Edible Miracles

I stepped out of the office in the COTS Petaluma Kitchen one day last week to see boxes overflowing with the most exquisitely beautiful vegetable bounty imaginable: purple broccoli, colorful chard, the biggest collard greens ever, hearty turnips and fresh herbs of all types.

These had just been unloaded from one of our regular food donors, St. James Church. The parishioners there have created a community garden for the express purpose of providing food for the hungry.

It happened again today. As if by magic, baskets of salad greens, spinach, broccoli, and other wonderful edibles appeared on our receiving tables.

It's our Wednesday miracle.

I was so proud to think of our residents and the surrounding community's hungry being fed these eye-popping fresh veggies, and I could only imagine how happy our cooks will be to prepare them.

Growing food is not an easy task, and as I viewed the abundant produce, thoughts of the hands that planted the garden and the backs bent lovingly to tend it came to mind.

I am unspeakably grateful for the big-hearted folks who plucked the food from the ground and drove it to us so others may be fed. Fresh veggies do a body good, and such generosity is every bit as healthy for the heart.