Friday, February 8, 2013

Plant a Row for the Hungry

Have you heard of the "Plant a Row" program?   It's a campaign of the Garden Writers Association geared to feed the hungry.
Since 1995, over 18 million pounds of produce providing over 72 million meals have been donated by American gardeners. All of this has been achieved without government subsidy or bureaucratic red tape - just people helping people.

From their website:
The purpose of Plant A Row (PAR) is to create and sustain a grassroots program for garden writers to use their local media position to encourage readers/listeners to donate surplus garden produce to local food banks, soup kitchens, and service organizations to help feed America's hungry. PAR provides focus, direction, and support to local volunteer committees who execute the programs.

Hunger In America
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1 in 8 households in the United States experiences hunger or the risk of hunger. Many frequently skip meals or eat too little, sometimes going without food for an entire day. Approximately 33 million people, including 13 million children, have substandard diets or must resort to seeking emergency food because they cannot always afford the food they need. The demand for hunger assistance has increased by 70% in recent years, and research shows that hundreds of hungry children and adults are turned away from food banks each year because of lack of resources. ( More Hunger Statistics.)

READ MORE

Would you like to get involved in the program?  Are you currently involved in a similar program?
What do you think about Plant a Row for for the Hungry?

The "RED" variety seed sale is still going strong through February 14th.  Get it...RED for Valentine's Day!  RED varieties include Detroit Dark Red Beet, Radicchio, Cal Wonder Bell Pepper, French Breakfast Radish, Swiss Chard, Ace 55 and Roma Tomatoes. 
*Forgot to add: Orders over $35 will include and extra FREE seed pack of Pink Oxheart Tomatoes*

All of the seeds listed are untreated, heirloom seeds.
Mary has signed the Safe Seed pledge. 
All seeds are organic, open-pollinated, non-gmo and non-hybrid.
Free shipping on all Seed orders! 
Seed Orders placed Monday-Friday are shipped within 24 hours, except for holidays.
If you are looking for rare seed varieties that are not listed please send an email
and we'll try to accommodate you.

10 comments:

Natashalh said...

I haven't heard of this program, but it sounds like a cool idea. That red seed pack sounds fantastic, too! I love gardening. Sadly, I will be gone June and July, so I don't know if I can really plant that much in y little container garden this year.

Laurie said...

I haven't heard of this before either, but it sounds like a really great program. We don't have a garden area available here, but I am going to order seeds and send them to some family members who do :)

I wanted to invite you to join in our weekly Meet & Greet Blog Hop! It runs Friday nights through the end of Monday. Come stop by if you have time this weekend :)

http://createdbylaurie.blogspot.com/2013/02/weekend-meet-greet-blog-hop-13.html

Angela said...

New GFC follower via the followers to friends blog hop, hope you can follow back on GFC too
Angela x

http://british-bargains-and-beauty.blogspot.co.uk

Enzie Shahmiri said...

Hi,

I am a new follower who has found you through a blog hop. It would make me very happy if you followed me back as well at http://www.EnzieShahmiri.com.

Best,
Enzie Shahmiri

StasaLynn said...

What a great program. My garden is a little plot which I only started last year with some peppers and herbs and the rest are flowering plants.... My main goal was to add color but then I thought it would be cool to have some edibles.

I have volunteered with Market on the Move.... have you heard of that?

Lovely blog and I will be back to get some pointers!

Thank you. (Found you through The Home Acre Blog Hop)

Unknown said...

I am so glad you shared this program. We tried to get rid of our surplus for free by advertising it on Craigslist, but didn't get that great of a response and we couldn't find any other local program in our area.

Unknown said...

So great! I put a link on my blog!

Unknown said...

Two years ago we had such an abundance of green beans that I tried to find someplace to donate them to but was unsuccessful. Last year our garden didn't do very well and we didn't have much even for ourselves. I will have to investigate this further in case we have an over abundance again-- so that the extra can go to a good cause!

Thanks for linking up to our Healthy Tuesday's blog hop!
Kerry from Country Living On A Hill

April said...

I've never heard of this program before, but it sounds like a great one! I'd love to help get it more recognition. I'll be looking up more info on it soon. Thank you so much for sharing with Saturday Spotlight. Have a great week and come back soon!

Lisa Lynn said...

This is a great program! Thank you so much for sharing this on The Creative HomeAcre Hop! I hope to see you again tomorrow! Here's the link:
http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/02/the-creative-homeacre-hop-3.html

Have a wonderful weekend!