North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Mark & Helen Angermayer" <hangermayer@isp.com>]

Hi All,

I had a question about adding organic matter to the soil.  Here is the
situation.  Our church has a caring ministry in which they distribute
thousands of pounds of food every month to any in need.  A lot of the food
comes from grocery stores and is very close to out-of-date.  Most of it is
still good enough to give away, however some is too old and must be thrown
out.  It fills up the dumpster, and they would like for someone to be able
to make use of the old food.  I have a low spot in the backyard I am trying
to level out and am considering using the old food as a compost/fill
material for the spot.  My question is, do you think it would be a good
idea?  What are some of the risks/downsides?  The old food consists of
mostly old fruit, vegetables, and bread.  They haven't been able to find any
farmers to take the old food for livestock feed, plus there are some
prohibitions involved in feeding "garbage" to livestock.(at least for swine,
it is illegal to feed raw garbage, it must be cooked).  Appreciate your
thoughts.

Mark Angermayer
Zone 5 Kansas