Vegetables, fresh from the garden! It’s that time of year when juicy red tomatoes, succulent corn and other garden delicacies are just bursting with flavor. And while everyone knows the benefits of eating fresh vegetables, for some, fresh vegetables aren’t part of the food budget.

UNH Cooperative Extension Carroll County master gardeners and Extension Educator Tina Savage came up with a plan to supply surplus seasonal vegetables to people who may not otherwise have access to them.

The Veggie Volunteer Program (VVP) began after a visit to the Sherman Farm in East Conway in the fall of 2002. Six years later, it’s still going strong. How did it start? The Shermans operate a large, year-round stand, harvesting fresh vegetables from their 50 acres. With 50 acres of vegetables, there's always some extra, more lettuce than the farm stand can sell, summer squash a bit beyond its prime, tomatoes that would spoil unless picked.

When approached, Sherman Farm generously agreed to donate this nutritious surplus to food pantries, senior centers and other organizations that serve a low income audience, if a collection and distribution process could be developed. That's where UNH Cooperative Extension comes in.

How the VVP works

Volunteers organized by Savage and the master gardeners get together at the Sherman farm to harvest, wash, package and transport the vegetables to food pantries, senior centers, local hospitals, and the County Nursing Home.

The team meets twice a week during the growing season, rain or shine, to pick, weigh, box and deliver vegetables fresh from the field. Master Gardeners and Savage serve as the liaison between the farm and the volunteers, organize the picking crews, record the produce collected and manage the distribution process to insure that everyone gets their share.

The goal of the VVP is "To create and sustain a community-based program whereby surplus garden produce is picked and collected directly from the farm and then distributed to local food pantries and kitchens."

Impressive results

The VVP team keeps daily records of the type and amount of produce collected, where it was distributed and its approximate value. (The value of produce is determined by information published in the Weekly Market Bulletin and is a retail value.) Food pantries and food programs provide feedback as to the quality of produce received, amount received and amount needed as well as average number of people served.

To date this year alone, the VVP has provided approximately 9,296 pounds of fresh vegetables, valued at $15,828.40 to lower-income and elderly people in several Carroll County towns.

Since its inception, the program has delivered 51,054 pounds of vegetables for a total value of $68,543.70.

Everybody wins with the VVP. The Shermans have realized their goal of getting excess produce from their land to people who couldn't afford it otherwise. The VVP volunteers get to serve their community, learn about agriculture with a hands-on approach, meet new people, make new friends, have fun outdoors and earn credit toward club badges and community service requirements.

Recipients and the organizations receive the farm-fresh vegetables free of charge, they can redirect scarce funds to other needs. Most importantly, low-income people have received locally grown, farm fresh vegetables that they may not have had access to otherwise.