I came across an organization the other day that I know my readers will be interested in. Ample Harvest makes it easy for home gardeners and gardeners with community plots to share what they grow with neighbors who need it. Food pantries that accept fresh produce can register on the site, and gardeners can search by ZIP code to find pantries near them that will accept their donations. It’s a simple and brilliant idea.

 

The Ample Harvest organization and website was started when Gary Oppenheimer realized that many of the gardeners in the community garden he directed left a lot of produce unharvested because they didn’t need it. When he began to organize gardeners to collect and deliver this produce to food pantries, he found that it wasn’t so easy to find food pantries that needed it. They existed, but they weren’t easy to identify.