The One Tomato Project wants you to plant a tomato plant, or any vegetable, this year. Grow whatever you like to eat, eat as much of it as you can, and donate the rest to a local food bank. It's as simple as that! Be really excited that you grew, and ate, one tomato from a plant that you've nurtured.
There are other things you can do, as well. If you know an individual or family who is struggling to make ends meet, you can plant a tomato in a pail and drop it off at their house. Or you can head over to a local food bank, and offer to donate some plants to people in need. The average cost for four tomato plants is $1.25, and each plant could produce more than 40 pounds of tomatoes! .
Do you know how to home preserve fruits and vegetables? Have you canned tomatoes or peaches in the past, and had good results? Consider donating your time to teach a class at a local community centre to teach this valuable and disappearing skill. Let's start a movement to feed people with locally grown produce for as long into the winter as we can!
If you've never canned food before, and you've never gardened, consider starting a "One Tomato" food drive at your local farmer's market or grocery store. The concept of One Tomato can carry over here like this: if you buy a 10lb bag of potatoes, but almost always end up throwing away three potatoes because they go bad before you get to eat them, then consider donating three potatoes to your local food bank. Ask your market or grocery store to have a fresh fruits and vegetables basket available for people to donate just one thing each time they shop. One apple. One potato. One carrot. Or, one tomato.
The One Tomato Project was inspired by the Victory Gardens of World War II. Victory Gardens were home-grown vegetable gardens promoted by the U.S. and Canadian governments during WWII. In 1943, in a radical act of war support, Eleanor Roosevelt had the front lawn of the White House ploughed up, and she planed a Victory Garden. This year, First Lady Michelle Obama has also planted a victory garden at the White House.
During the war, American gardeners grew about forty percent of the produce eaten in the U.S., all from plots planted in any available space including front lawns, vacant city lands, parks, and school yards. We have enough space to feed everyone, we just have to change green space to food space.
