[QUOTE]West Milford, New Jersey (CNN) -- For Gary Oppenheimer, 2007 was a year of plenty.
His backyard garden produced a bountiful harvest with a surplus of spaghetti squash, melons, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers for his family. At the end of the season, Oppenheimer had 40 pounds of excess fresh produce -- and nowhere to take it.
"Nobody wanted more," he said. "My wife wouldn't let me bring any more in the house, and I didn't want it wasted."
So Oppenheimer took the produce to a local food pantry at a battered-women's shelter. When he dropped off the food, he was struck by the response he got from the shelter worker.
"[She] thanked me profusely, and as I left she said, 'Now we can have something fresh to eat,' " Oppenheimer recalled. "That stuck with me because I remember walking away thinking, 'What? They have canned stuff only all the time?' "
The experience ultimately led Oppenheimer, 57, to create a way for gardeners across the country to easily share their excess produce with hungry families in their communities.
In 2008, Oppenheimer became the director of the West Milford Community Garden in West Milford, New Jersey. He learned that toward the end of the summer, plots were often abandoned and good food was sometimes left to rot.
He tried to find a list of his town's local food pantries online where the extra produce could be donated. A Google search showed the nearest food pantry was in another town, 25 miles away -- when in fact there were six food pantries in Oppenheimer's town of West Milford.
Oppenheimer knew he had stumbled upon a gap in information that could rescue fresh produce from a wasteful end and potentially save lives.
"I realized that if I'm having this problem as a gardener, then other people across the country must be having the exact same problem," he said. "I got up the next morning, and I went on the internet, and I grabbed the domain of AmpleHarvest.org."
He reached out to food pantries across the country through social networking, food banks, master gardeners, faith organizations and other groups to encourage them to sign up for inclusion in his database of food pantries. Oppenheimer enlisted the help of Web designers and in May 2009, AmpleHarvest.org was rolled out nationally.
The free online resource enables food pantries to register and be listed in a central nationwide directory, and makes it possible for American gardeners to easily find the local pantries where they can donate extra produce.
"The country is loaded with gardeners who have more food than they can possibly themselves use," Oppenheimer said. "AmpleHarvest.org gives them the ability to easily, quickly get that food to somebody who genuinely, really needs it."
According to the Department of Agriculture, nearly 15 percent of American households have difficulty meeting their food needs. Those who rely on food pantries are often surviving on canned and processed foods. But with 41 million U.S. households growing fruits and vegetables, according to the National Gardening Association, Oppenheimer is helping green-thumbed Americans share healthier options with their neighbors in need.
"Whether it's a hanging tomato plant off your apartment terrace, or a garden ... or whether you run a farm, we all have food that's left behind," Oppenheimer said. "That's the food that ... we can get into the system to help diminish hunger in the country."
Nearly 2,000 food pantries across the United States are now registered on the site.
Timothy Lesko recently received fresh produce from a food pantry that had items from AmpleHarvest.org donations. Lesko said the fresh vegetables will help his family eat more healthfully.
"Me and my wife are trying to have my son be as healthy as possible. [At] the grocery store, the food's expensive, and it's hard to buy the healthier foods because we don't always have the money," Lesko said.
"It would be nice to see if more people could farm at home and bring whatever extra they have for the pantry."
Although Oppenheimer cannot track the amount of produce that has been donated to food pantries, he said he's received messages from numerous pantries and clients across the country who've been given food as a result of AmpleHarvest.org. He also has heard from growers who continue to donate because the website led them to local pantries.
And as the food pantries continue to see results, Oppenheimer hopes his efforts will turn into a lifelong commitment for the gardeners.
"The point is to get it so that people will find it's easy and convenient to get in the car and to drop off that bag of tomatoes or carrots or apples, and then to make it a part of their regular routine, hopefully for the rest of their gardening lives."
Want to get involved? Check out the Ample Harvest website and see how to help.[/QUOTE]
Source: [url]http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/05/20/cnnheroes.oppenheimer.gardens.hunger/index.html?hpt=C1[/url]
This is a pretty awesome idea. I live in New Jersey, and I grow my own garden, so I'll be signing up for this right away to help.
Here's the website if you're in the US and want to help
[url]http://ampleharvest.org/[/url]
that's pretty awesome
heartheartheart
Backyard produce is a wonderful thing to take up.
I'm still a bit peeved by a by-law here banning people from owning chickens
Ooohhhh, so we have to give the hungry [b]food![/b]
Why didn't we think of this earlier?
Growing some Red Chili pepers in my back yard. Moms growing some tomatoes and cucumbers.
I'm also nurturing a baby Oak tree a squirrel stashed and forgot about last year in a small flower pot.
[editline]04:21PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Zeke129;22088236]Ooohhhh, so we have to give the hungry [B]food![/B]
Why didn't we think of this earlier?[/QUOTE]
And to think I've been feeding my plants Gator aid all this time.
[QUOTE=Triumph Forks;22088204]Backyard produce is a wonderful thing to take up.
I'm still a bit peeved by a by-law here banning people from owning chickens[/QUOTE]
Where is that at?
Chickens are banned where I live, but only because I live in city limits. Outside, they're free to have.
[editline]04:25PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=OvB;22088290]Growing some Red Chili pepers in my back yard. Moms growing some tomatoes and cucumbers.
I'm also nurturing a baby Oak tree a squirrel stashed and forgot about last year in a small flower pot.
[/QUOTE]
Sweet deal. I've got cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, potatoes and peas in my backyard.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;22088336]Where is that at?
Chickens are banned where I live, but only because I live in city limits. Outside, they're free to have.[/QUOTE]
Halifax, Nova Scotia.
[url]http://www.halifaxnewsnet.ca/index.cfm?sid=103825&sc=608[/url]
[QUOTE=Triumph Forks;22088368]Halifax, Nova Scotia.
[url]http://www.halifaxnewsnet.ca/index.cfm?sid=103825&sc=608[/url][/QUOTE]
Man, that really sucks :frown:
That girl is cute, btw.
It does.
I don't see any real reason to ban them.
How did neither of you make a cock joke here. :colbert:
Because they're hens, you turkey
We still have a couple of bushels full of last harvest's potatoes left over. Not sure if they will keep much longer and we will probably not eat all of them.
I might take a look at the site and see what I can do.
[QUOTE=x-quake;22088493]We still have a couple of bushels full of last harvest's potatoes left over. Not sure if they will keep much longer and we will probably not eat all of them.
I might take a look at the site and see what I can do.[/QUOTE]
Go for it. Better to see if at least some of them are still good for this than to throw them all away.
[QUOTE=OvB;22088290]And to think I've been feeding my plants Gator aid all this time.[/QUOTE]
Gatorade? Get with the times. Plants crave Brawndo.
[quote=chompster;22091935]gatorade? Get with the times. Plants crave brawndo.[/quote]
no, they need water!
[QUOTE=Triumph Forks;22088429]It does.
I don't see any real reason to ban them.[/QUOTE]
No kidding. I've already got shiploads of dogs in my neighborhood, I can't open my back door without 6 dogs starting to bark uncontrollably. I honestly can't see how chickens would be any more loud or unsanitary than dogs, and dogs are allowed.. so what's the problem?
My dad grows lots of produce in the back, this story didn't surprise me at all. "You can grow FOOD in dirt and open space? :woop:"
[QUOTE=hypno-toad;22092391]No kidding. I've already got shiploads of dogs in my neighborhood, I can't open my back door without 6 dogs starting to bark uncontrollably. I honestly can't see how chickens would be any more loud or unsanitary than dogs, and dogs are allowed.. so what's the problem?
My dad grows lots of produce in the back, this story didn't surprise me at all. "You can grow FOOD in dirt and open space? :woop:"[/QUOTE]
One woman who had chickens in a suburb had chickens, and her neighbours complained to the city about it with fears of rats being attracted by the chickens' feed, with absolutely no consultation with the owner of said chickens, and now noone's allowed to have them. So basically, City Council is fucking retarded
And my mum grows some produce in our backyard, mostly rhubarb and I think some berries. And one year we had pumpkins growing after we threw old jack o lanterns over the deck after Halloween, which was pretty awesome
[QUOTE=Triumph Forks;22092560]One woman who had chickens in a suburb had chickens, and her neighbours complained to the city about it with fears of rats being attracted by the chickens' feed, with absolutely no consultation with the owner of said chickens, and now noone's allowed to have them. So basically, City Council is fucking retarded
And my mum grows some produce in our backyard, mostly rhubarb and I think some berries. And one year we had pumpkins growing after we threw old jack o lanterns over the deck after Halloween, which was pretty awesome[/QUOTE]
I kept trying to grow pumpkins in my yard, but my neighbors keep illegally parking their cars in their backyard, adjacent to mine. The car fumes kept killing the pumpkins, as I've read they do. :saddowns:
Have you brought this up with them at all? Because you really should
[QUOTE=Triumph Forks;22094128]Have you brought this up with them at all? Because you really should[/QUOTE]
My city is extremely harsh in ordinances and regulations. If I brought the city's attention to my neighborhood, I would more than likely find myself with a few fines for some stupid reason.
$50 dollar fine for having litter in your front yard. I have the wind so much as blow a candy wrapper in front of my house, and I would get fined. It's just not worth it, sadly.
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