“Sharing What We Have”
Coronado Homegrown Fruit, Vegetable, and Flower Exchange
Bring your garden’s bounty and take home a wonderful assortment from Coronado’s finest gardens. No garden? Team up with a friend or neighbor. See a tree in town laden with fragrant unpicked fruit, ask if you can harvest the crop, and bring the owner a bag of fresh vegetables in return. If you have no access or no harvest, be creative and bring a homemade item. Just prepackage it and if it is food, include ingredients for those with allergies. Sorting volunteers welcome. Open to all. Free membership.
In the old days, it was a cup of sugar you’d borrow from your neighbor. Now it’s homegrown citrus, celery, and sweet potatoes — freshly picked and bursting with natural flavor. You can join at: CoronadoHomeHarvest.com.
The CHH meets monthly at the Coronado Public Library and is a produce exchange that began last year as an idea between three friends and longtime Coronado residents: Wendy McGuire, Marla English, and Sharon Sherman. Open to the public, it’s a place where you can bring your extra produce and swap it out for a variety of locally grown fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
“Everybody comes, not with a specific vision, but just to gather together and trade information,” Sherman said. “People are asking each other questions. People want to get their hands back in the dirt. They want to learn how to cook again.”
The rules are simple: Bring whatever you can spare from your garden or kitchen and leave with a bag full of fresh goodies. Prospective attendees are asked to send an e-mail to CHH at: info@CoronadoHomeHarvest.org to get a sense of what things will already be there and an idea for what you can contribute.
The drop-off time for the exchange is between 9 to 10 a.m., and a tag is given to anyone who brings a homegrown offering. It takes a couple of hours to sort and divvy up the loot. So plan on grabbing a cup o’ joe or window shop along Orange Avenue until 11 a.m. when you can swing back by and grab a bag that’s chock full of produce.
“You get something from everybody,” said veteran gardener Barbara Murphy. “One woman went to India and she brought back nutmeg — it doesn’t grow here. And so we had a little container of fresh nutmeg.” That woman was McGuire, who is also the owner of Ganosh Gourmet, a local food delivery service, and a self-proclaimed “enthusiastic novice gardener.”
Every exchange includes a guest speaker and presentation at 11 a.m. in the Winn Room at the library. Previous presentations have included talks about edible landscaping, vermin-composting, and how to achieve a tasty diet that’s free from corn syrup.
“A lot of people learn things and change their eating habits,” McGuire said. “The programs kind of suggest themselves. I don’t think we’re going to run out of ideas any time soon.”
So if you’re interested in taking that next step toward sustainability (and who isn’t nowadays?), stop by this month’s harvest exchange and meet some like-minded people. At the very least, you’ll get some ideas on how to cook all the fresh produce you just received.
“Our vision was for people to get together, and that’s worked out perfectly,” English said. “Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s a little light, but it’s whatever it is. People just getting together and starting a conversation about all this stuff is worth it.”
If you would like to participate, see the participation guidelines at: www.CoronadoHomeHarvest.com
Next Dates:
October 29: Sue Steven on Herbs. Sue is one of our own members who became interested in herbs and took off with the topic and ran. She will have lots to tell us, lots to teach us, and lots to share.
November 19: Wendy Maguire Cooks Again! Our co-founder will share recipes & samples of great fall dishes from the garden
December 17: A new tradition, our Coronado Home Harvest Holiday Exchange: Jams & Jellies, Baked Goods, Needlecrafts, Candy, & Art
Visit the following sites for some fun Coronado Home Harvest happenings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_SmOD1v0ws&feature=share
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTz3TmlSxTo&feature=share