For some reason since I began this project my attention has really focused on food. This might be because the only "new" items that I am allowed to buy are things that I eat so I devote a lot of attention to the wide variety of options. Naturally I have become much more observant of the role that food plays in culture and the waste that can accompany our consumption of edible items. Just this morning, Steady J took a bike ride to the Co-op to get a cup of coffee and while there he ran into a friend of his that delivers artisan bread for a local bakery. This friend said that the bakery always produces more than the stores can sell and gave Steady J two loaves of sliced wheat bread, two packages of European style panini rolls and a loaf of kalamata olive bread, which were probably worth about $30 total. It was a super score! Apparently any unsold bread the bakery ends up with is given to birds (I don't know if this means it is fed to chickens or used to rehab birds at the Audubon society). We're supposed to call this magical bakery delivery man (A.K.A. The Muffin Man) when we want more free bread. Sounds good to me!
Fueled by a few slices of olive bread, I headed down to the Corvallis farmers market to load up my bike basket with produce. While I perused the stalls I noticed that the Oregon State University Master Gardener organization was advertising free vegetable starts if you participated in something called Plant a Row for the Hungry. Plant a Row for the Hungry is a national program in which community members commit to planting an extra row of food crops in their garden to donate to local food banks. Some people don't plant an extra row and instead commit to sharing their bumper crops! What gardener doesn't end up with extra garden produce? Instead of hoisting it on your neighbors or co-workers, you can drop off your produce so that it can be included in the food packages for hungry families. Low income families and individuals often have to chose between buying cheap food or buying healthy food. This program is a great way to bridge the gap and get more nourishing foods to the people who would not generally have access to them. Anyone who signed up at the market to donate produce was given free vegetable starts and I received two baby winter squash to plant. I think this is a great idea! But it made me wonder why that lovely local bakery who gives their extra bread to birds is not giving their bread to hungry humans in the community.
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Not only choosing between cheap food and healthy food; also choosing between buying groceries and buying the Rx they need. Such a nice thing for a person who goes to the food bank to find some lovely fresh produce, locally grown by someone who cares about their neighbor.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a great project! We are adding a few community garden plots next year at Evergreen and I think it would be good to do one plot for this program!
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