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Day 26: Mmmmm Pie
Today's tree (okay my blog is a little late, yesterday's tree) was a Northern Pecan Tree (Carya illinoinensis) at Second Helpings. Like KIB, Second Helpings is on my short list of Not for Profits that get a lot of love from me. Second Helpings rescues prepared and perishable food and re-prepares it into nutritious meals that are distributed to over 60 social service organizations (not for profits that provide care to the ill, needy, or minor children) in Indianapolis. What does that mean? They take perfectly good food that restaurants and food stores would have otherwise thrown away, save it from going into a landfill, and use it to provide healthy and delicious meals to feed the hungry in our city. On average they send out around 3,500 meals a day!
There is more Second Helpings does, but I want to pause here. This action of food rescue fits so well into fabric of what KIB does, I thought that one of my trees just had to go there. It is kinda like a recycling program on steroids. As opposed to the food being thrown away and headed to a landfill, iti is reclaimed and turned into meals ( do feel compelled to further explain this isn't have eaten plates of foods from a restaurant, but items from the kitchen or stores like Kroger and
Trader Joes that aren't going to be used.
So, not only did I want to put a tree at KIB, but it had to be a food that could provide some type of food. It will likely be a few years before Pecans in any quantity come off of this tree, but when they do they can provide a good pie, or more importantly a good protein source that can be incorporated into a salad or meal. This isn't KIB's first involvement with Second Helpings. Earlier this year, KIB warded Second Helpings a grant to build a garden in their back yard (next to where I planted the Pecan tree. This is allowing for fresh herbs to be grown onsite, further enhancing the supply of fresh ingredients.
Today's tree was on the smaller end of the scale of trees I have planted this month, but I was still very thankful for help. Elizabeth Garber, the founder of Best Chocolate in Town and fellow Second Helpings Board Member, helped me do the planting at the conclusion of our board meeting. This is a shameless plug, but if you haven't tried one of her truffles before, you just must. My favorite is the Fiery Pepper, though the Sun King Wee Mac, is pretty darn good also. If you want to try one, you can head to her shop on Mass Avenue, or she will be one of 15 local vendors at the Harvest (think of it as a mini Zoobilation at Second Helpings) on Saturday Night.
Just 4 more trees to go. I think the weather is going to finally catch up to me today. I'm listening to the rain fall outside and the forecast doesn't have many breaks in it. That's okay, I've had 26 mostly dry plantings, I can handle one or two met ones.
