SHARING THE FALL HARVEST TO FIGHT HUNGER IN OUR COMMUNITY

For me, fall is a season associated with food traditions and childhood memories. Growing up in West Virginia, October was when we gathered the last fruits and vegetables of the garden, and I spent long afternoons with my grandmother in the kitchen, canning food to prepare for winter.  

Together, we canned everything we could. We turned fresh tomatoes into spaghetti sauce and salsa. We transformed cucumbers into crisp dill and bread-and-butter pickles, the jars topped with a grape leaf from wild vines. We’d pack green beans, butter beans (my personal favorite) and golden corn kernels into jars, scraping the knife down the side and back up to get all the sweet goodness – hoping to preserve that taste of summer sunshine.  

When my grandmother’s basement shelves were finally lined with jars, it felt like we had bottled up both food and love to carry us through the cold months. Back then, my family lived on a “hollow” with my grandparents and my aunt’s family, and we shared our fall harvest with our little community at holiday celebrations and gatherings throughout the year.  

This tradition of storing and sharing the garden’s abundance has stayed with me. That’s why I love the J’s community garden, where we grow fresh produce to donate to families in need. The J has joined together with our neighbor, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, to fight hunger and food insecurity in Northern Virginia.  

This year, we are proud to be sending the fruits of our collective labor to Food for Others, an organization that ensures good food makes its way to neighbors who need it most. I’ve added vegetables from my home garden to the donation boxes, as well because I feel strongly that our harvest should be shared. 

I also love how the garden brings the community together through a shared sense of purpose. More than 60 volunteers have given their time to prepare the garden site, plant seeds, maintain the garden, and harvest the fruits and vegetables we grew together. Working in the community garden with volunteers of all ages has given me the same sense of connection I first learned as a child, canning food with my grandmother to share with our family and community. 

There is something deeply grounding about gardening, planting, tending, and then sharing the harvest. Whether you grew up with rows of jars lining your basement or are just now getting your hands into the soil, the act of giving back through food is a powerful way to celebrate fall Jewishly. Together, as a community, we can carry the warmth of the garden into the months ahead.  

If you’d like to volunteer in the community garden and help the J address issues of hunger in our community, look for opportunities on our volunteer services website in the spring when the garden will need to be prepped for next year’s growing season.  

Want to help now? Make a donation to the J to support the garden and all of our community engagement programs or sign up for one of our many other volunteer opportunities.