​SHARE THE BOUNTY! Produce exchange beginning Sunday

Incarnation Community Garden and the Green Team promote produce exchange beginning Sunday, August 11.

As we savor the final weeks of summer and prepare for the Season of Creation (Sept. 1 – Oct.4), we are all encouraged to share in God’s growing bounty and care for the Earth by making sure that food we grow is used and enjoyed, rather than wasted and sent to landfill. Incarnation’s Produce Exchange, which begins officially this Sunday (August 11), is a wonderful way to do just that. Once again, the Green Team invites home gardeners and others who have more fresh produce than they can use to bring it to Farlander Hall each week. A dedicated area with baskets to hold your produce and bags to take it home will be located near the kitchen. Feel free to trade for items you don’t have or simply take what you will eat.

This year, we are excited that crops from our community garden will also be shared. In fact, you may have already seen some of its bounty shared by the children at last week’s coffee hour! Look for pickles, cucumbers and peppers this week and tomatoes, eggplant, and corn in the future — and please take some home and enjoy the fruits of the Incarnation Families’ labors. Spearheaded by Amanda Elias, this church project was initially created as a way to get our parish children involved in learning how to care for living things and see how they grow. And even the youngest among us have taken pride in watering and weeding.

”But this is definitely a church project,” says Amanda, “Ultimately the space and garden are for everyone and all are invited to plant things.” Bill Glenn, Carolyn Green, Jan Hicks and David Jasper were all instrumental in helping get the project off the ground and others have lent support along the way. If you haven’t seen their handiwork, do take a look! Reducing food waste is key to lowering greenhouse gas emissions and improving food security. Currently, the FDA estimates that about one-third of the food produced in the U.S. is never consumed. The national goal is to reduce food waste by 50% by the year 2030 and a federal strategy for reducing food waste as just released in June. Let’s do what we can to help!