0 ITEMS IN CART 
SHARE THE BOUNTY
11/15/19 — Ada Broussard
Before we jump into this week’s post, some important schedule changes for the week of Thanksgiving, only.
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It's a bountiful time of year; consider sharing part of your harvest!
Bumper crop bounty. Boxes overflowing with a cornucopia of vegetables. Refrigerators stocked with a colorful array of organic produce, and a bowl of sweet potatoes on the counter. If you’re reading this, you’re likely a customer of ours, maybe a CSA Member, and we hope this describes your current vegetable inventory. The fall is one of the most plentiful seasons here in Texas!
Today, we’re writing to ask you to consider sharing this bounty with those in our community who could use a little more fresh produce in their lives and diets. Specifically, we wanted to draw attention to our Sponsored Share Program.
![]()
Going out of town for the holidays? Consider donating your CSA share instead of postponing it!
Since January of 2012, with the help of our CSA Members and patrons, we’ve been sending weekly boxes of vegetables to two local organizations: The Settlement Home and SAFE Alliance. We did some quick back-of-the-napkin math, and over the past 7 and a half years, we’ve delivered around 1,245 boxes of fresh produce to The Settlement Home… that’s around 18,720 pounds of organic vegetables! The number is about the same at SAFE Alliance. These vegetables are integrated into the programming of both of these organizations. At The Settlement Home, for example, these veggies are available to the girls and young women who live on the premises at one of the organization's amazing group homes. Here, girls ages 7 through 18 live with a house mom. These homes are focused on building life skills in a more independent environment that will prepare the girls for life on their own or being integrated back into a family situation. The girls have a robust schedule chock full of recreational activities, and are out in the community on a regular basis. They also plan and cook meals together; this is where our veggies come in! Each week, residents at the Settlement Home have access to our fresh veggies as a part of their pantry staples, and vegetables are incorporated into shared meals and cooking classes.
![]()
One of the group kitchens at the Settlement Home. This is where our veggies are prepared and shared!
We are so proud of this long-standing partnership with these Austin organizations, but we could not do this without your help. So far this year, 77 of you have donated 141 shares. If you are one of these 77 folks and are reading this, thank you! But we still have a ways to go. Specifically, we usually send 156 boxes to Safe Alliance every year and 156 boxes to The Settlement Home - that’s 312 total boxes annually, meaning we need another 171 shares to cover this year’s needs. So hear us out: If you need to postpone your share for the busy holiday season, please consider donating it instead. Traveling work work? Consider donating instead of postponing. All you need to do is email Faith (farm@jbgorganic.com) and let her know that you’d like to donate your share for a particular date. You can do this at any point in the year, but we find that many of you travel for the holidays, hence our usual ask this time of year.
If you need all of your veggies but would still like to donate, you can simply purchase a share to go to the Settlement Home or Safeplace on this page. And if you’re wondering what to get your friend or family member who has it all, you can donate a share of vegetables on their behalf. We’ll send them a card letting them know.
![]()
CSA Boxes headed to the Settlement Home.
We sincerely appreciate your support of our Sponsored Share Program. But did you know that’s not the only way our veggies make their way onto the plates of those in need? Every Tuesday, and sometimes on Fridays, too, the Central Texas Food Bank’s semi truck makes its way to our packing shed where it’s loaded up with pallets of donated produce. The vegetables that we donate are unsellable for one reason or another - sweet potatoes that were too big and scary-looking for customers to buy (true story) or bunched turnips with green tops that are a bit yellowed. All the produce is 100% edible, and just as nutritious as their glamour-shot-worthy cousins.
![]()
Photograph of Inglorious JBG produce by Kenny Brahn for Food + City for their article titled The Hunt for Food Waste. https://foodandcity.org/hunt-food-waste/
These less-photogenic but equally-as-tasty vegetables are distributed through CTFB’s pantry. And when we say pantry, we actually mean a 135,000 square foot facility where many local food banks go to fill their shelves and procure ingredients for their soup, so to speak. Some of the produce gets cooked up in CTFB’s industrial kitchen as a part of their Value Added Meals Program and Nutrition classes. No matter which arm of the food bank our vegetables are funneled, the important part is they get used. Partnering with the CTFB to distribute our inglorious produce is one of the main ways we nearly eliminate food waste at JBG. Wondering what happens to the produce that isn’t suitable for the food bank? It goes to a hog farmer. Zero percent of our produce ends up in a landfill, which, believe it or not is a thing that happens at some farms.
Last year we donated 120,616 pounds of produce, and this year we’ve already toppled that number! Since the beginning of 2019, we’ve donated 177,715 pounds of produce, which works itself out to be around 148,095 meals. Considering there are millions of Texans who are considered food insecure, this is just a small portion of the nutrient dense and healthy food needed to help feed our neighbors.
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(Above) Each week the CTFB pulls up in this large semi truck to scoop up farm-fresh veggies. (Below) Stats and images courtesy of the Central Texas Food Bank. To see more figures about hunger in our state, visit the "Learn More" section of their website.
If you feel like you have a bounty this season and would like to support the efforts of our amazing food bank, consider checking out their upcoming Empty Bowl Event (it’s one of our favorite fundraising events of the year!), signup up for one of their many volunteer opportunities, or simply contributing monetarily.![]()
Our weekly volunteers sometimes help us sort donations for CTFB.
- All Houston deliveries will be made on Monday, November 25th.
- All Thursday Austin Pickups and Thursday Home Deliveries will be made on Wednesday, November 27th.
- All DFW deliveries usually made on Thursdays will be delivered on Tuesday, November 26th.
- All DFW deliveries usually made on Fridays will be delivered on Wednesday, November 27th.
Sponsor A Share
It's a bountiful time of year; consider sharing part of your harvest!
Bumper crop bounty. Boxes overflowing with a cornucopia of vegetables. Refrigerators stocked with a colorful array of organic produce, and a bowl of sweet potatoes on the counter. If you’re reading this, you’re likely a customer of ours, maybe a CSA Member, and we hope this describes your current vegetable inventory. The fall is one of the most plentiful seasons here in Texas!
Today, we’re writing to ask you to consider sharing this bounty with those in our community who could use a little more fresh produce in their lives and diets. Specifically, we wanted to draw attention to our Sponsored Share Program.
Going out of town for the holidays? Consider donating your CSA share instead of postponing it!
Since January of 2012, with the help of our CSA Members and patrons, we’ve been sending weekly boxes of vegetables to two local organizations: The Settlement Home and SAFE Alliance. We did some quick back-of-the-napkin math, and over the past 7 and a half years, we’ve delivered around 1,245 boxes of fresh produce to The Settlement Home… that’s around 18,720 pounds of organic vegetables! The number is about the same at SAFE Alliance. These vegetables are integrated into the programming of both of these organizations. At The Settlement Home, for example, these veggies are available to the girls and young women who live on the premises at one of the organization's amazing group homes. Here, girls ages 7 through 18 live with a house mom. These homes are focused on building life skills in a more independent environment that will prepare the girls for life on their own or being integrated back into a family situation. The girls have a robust schedule chock full of recreational activities, and are out in the community on a regular basis. They also plan and cook meals together; this is where our veggies come in! Each week, residents at the Settlement Home have access to our fresh veggies as a part of their pantry staples, and vegetables are incorporated into shared meals and cooking classes.
One of the group kitchens at the Settlement Home. This is where our veggies are prepared and shared!
We are so proud of this long-standing partnership with these Austin organizations, but we could not do this without your help. So far this year, 77 of you have donated 141 shares. If you are one of these 77 folks and are reading this, thank you! But we still have a ways to go. Specifically, we usually send 156 boxes to Safe Alliance every year and 156 boxes to The Settlement Home - that’s 312 total boxes annually, meaning we need another 171 shares to cover this year’s needs. So hear us out: If you need to postpone your share for the busy holiday season, please consider donating it instead. Traveling work work? Consider donating instead of postponing. All you need to do is email Faith (farm@jbgorganic.com) and let her know that you’d like to donate your share for a particular date. You can do this at any point in the year, but we find that many of you travel for the holidays, hence our usual ask this time of year.
If you need all of your veggies but would still like to donate, you can simply purchase a share to go to the Settlement Home or Safeplace on this page. And if you’re wondering what to get your friend or family member who has it all, you can donate a share of vegetables on their behalf. We’ll send them a card letting them know.
CSA Boxes headed to the Settlement Home.
JBG + The Central Texas Food Bank
We sincerely appreciate your support of our Sponsored Share Program. But did you know that’s not the only way our veggies make their way onto the plates of those in need? Every Tuesday, and sometimes on Fridays, too, the Central Texas Food Bank’s semi truck makes its way to our packing shed where it’s loaded up with pallets of donated produce. The vegetables that we donate are unsellable for one reason or another - sweet potatoes that were too big and scary-looking for customers to buy (true story) or bunched turnips with green tops that are a bit yellowed. All the produce is 100% edible, and just as nutritious as their glamour-shot-worthy cousins.
Photograph of Inglorious JBG produce by Kenny Brahn for Food + City for their article titled The Hunt for Food Waste. https://foodandcity.org/hunt-food-waste/
These less-photogenic but equally-as-tasty vegetables are distributed through CTFB’s pantry. And when we say pantry, we actually mean a 135,000 square foot facility where many local food banks go to fill their shelves and procure ingredients for their soup, so to speak. Some of the produce gets cooked up in CTFB’s industrial kitchen as a part of their Value Added Meals Program and Nutrition classes. No matter which arm of the food bank our vegetables are funneled, the important part is they get used. Partnering with the CTFB to distribute our inglorious produce is one of the main ways we nearly eliminate food waste at JBG. Wondering what happens to the produce that isn’t suitable for the food bank? It goes to a hog farmer. Zero percent of our produce ends up in a landfill, which, believe it or not is a thing that happens at some farms.
Last year we donated 120,616 pounds of produce, and this year we’ve already toppled that number! Since the beginning of 2019, we’ve donated 177,715 pounds of produce, which works itself out to be around 148,095 meals. Considering there are millions of Texans who are considered food insecure, this is just a small portion of the nutrient dense and healthy food needed to help feed our neighbors.
(Above) Each week the CTFB pulls up in this large semi truck to scoop up farm-fresh veggies. (Below) Stats and images courtesy of the Central Texas Food Bank. To see more figures about hunger in our state, visit the "Learn More" section of their website.
If you feel like you have a bounty this season and would like to support the efforts of our amazing food bank, consider checking out their upcoming Empty Bowl Event (it’s one of our favorite fundraising events of the year!), signup up for one of their many volunteer opportunities, or simply contributing monetarily.
Our weekly volunteers sometimes help us sort donations for CTFB.
