Giving Garden benefits from yield of 200 tomato plants

Most people have all they can do to manage a few tomato plants in their backyard.

Then there's Nancy Hake.

She laughs in the face of a challenge.

Or, rather, 200 challenges in the form of the tomato plants that cover at least a fifth of her five-acre property.

Hake and her partner, Patrick Doyle, decided to start donating their excess produce to the Grafton Township Food Pantry just last year. It's one of the drop-off sites in the Daily Herald's Giving Garden program.

"We really overdid it last year," Hake said. "We were trying to think of something good to do with the excess."

Hake used to bring the leftover veggies to work, but had to stop when the volume from her garden simply became too much to handle.

"The pantry has worked out well. I pack the produce and bring it in before they open on my way to work and they send me a receipt," Hake said.

Hake said the tax write-off and slight decrease in property taxes she receives are an added bonus.

"We have everything we need," Hake said. "We know that it is going to a good cause and people are benefiting from it."

Besides the 200 tomato plants Hake grows from seed, the Huntley residents donate summer squash and peppers.

Still, Hake said, the tomatoes are still the most desired. Most of Hake's tomatoes are heirlooms - she has collected seeds for them for years.

Hake started a raspberry patch this year, but is not sure if the bushes will be mature enough to produce enough fruit for donation. Raspberries generally produce fruit on second-year stems.

"We have a lot of garlic this year, we need to see if we have enough to donate," Hake said. "We are trying to harvest produce that will last through the winter."

Hake and Doyle said they plan to continue harvesting through the summer, but will be busiest when the tomatoes start to ripen.

"Two hundred tomato plants all at once is a lot," Hake said.

Week of July 27

• This week's total donated produce: 4,484 pounds

• Total this year: 6,528 pounds

• Huntley residents donate heirloom tomatoes to Grafton Township Food Pantry. - Page 2

For a list of drop-off sites and hours visit click here