Garden excess can go to help the hungry in Minnesota

Renee Jones, Star Tribune file

Keep picking garden vegetables and fruits as they ripen and bring them to a food shelf near you. And if you’re willing to help rescue vegetables, volunteer at www.2harvest.org.

As food-shelf inventories fall, a local food bank is recruiting volunteers to pick excess fruit and vegetables and help fill the void.

By CONNIE NELSON, Home+Garden Editor

Last update: October 14, 2008 - 1:30 PM

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Ruth Viste was looking at a bumper crop. The dozen or so apple trees she planted years ago ("in a moment of insanity") had outdone themselves.

And that was the problem. "I'm only one person, and they produced more apples than any one person needs," she said.

She couldn't pick all the apples and she couldn't "stand to see them all go to the deer." On a hunch, she called Second Harvest Heartland.

The Maple Grove food bank serves as a distribution center for local food shelves. It's not in the business of picking fruit. But Jon Guy, vice president of advancement, decided he couldn't let those apples just fall from the trees in Viste's yard in Maiden Rock, Wis. So he organized some volunteers to help harvest more than 12 bushels of Firesides and Connell Reds.

"We haven't done this before," said Guy, "but we're struggling, so we've got to try some different things."

Despite more donations and contributions, Guy said demand has driven Second Harvest's inventories down about 50 percent. "People are hurting," he said. "We've known that for a year. Food shelves are leading economic indicators. But now there's fear."

Guy said he hopes his organization will be able to "rescue" excess fruit and vegetables from other overambitious gardeners, maybe even truck farmers who planted more than they can harvest before a killing frost.

So if your garden is still producing, don't throw in the trowel. Keep picking tomatoes, potatoes, carrots and squash as they ripen and bring them to a food shelf near you. And if you're willing to help rescue vegetables, volunteer at www.2harvest.org or call 651-484-5117. "Let's not let this go to waste," said Guy.

Connie Nelson • 612-673-7087

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