Growing grass in a starving world

[Jared77]

I think part of the problem is the folks who are already making a difference are reluctant to take on another project.

The folks who run food banks either let folks shop or hand out repackaged boxes of food it takes time to do all that, plus be available to have the folks in need pick it up.

Where are they going to find a few extra hours to drive somewhere to pick more fruit or veggies? Then wash them sort them and add them to what's available?

They might help get the word out to those in need to come pick and take it themselves but how do they get there? And what do they do with a bunch if picked fruit? Is it worth their time to pick a few lbs of _____? How do they store it? Do they pick it and take it to the food bank?

What many resources need is a coordinator to handle the logistics. Homeowner has extra tomatoes & zucchini. Food Bank takes donations but lacks the resources to get extra available food. The coordinator gets ahold of say the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc and they get service hours for picking/delivering.

That seems to be the biggest issue I've seen. Lots of people trying to help but it's not organized enough to be as efficient as it could be.

 

[Ken Adams]

All of this assumes the situation will remain the same. Unless I miss my guess, skyrocketing food prices will change some attitudes soon. At the very least I expect a major increase in home gardening next year

 

[Ridgerunner]

With this drought in California food prices are already going up and will get worse. It will be interesting to see how people react. I fully expect an increase in home gardening but I expect more moaning and complaining.

I donate excess veggies and eggs to a local food bank (they actually do a lot more: help with clothes, utilities, household items, and more) that is totally run by volunteers, no one there gets a salary of any sort. I would donate more veggies but I can't always get around to harvesting the stuff for when that place is open, only three days a week for a few hours. Timely harvesting is a challenge. I have other things to do with my time.

Recently a U-Pick blueberry farm offered to donate a bunch of blueberries if someone would come by to pick them. The only volunteer the guy managing that part of the charity got was himself. The people he has helping him are set up to handle getting the food from stores that donate or to buy the stuff and then hand it out. Frankly most of them probably should not be out in the hot sun doing that kind of labor anyway. Volunteers during the middle of the week tend to be retired people. The owner and his son helped Dave pick several gallons of blueberries which were donated, but that was due to his good heart. He was selling already picked blueberries for $22 a gallon. I think it was $13 a gallon if you picked them yourself. Dave could have been on his own and that owner would have still been a generous person for his offer.

I'm sure there is a tremendous amount of food just wasted in home gardens. I grow more than I can harvest, use, and preserve. Some goes to the chickens, some to the compost pile, and some to that food bank. Just look at all the apples rotting under apple trees this fall when you are driving around. It would take a lot of organizing to set up a "gleaning" operation like this, especially when the opportunities may be spur of the moment like those blueberries.

I don't know what the legal liabilities are for this either. There are some "Good Samaritan" laws that could help reduce your liability but I don't know what risk I'm putting myself into by donating those veggies and eggs. I'm not going to look into it either. Some things are just right to do.