Home Garden Joy is starting a local chapter of Plant a Row for the Hungry in central Virginia. It’s easy to participate, and your support will help countless families enjoy healthy, fresh produce.
What Is Plant a Row for the Hungry?
Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) is a simple idea. If everyone planted just one extra row of fruits, vegetables, and herbs in their gardens and donated them to local food pantries, we could make a significant impact on hunger.
Donating Extra Produce
I accidentally realized this when my garden overflowed with cucumbers last year. And I mean – overflowed. To the point where we were picking 20 or more per day from just three hills of plants and dumping overripe ones in the woods for wildlife.
I took bags of them to the local community market. Our local Pamplin-area community market is a gem. Many local residents are elderly and can’t access fresh produce easily. The food market offers locally grown vegetables, fruit, and herbs, along with handcrafted bread, cheese, and locally raised meats. I thought they could sell or give away my extra cucumbers and keep the profits, and we’d all benefit. I wasn’t looking for money – I just didn’t want bags of organic cucumbers going to waste.
Well, the lady who runs the market graciously accepted the bags of cucumbers and very tactfully said, “Would it be okay if I donated these to By His Hands, the food pantry by the ball field?” The pantry meets at the dugout on the ball field on Saturday mornings and distributes bags of groceries. I thought this was a wonderful idea and enthusiastically agreed. This was win-win; the person selling cucumbers in the market wouldn’t lose sales, and my cucumbers wouldn’t go to waste.
It made me happy to think that what might go to waste was being enjoyed by others. When I was growing up, my dad volunteered with the St. Vincent de Paul Society at our church. He and other men of the parish gathered food from local supermarkets to donate to the poor. I know that is not the politically correct term, but I will use plain, simple language here.
Starting a Local Central Virginia Chapter
I started thinking about all of this over Christmas and felt prompted to act this year. Therefore, I am bumbling my way into starting a local chapter of Plant a Row for the Hungry. As of winter 2026, I am in discussion with two local food pantries to accept donations. Of course, the gardening information here on Home Garden Joy remains free and accessible to all, so anyone interested in learning how to grow edibles can come here for the info. Once I get further details on where local gardeners can drop off extra produce for the food pantries, I’ll share them here.
Meanwhile, consider donating nonperishables to your local food pantry. Not sure where the nearest one is to you? Visit Ample Harvest and use their lookup to find it.
