My housemate has a bit of a problem with regards to keeping usable items out of landfills. He'll stop to grab things off the side of the road that still have life in them and take cursory looks through dumpsters for items to rescue. Before I was able to purchase the large white coolers I use for market and CSA, I had several smaller coolers with broken handles that I'd gotten for free from my then job selling fruit for various orchards. Somehow, three of these coolers have ended up at the house. He asked me to take them back to the farm, and I responded that we could just toss them.
"What? Why??" he asked, proceeding to tell me that I had the space at my farm to store things that I didn't have future use for.
The coolers will go back to the farm. I may or may not tell him that they'll be going straight into the dumpster.
I, on the other hand, have a problem seeing food go to waste. It bothers me when folks don't pick up their shares, because I know exactly how much effort I put into growing and packaging everything. And when I hear about 259 boxes of perfectly fine peaches headed for the dumpster... this morning I talked my housemate into a peach rescue mission. We got up at 6, drove down to Hapeville and loaded up his trailer. On our way back to the farm we dropped 20 boxes at Change for Humanity, 10 boxes at Historic Westside Gardens and 105 boxes at Urban Recipe. Then we stuffed my walk in cooler with the remaining 124. Over the next few days I'll hopefully see several dozen go to LEAF and Food Not Bombs.
Do you know of any nimble organizations who could take these and get them out to people who need them? Would you like a box or two to preserve for yourself? I've got plenty! Reach out! I am asking for donations to cover our gas, but my biggest concern is to see these reach people who will enjoy them.
