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| The Great Bridge Brooklyn, NY |
My friend Ben* likes to eat. He grew up in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. There he developed a palate for some finer delicacies in life, among them were knishes, Nathan’s Famous french fries, and egg-creams. Ben may not be a foodie in the classic sense, but he is definitely a food lover. He once mentioned starting to think about his next meal even before finishing off the one on his plate. I couldn’t believe it at first, but as Covid entrenched itself in the landscape, one of its side effects was having Ben’s thinking rub off on me.
It came about this way …. with the pandemic’s onset, eating out became akin to flying the trapeze sans net. Of necessity then, on a daily basis my wife and I engaged in performance of the culinary arts. I must admit, after a brief trial and error phase I started enjoying dinner prep. Dishes were simple, but face masks, vaccines, incessant hand-washing, and social distancing were never recipe ingredients. And, since it’s always 5 o’clock somewhere, armed with a favorite beverage, cooking dinners actually became a pleasurable and chilling out time of day.
Thinking about the next meal while still chewing the last one may be quirky and humorous, but there’s nothing funny about not knowing where that next meal will come from. That’s what millions of our citizens, old and young, face daily despite America’s food production cornucopia. Adding insult to injury, much of the harvest goes to waste. That’s where those who have a row to hoe come in and play a role. Willing Hands plays that role.
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| A row to hoe Do you have one? Some folks don't, making food a sought after commodity |
Willing Hands is an organization based in New Hampshire/Vermont’s Upper Valley. It receives food donations from partner farms and orchards and distributes them to over eighty local community service agencies. They in turn serve their constituencies fighting the good fight to end food insecurity and waste.
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| Mikey @ work Willing Hands Farm Coordinator |
Grow-A-Row is a recent Willing Hands initiative. Grow-A-Rowers are Upper Valley gardeners who earmark a row of their gardens’ produce for Willing Hands. It’s a great idea that expands upon the already existing network of 80 plus participating farms and orchards. This past summer the concept was introduced to my Eastman Community Garden in Grantham, NH. It was enthusiastically embraced.
Aside from the total tonnage of collected produce the overall program has amassed since inception, my small group of vegetable gardeners donated almost 250 lbs during its first partnership experience this past summer. I’m confident the dedicated rows will grow in number next summer.
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| a typical week's donation from Eastman gardeners |
Circling back to my friend Ben, being the food lover he is I know he’ll appreciate this Willing Hands and Grow-A-Row story. After all, it’s about food! But more importantly, it’s a story about helping those without enough to eat and about the satisfaction of those who do sharing their bounty. That’s a win-win. In fact when I next get together with Ben to catch up over lunch, the Grow-A-Row story will be one topic of conversation. Of course, once our sandwich orders are brought out, the first topic most likely will still be, ‘what’s for dinner’.
* In the spirit of the 1950s TV show, Dragnet, featuring Jack Webb as Detective Joe Friday, the name has been changed to protect the innocent.
images - David Greenfield
cartoon - courtesy of the New Yorker magazine
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