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I feel a special type of joy harvesting homegrown fruits and vegetables, preparing them, and eating them hours after picking.
“Can you taste how alive they are!?” I ask my teenager.
“Mom, did you check them for bugs?” she responds.
She’s been reluctant about my homegrown salads ever since she found a speck of something questionable on a leaf 10 YEARS ago. “It’s how you know it is organic,” I replied then. That did not make her feel better.
I continue to get so much joy from a harvest. It probably goes back to when I was a little girl at my grandparents’ house, when they would send me out into the back garden to pick veggies for dinner. I was known to eat one green bean for every one I picked. I prefer raw green beans to this day.
So you can imagine my delight when I found out that the nonprofit, Extra Food, was expanding the Share the Bounty program into the Sonoma Valley and looking for volunteers. I signed up immediately. Because, you know, I have lots of free time on my hands…
The concept is simple: residents who have more produce than they can harvest or use contact the program, the coordinator rounds up a crew of volunteers, and we harvest excess fruit from apple trees, tomato vines, and more that would otherwise go to waste.
All of the harvested produce is donated to local food pantries right here in the Valley. How awesome is that!?
Well, all of the produce that is suitable for donation, that is. The apples that were already on the ground when we arrived? The ones with bruises, worm spots, or other imperfections? That’s where I come in.
Yes, we can compost this imperfect produce so that it returns to the circle of life. OR, ummm, I can take it! Those of you who know me know that I hate to see food wasted. So those perfectly imperfect apples? They have overwhelmed my kitchen (in the best way possible) for the last eight weeks.
I’m coming to the end of the perfectly imperfect apples, but I’m pleased to report that we have enough applesauce crammed into the freezer to get us through until next season.
My 2026 goal? Learn how to can.
And then it will be just like living on the prairie ;)
What is your favorite use for extra apples and applesauce? I would love to start my 2026 checklist.
Thanks for being here,
~Allison