Good work! May I ask how you winged a contract with a chef (I assume he paid you)?

why don't you donate your extra produce to a food bank instead of trashing it?

No payment from the chef (but my wife has a small equity stake in his restaurant, so it's sort of "invested"). I'm sure he'd pay if I asked, but quantities are small enough that it wouldn't be much money. This week he's hitting my grape leaves and green tomatoes.

I've never donated to a food bank because I don't know how, and I avoid dealing with non-profits and government entities, anyway, having had nothing but negative experiences with them. I do offer produce to neighbors, including harvest experiences for their children, but they seldom consume much.

Giving to neighbor is a good way to deal with the excess. With time you will learn to control the quantity of seed needed and plant only those that you are sure to eat.

That's cool that you are being featured in a such a nice way.

If you don't want to donate, perhaps you could set up a small food stand. We had a neighbor who grew the BEST tomatoes when I lived in Glen Burnie. He was retired and had a little stand set up to sell his overflow veggies.

He managed to recoup his initial investments and share with the extended neighborhood. We drove by his house since we lived in another part of the same neighborhood.

Great story. You have a right to be proud of your success. It always makes me chuckle hearing people rave about how delicious fresh home-grown produce harvested at peak is. I have come to expect such quality every year during harvest time, it is a normal thing for me and my fellow gardeners. Think about what so many people are missing out on. Such is life in the modern urban society I guess, really rather sad when one thinks about it.

I apologize for going off-topic but regarding the food shelf idea, I offered to give excess produce to my local food shelf. They said I had to fill out a pile of forms and agree to spot health department inspections. I could also be held liable if anyone got sick from what I donated, potentially even if the produce was contaminated after it left my control. I also would have to pick everything myself and drive it the one hour round trip to where the county food shelf is located. The simple fact is that people want free food, no strings attached. Most do not want to put forth any effort to acquire it. Heck, I was even told not to bring shell peas because nobody wants to have to shell them before using.

Forget all that. What extra that I do not give away to family, friends, neighbors, and/or local elderly gets tossed on the compost pile, with a clear conscience and no regrets.

Congratulations on your success!
-Tom

I'm already feeding the neighborhood on just 4 tomato plants