Donate your extra produce this Sunday at Phipps Red, Ripe and Roasted Tomato and Garlic Festival

One of the most wonderful things about gardening is giving extra produce to people who can appreciate it. This Sunday 8/29/10 from 11am until 5pm is the Red, Ripe and Roasted Tomato and Garlic Festival at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.
I went to them years ago with an idea to get fresh produce for the food bank and they were excited to take on the project. It's part of a national program called Plant a Row for the Hungry.

Bring a bag of garden produce and get into the conservatory free! A truck from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank will be there to collect the food. If you don’t have a garden bring something from the market or even canned food will be accepted.

I've been at the food bank to watch the reaction when this wonderful garden bounty is given to single mothers, seniors and the working poor. The recipients are overjoyed to have fresh nutritious food for themselves, their children and grandchildren.

I’ll be there all day talking gardening, signing copies of Tomatoes Garlic Basil and will be doing a cooking demonstration at 1pm making simple tomato, garlic, basil sandwiches with fresh mozzarella cheese.
The event has chefs cooking all day, roasted garlic tasting, farm market, a seed swap for gardeners, and a tomato contest-ugliest, smallest and largest ripe tomato.
Another really cool thing, is that it’s the perfect place for gardeners to buy seed garlic without paying postage. There’s a garlic farm that comes and offers lots of different varieties.
Hope to see you there.