We're following Denver gardener McKenna as she grows from seed to donation. McKenna will be donating homegrown produce to Kaizen Food Share through the Fresh Food Connect app, and is excited to share her garden adventures with our community!
"For families that rely on food assistance, having access to a variety of produce in the diet is not only healthier, but also helps ensure they don’t get bored eating the same few produce items each week."
September Garden Update: How individual donations of homegrown produce come together to make a difference
While the weather has stayed hot through this month, afternoon showers have helped cool things off in the garden. As a result, tomatoes are finally going crazy and producing plenty for donation, along with zucchini plants. We planted several varieties of pepper at the beginning of the season, but pepper plants seem to be a favorite of the grasshoppers, so we have lost all but two plants. We used netting to cover the plants and we are finally seeing new growth on the peppers. Grasshoppers can still get inside the netting (somehow?!), but a few flowers have appeared on the jalapeño plants recently so we are hopeful for at least a small pepper harvest.
When I have volunteered at the Kaizen Food Share, I’ve been happy to see that there is always a good amount of produce donated by large retailers or food banks. Each week there are typically carrots, potatoes, cucumbers, or even peaches. While these options are typically available, donating home-grown produce allows customers to experience a variety of local, fresh items they might not otherwise have access to. For families that rely on food assistance, having access to a variety of produce in the diet is not only healthier, but also helps ensure they don’t get bored eating the same few produce items each week.
I live and volunteer in one of the neighborhoods that is fortunate enough to have access to the partnership with Denver Food Rescue this summer. Home gardeners wanting to donate produce can have their goods picked up by a bike courier who will then drop the bounty off at Kaizen Food Share’s distribution site. The first week I saw this in action I was blown away - the quantity and variety of produce delivered was incredible. I saw several varieties of squash, tomatoes, and dark leafy greens like swiss chard. Along with my contribution, we were able to add the home grown produce to several food boxes that week. This is a fantastic service for folks who want to donate, but don’t have the time to deliver items on food distribution day.
As I get into the rhythm of donating, one aspect that I don’t know how to control is how to better align my harvest days with the food share days. For a few weeks now I’ve harvested several zucchini and tomatoes later in a given week, when I really need things to be ripe for Tuesday food share. I want to ensure that the produce I donate is fresh and high-quality, so I haven’t included anything that was harvested longer than a day before the food share. I think this is the nature of gardening, but I want to see if I can somehow align my harvest days with donation days a little better. Despite the timing issues with my harvest, when I add my donation with the rest of the neighborhood items delivered by Denver Food Rescue, folks in the community are still receiving a lot of beautiful and fresh produce each week.
September 10 was a special donation day at the Kaizen Food Share. When I arrived to donate my produce and volunteer for the food distribution, I was excited to see that 9 News and Fresh Food Connect’s very own Kayla Birdsong were there to demonstrate the power of community-driven food donations. Kaizen Food Share received a smaller donation that week from the large donation stores, so it was incredible to see how the Fresh Food Connect and gleaned donations really rounded out the food boxes. UpRoot Colorado is an organization that harvests excess produce from farms to donate to communities in need. They delivered bags of beautiful greens for donation, and the Fresh Food Connect gardeners came through with pounds and pounds of beautiful tomatoes. Volunteers loaded greens and tomatoes into the distribution boxes, and we had enough for nearly 100 weekly food boxes. With just a handful of gardeners donating their tomatoes, we were able to provide fresh, nutrient-dense produce to neighbors and community members this week. Every donation, no matter the size, truly does matter!
More about McKenna
Check out the amazing list of plants McKenna's growing this year
June: Why I'm planting with intention to share my harvest
July: Volunteering at a food distribution event
August: Adding variety with unique homegrown produce
McKenna is also a Fresh Food Connect "Giving GNOME"! Check out her G.N.O.M.E. chat and Join our Giving G.N.O.M.E. program here.
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