Home Gardeners-Please Share Your Garden’s Bounty
Too many tomatoes? Do you have zucchini coming out of your ears? Gardeners with extra produce can donate their fruits and vegetables to the Downeast Gleaning Initiative, which works closely with local food pantries and meal programs. All produce donations are distributed to food security organizations according to their schedules and needs. Through our existing partnerships in Hancock and Washington counties, we are able to determine where the produce is most needed during any given week.
Blue Hill Peninsula gardeners can deliver produce to Healthy Acadia’s refrigerated storage space at 10 Parker Point Road, next to the Healthy Peninsula office. Produce can be delivered to the storage space (a refrigerated work trailer) any time of the week. Gardeners are asked to weigh and record their donation in the provided binder and label their produce accordingly.
Ellsworth area gardeners can deliver produce to Healthy Acadia’s 140 State Street office on Wednesdays between 9 a.m. and noon or by appointment. We’ll arrange for a staff member to be on hand to accept, weigh, and store your donated produce. Starting in mid-October, Mount Desert Island residents will be able to donate their produce to a refrigerated storage space in Somesville. More details to come!
In Washington County, produce can be dropped off at our walk-in cooler at our Machias office. Please weigh and record donations with your name on the clipboard provided.
We recommended these resources from UMaine Cooperative Extension’s Maine Garden to Lunchroom series for learning how to safely harvest and store your produce:
Need help with your harvest? We can come to your garden to harvest or collect the produce!
To learn more about donating produce in Hancock County, contact Rachel Emus at rachel@healthyacadia.org or by calling (207) 667-7171. In Washington County, if you would like to drop off produce or for more information about gleaning, contact Regina Grabrovac at regina@healthyacadia.org or by calling (207) 255-3741.