Setup a Free Food Stand - PEP BB community.sand.freefood

Our community garden is getting buried in zucchini so I figured it was time to make a Free Food stand.  The materials were all found in my woodshop scrap pile.

Edit to add:  I put it in the garden yesterday (empty) and there were zucchini and squash in it today.  Yay!

Early this morning I installed a basket I made for my community to share garden goods and surplus produce.  I made the basket out of 'water spout' prunings from the top out of a shrubbery that is only 10' away from the garden itself -- hyper local materials!

The basket is reinforced and attached to the fence with garden wire.  I also burndoodled a tiny sign, added linseed oil for protection, and used screw eyes and a picture frame hook to attach it to the basket.

I added a couple pumpkins and a unique squash, as well as a couple surplus tomato plants.  I also added some onion seeds discarded from a neighbor's plot, as well as dry beans which came from plants from the Kinder garden which a 3 year-old class had planted with me.  The squash and pumpkins came from volunteer plants which survived from our community compost bin.   So the community's tossed fall decorations from last year will get to live a new life again!

I came back an hour ago to check on the basket, and the unique squash was gone!  

It felt... surprisingly bitter-sweet.  

I didn't expect the basket to be used so soon, nor to feel emotionally attached to a squash of all things!  

Who is enjoying the squash?  What fun things will they do with it?  Will I see that squash in the compost later this year?  If not, will the seeds be saved so that even more unique squashes can be planted?  And if so, who will plant them?

I collect waste food from the local supermarket and distribute it via the Olio app. I leave these out for people who contact me directly and I've attached some photos of this; these people make contact via the app and request specific items. I also drop food at my neighbours, who appreciate it. Recently I was given lots of potatoes and decided to distribute those (alongside my surplus produce for sale) at the end of my driveway. This way people without the app can also get some free food.

Just in time for the garden's peak productivity, I turned an old pallet into a garden stand. I basically took half of one, tore off the boards and excess nails, then used parts of the other half to make a slight table and roof. I took a modified angle grinder to the surfaces to make the wood nice and smooth.




Final product, sitting at the community garden


A day or two later, glad people are using it!