Food is Free Tacoma, garden beds

We’ve been successfully harvesting from the garden beds for the past month and more, delivering to Food Is Free Tacoma every week. There are several varieties of tomatoes, summer squash, Swiss chard, green beans, red cabbage, broccoli.

Today’s delivery was a new experience. David Thompson, the master gardener and manager of Food Is Free Tacoma, had just received a large delivery from a produce company of asparagus, apples, and green cabbage, crates of it. He had sent out word on his online notification email list, and the street in front of his house was jammed with cars trying to find parking just as I arrived with our three boxes of various gifts. A woman making her way to the tables pointed out that I wasn’t allowed to park there, but I smiled and said I was delivering, not there to shop. She immediately apologized, and gave me hers and God’s blessings. Without thinking it through, I said to her, looking at the crush of people around the tables, that maybe I had come at the wrong time. She shot back, “Nope, you’re here at exactly the right time; when the hungry are here.” I left the first container of Swiss chard with David, went back for the second container of tomatoes, green beans, summer squash, and heads of red cabbage, and people started reaching in before I even got it to the table. Going back for two bowls of cherry tomatoes, I returned to the table, and the second container was already empty.

The folks picking up free food today were exactly the vulnerable that the grant application had requested we serve through our project proposal. The elderly, immigrants, and racially diverse. The poor. Please continue to pray for this ministry, and consider becoming a part: in planning for next year and increasing our usage of the space; in helping to plant, nurture, and harvest. Thank you!