The green bananas performed the job with their ethylene to promote ripening of our 2 week crop of tomatoes. It was a job well done, but they needed a new home. They helped ripen 17 lbs for local shelters and another 23 lbs of green tomatoes.

Why did we have so many bananas? The green bananas produced ethylene, which helped ripen green tomatoes. It faked the tomatoes into ripening and it softened their skins to made them palatable. Naturally, we were onto this simple method to box ripen out our tomato crop and averaged about 20 lbs of fruit donations each week.

We landed the week with 3 sets of ripe bananas. To evenly share, we tried 3 avenues on the bananas: 1) For family, 2) For friends, 3) For the locals.

So far, the buddies all took the bananas without complaint.

We look forward to a donation on Tuesday that will break our record. While we know that the end of the season is near, we also know that 2/3 of the crop is still available. We hope and pray that we can get it all for our community. We want the most for those in need!

We started picking them all earlier than ever. The cherries were picked if they showed signs of yellow and Beefsteaks if they showed any rose color. Something tells me that we will get almost all of the crop!