Support Our Harvest for Local Food Bank Kitchens!

This is Shotai, and welcome to this site! We are delighted to share with you our ongoing (seven years so far) project to provide free, organic food to those who truly need it. Our fresh-picked, organic vegetables and herbs go directly to the Food Bank kitchens and are inside people's bellies before the end of the day. This is a joyful experience for all of us. Our volunteers and I hope you will help us get what we need now to work with a big challenge that remains.

Wildlife still manage to damage and, in some cases, completely destroy three or four crops in both the raised beds and on the ground. If this goes unchecked the harvests will steadily diminish. Therefore, there is a need for a new fundraiser.

This is the second GoFundMe page with the exact cause and a similar narrative.

In this second fundraiser we are asking for your help to:

Here is an example of the cover system with mister irrigation.

The estimated total needed is $ 2,820.00

With these improvements, we could make deliveries MORE than twice a week during the most prolific growing season

What follows is the excellent results of the first fundraiser.

This first fundraiser made it possible to:

Recent delivery harvested by a dedicated young couple, Marybeth and Eric.

Marybeth and Eric harvest green tomatoes.

The second half of the next photo is found under it.

The first half of the photo is found above this one.

Neighborhood children harvested this delivery and two cousins were brought

a long distance by grandparents so the cousins could participate in the harvest.

The neighborhood children come regularly to harvest, weed, or water crops.

A view of all the raised beds after a number of harvests.

Allyn watering buckets of harvested leafy greens to keep them fresh for next-

day delivery which weighed 20lbs at the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen.

A neighbor, Mr. Cheema, showed us Pakistani agriculture to grow okra and

to grow bitter melon also known as bitter gourd.

A neighbor, Judy, is contributing to the compost and turning it over

Please enjoy previous updates for

Go Fund Me “Protect Our Harvest for Local Food Bank Kitchens!”

Update #1 - A Mighty Arugula Bush with a Nutritional Purpose

Lily and Shotai were pulling up large wild and uncultivated arugula bushes from among the roses and peonies in the perennial garden. They removed all the leaves, flowers, and seeds from the arugula bushes, for food, to be used for salad makings.

In this photo below, Lily is happily showing her harvested and denuded arugula bush!

Every part of the arugula plant is highly nutritious, even the stems. Thus, the next time we harvested the arugula bushes, we delivered the entire bush with all the stems, leaves, flowers, and seeds to the Food Bank. In the Food Bank kitchens, all parts of the very large bushes were chopped up and added to soups. What lovely nutrition and flavor arugula provides.

Quote from Dr. Kani Ilangovan MD "Fresh produce provides our children with the nutrients, vitamins, antioxidants, fiber, and energy they need to flourish and helps protect them from the onset of chronic disease later in life. We all benefit from eating vegetables. We are what we eat, mentally and physically."

Fast Facts: Arugula Nutrition: According to the United States Department for Agriculture (USDA)” “FoodData Central” database, half a cup of arugula contains approximately 25 calories, 2.58 grams of protein, 1.6 grams of fiber, 0.66 grams of fat, 160 mg. of calcium, 369 mg. of potassium and 15 mg. of vitamin C, and more. (Source: USDA https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/169387/nutrients).

Update #2 - Bountiful Bagels & Greens for a Thanksgiving to Remember

Shotai’s fifteen-year-old neighbor Ben has been actively participating in harvesting and delivering organic, garden-grown produce to the local food bank. His grandmother Sylvie wanted to share Ben’s passion, so she went to a farm store and bought available fresh produce to also donate. On her way to the garden, she stopped at a bagel shop, Borscht Belt in Stockton, New Jersey, for breakfast.

The bagel shop had overestimated how many bagels to make for Thanksgiving customers. Sylvie mentioned she was happily on her way to the Food Bank and opportunity knocked. When they learned of her efforts, the bagel shop gave her many bags of the entire surplus of Thanksgiving bagels to donate to the food bank!

Sylvia and Ben arrived at the garden where another volunteer and Shotai were harvesting more produce-- chard and collard greens to add to the ever-growing food bank delivery. At the food bank, the total donation weighed in at 72 pounds, including the bagels, farm produce, collard greens, and chard. Needless to say, the food bank staff were tremendously excited to receive all the food and put it to good use.

Two photos of neighbor Ben and Ben at the Food Bank:

Quote from Dr. Saroja Ilangovan MD “The Food Bank staff always welcome me with a bright smile. Any fresh food is welcome, green tomatoes, mint, arugula leaves, or any edible greens.”

Fast Facts: A food bank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger. There are thousands of food banks worldwide, as food hunger is a prevalent issue. Food banks obtain food from various sources including growers who have over-produced, donations from the general public, and leftovers from normal business food processes. (Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_bank)

Update #3 – Community Brings the Harvest

Community members harvest vegetables from the garden which are essential to its success. The harvesters enjoy the fresh food and celebrate the beauty of the garden with their smiles. Now we just need to gently thwart the mischievous thieving bunnies, groundhogs, deer, wild turkeys, squirrels, and several other burrowing critters that also enjoy the harvest. Raised garden beds, cover systems, and redesigned fencing will go a long way to help.

In the photo below - Harvesters Dr. Saroja Ilangovan and Sangreetha are harvesting tomatoes.

In the photo below - Harvesters Sangreetha and Shotai are harvesting tomatillos.

In the photo below – Harvesters Steve and Bill are harvesting greens.

In the photo below – Lily is harvesting tomatillos.

In the photo below - Dawn is harvesting snow peas.

In the photos below are neighbors who actively contribute to and turn the compost. The two-year-old wants to do his part. Next, he and his mother are showing the cherry tomatoes they picked.

Quote from Ling Zhou "The food bank person immediately knew what garden we were from once she learned we brought tomatoes and other greens. The staff told us the vegetables will be used in their kitchen right away and served as dinner for people who come for food."

During harvest season, from late April to early November, we supply food banks and kitchens throughout Mercer County, NJ. The kitchens provide daily meals to the food insecure. This includes low-income families, fixed-income elderly, and the homeless--those who cannot afford to buy food and some who do not have a place to prepare food.