Family gets some; local food bank gets the rest.

My extra seem to go to the goundhog and deer

Can, dehydrate, or freeze them.

Dave

Freeze, can, pickle, and dehydrate until stocked for the winter. Our garden is large (over 10,000 square feet) so we give a lot away to our 4 grown children, neighbors, & friends. When a crop does really well, I bring buckets into work; the temp employees (many of whom are low income) appreciate the fresh veggies.

Much of what I grow I also save seed for, which I share through swaps & SSE.

Used to give to the local food bank, but stopped after several incidents. Once as I was driving out, observed an employee throwing the box I'd just brought into the dumpster - veggies & all!!! When I stopped & asked why, they said the veggies were "too old". The truth is that they were fresh picked, but the individual just didn't know what heirloom vegetables look like. >:-(

Any extras are given to the neighbors first who drool having to watch them growing throughout the season. Then family and friends get the rest. I like to keep the neighbors happy ;-)

@Emily H,

Your garden layout is gorgeous!

Everything we can't sell, can or freeze we try to donate. Also, we give lots away to family, friends, neighbors and my DH's work colleagues. We have 37 raised beds in total. Our primary focus is on growing tomatoes, peppers, garlic and potatoes for small market sales. We also grow a little lettuce, corn, curcurbits, brassicas, onions, beets, bush beans, tomatillos, carrots and egg plant for consumption and/or putting up.

What I don't freeze goes to family and work!

Very beautiful gardens Emily H and Shell! I used to donate some of my excess to a small food pantry at a local church but the closed it down a couple years ago. Now I put up most of what we don't use fresh or give away to family, friends, neighbors. and co-workers.

A few pics of my overwintering raised garden beds. 24 in total.

Shel l6A....is that your garden? Would like to know where you get those wonderful tubs. They look galvanized. Is Country Line a company? Thank you.

Day2 .... that's part of our garden. Those galvanized stock tanks can be purchased at any farm supply store. I think we actually got the ones in the picture from Tractor Supply. We purchased new ones in 2015. We use them for growing herbs. We also have a giant circular one that we use as a swimming pool for the grandkids.

Shell 6A

Thx. I am going to look into getting some of those. They look like a great planter. Hubby is always looking for new thingsin which to grow plants. I think he'll like them.

I sell what I can to neighbors, friends, and passersby. I then freeze or dehydrate/dry what doesn't get eaten fresh.

I also try to make as much juice as I can when there is an abundance of suitable produce that needs harvesting and people don't need/want it and freezer space is getting low. Juicing uses up more than fresh eating, and it's super-healthy.

We freeze our left over bounty for healthy smoothies!

We hand out to the nieghbors as much as we can. Everything else gets eaten, or stored.

It goes to family, friends, neighbors and coworkers.

I try to plan the garden so that there is no extra. Everything is either stored ( onions, potatoes, rutabagas, carrots, celeriac, cabbage, etc.) or canned (soup, tomatoes, salsa, spaghetti sauce, beans, etc.) or froze (peppers, etc.)

Used to donate to a teen shelter but the gov't put a stop to that!!! Usually share with neighbors. Chickens enjoy it too, and give it back in eggs, so not really lost, just recycled. If worse comes to worst, the compost pile gets it and it recycles once more.

When I worked, I would bring in baskets of stuff! Also made sauce, soup bases, froze and dehydrated stuff.

We've retired and moved from over an acre to a very small yard. We might end up with 2-3 raised beds. Probably just enough for the 2 of us.

I highly recommend a foodsaver! he bags can be expensive, but well worth it in my book! I still have green beans from 2 summers ago and they cook up as fresh as ever! Nancy

If not useable or storeable (including freezing or canning), I take to work, and/or to friends, family, or neighbors.

We are on the central coast of California and so grow year round. Some things we never grow enough of, some things we have just enough of, and other things grow in such abundance that we can't give them away fast enough. We've somewhat solved the plum and grape abundance by making wine, but get overwhelmed with citrus (key and other limes, lemons, various types of oranges), guavas, sapotes and a few other things. I take them to work, and give to neighbors but even so, excess ends up in the compost.

" We've somewhat solved the plum and grape abundance by making wine, but
get overwhelmed with citrus (key and other limes, lemons, various types
of oranges), guavas, sapotes and a few other things. I take them to
work, and give to neighbors but even so, excess ends up in the compost."

<:-0 Wow!!! The worms really eat well at your place!

I often give them to friends or family or bring them to a local food pantry. They'll love fresh fruit and vegetables!!

I suggest pickling. if you read the about page on my website there is a community you can trade your excess with locals for things you may not grow but do consume.

Used to donate to the local shelter, but gov won't let that happen any more. They make great compost for next year's garden or the chickens get them if they don't get frozen, pickled, eaten fresh or given away to friends, neighbors or other believers. People love it when you show up at church with stuff to share.

I put a free sign out by the street. Most goes that way. I also donate to the food shelf. I just got myself a freeze dryer so that I can store food without taking freezer or canning space. I planted about 60 crowns of asparagus a few years back, so I'm expecting a huge harvest season soon. I've heard that it freeze dries well, and when reconstituted, tastes as good as fresh. I'm eager to try it! I also have over 50 kinds of fruit growing on the property, so it will be nice to have that freeze dried for consumption through the winter.

I have about 50 blueberry bushes alone...I had no idea how many blueberries that would translate to, so I invite friends to come pick. It's great because I see people I wouldn't necessarily otherwise see and they are thrilled to go home with gallons of blueberries for free. I'm thrilled because I didn't have to pick them all, and I get to see friends and catch up.

We also have a town-wide community forum where people post things like lost cats, furniture for sale...whatever. When I become inundated with too much produce, I plan to post free/inexpensive offerings. I finally divided my rhubarb plant and made 14 more; I'm assuming that will be one of the things I'll have plenty to give away! I've got tons of herbs, too. How much sage can one person use?!

I now have a very popular Little Free Library! The communal garden down the street is closing down for someone to build a house, so I have an annex to my library in a very walkable area. I put out any extra and might even grow zuks again to give away!

I freeze/can/dehydrate/pickle a lot, and sell some "over flow" to the B&B across the street. Any additional items go to the local church food pantry and if some gets away and becomes too ripe, I have cows and chickens and they are happy to help. Nothing goes to waste.

Oh, man, I sure like Emily's layout, and Shell's and Jack's raised beds and I have a couple of old water tanks that I could repurpose, although I do use one for brooding baby chicks. I do have two raised beds that my husband made "lids" for, hoops covered with plastic, which become small hoop houses in Spring and Fall here in Michigan, extending my harvest window substantially.

The rest of my garden is just traditional garden, about an acre of it.

Annie