Community Gardens Share Nature's Bounty

The "Southwest Wake News" shows up on our doorstep twice a week, whether we we want it or not.  We're not newspaper subscribers, though I do tend to at least glance at the front page of this one as it usually has articles pertaining to Apex, Cary, Holly Springs, and Fuquay-Varina.

In this case, the big front page story was an article about a new community garden at the Kraft Family YMCA, and how community gardens share fresh produce - year round - with local food pantries.

Here is an excerpt (or read the full article)

When food charities call for help, donors head to the supermarket for boxes of pasta, jars of peanut butter and cans of soup and vegetables. Yet admirable and essential as these efforts are, few would choose to live solely on this nonperishable bounty.

The freshest, tastiest and most nutritious produce is often the hardest for local pantries to provide because of expense and inconvenience. For example, the Holly Springs Food Cupboard has few consistent sources of fresh produce.

That’s where community gardens step in, where even a not-so-green thumb can lend a helping hand. Shared plots have proliferated across the Triangle in the last decade, and almost all send crops to local charities.

For example, the recently laid community plot at the Kraft Family YMCA will soon send seasonal bounty to the Holly Springs pantry, and downtown Cary’s Pocket Community Garden donates hundreds of pounds of produce each year to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. 

Read the full article at carynews.com ... 

There is a food pantry in Apex - the Western Wake Crisis Ministry - perhaps I'll look at donating some of my surplus to them.

Of course, if you're going to donate produce to a food pantry, you should make sure you're growing food that people want.  Hot Peppers don't have the greatest appeal, but tomatoes, squash, greens, beans, squash and other such veggies would be popular choices.

I'd love to start a community garden in Apex.  I wonder....

UPDATE:  There is a community garden in Apex, the Simple Gifts Community Garden, operated by the Apex United Methodist Church.  We are former members of this church (we transfered some years ago to Fuquay-Varina United Methodist Church).  I will check them out on some upcoming work day!