beet greens

I've been amazed by the productivity of the traditional market garden approach, taken by the community gardens that I'm associated with.  Yikes!  Who's going to harvest all of this? My friend and fellow volunteer and I are only over there (at this point) two times a week.

Half of the Southside Community Garden

Geez, I thought my raised beds were productive enough, and they are.

This is what I harvested this evening to cook.  Way more than enough for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow, not to mention extras for dinner, too.

Beet greens and chard: today's harvest

I've frozen so many cooked greens already, along with foraged service berries, I'd better keep room for the tomatoes yet to come.

Harvests

A search for "harvest" on previous posts, for a friend who's doing an article about freezing from your garden, brought up SO many rewarding posts.  My first search had been tomatoes, and then harvest.

Fascinating, and rewarding, since I've been growing, commenting, and thinking about these sorts of things for so long now.

I'm heading over to hear Elliot Coleman, one of my gardening heroes, tomorrow at the Mother Earth Fair here in Asheville. 

He's talking about extending the seasons, which he's written about extensively.  I may not learn anything new, but I'd love to say "thank you" for his truly visionary perspective.

I'm going to try to pick up some of the other talks, too.

A tomato harvest from a couple of years ago -- ready to cook, freeze, and eat!