October Harvest Hero: Sandy Throne's Bumper Crop of Gratitude

Sandy Throne moved to Oceanside this May with three greyhounds, two cats, and a lot of boxes. What she didn’t realize was that she was moving in with a lemon tree.

A Brooklyn native who spent her career on Wall Street, Sandy was drawn to the coast by a feeling she describes simply: “This place makes me feel centered.” Her 1964 house came with good bones and a backyard lemon tree she estimates is at least 50 years old, one she was told fruits all year long. By her count, somewhere between 100 and 200 small green lemons were on their way.

Sandy did what any good neighbor would do. She handed lemons to the neighbors, handed them to friends, and filled her refrigerator with lemonade and lemon juice. Still, there were tons. Then a post about ProduceGood popped up in one of her neighborhood Facebook groups, and she reached out. “If I have something and other people don’t, share it,” she says.

Since then, our gleaners have made two trips to her yard, collecting about 150 pounds the first time and roughly 80 the second. That’s 230 pounds from a single backyard tree, headed to neighbors who can use it! Sandy also made a gift to support our work. It’s “a really good feeling,” she says, to know that even from just one tree, the fruit is going to someone who needs it.

That’s the chain of gratitude at the heart of our community orchard. A neighbor shares what she can’t use. A gleaner picks it. A volunteer drives it. A feeding partner puts it in a family’s hands. Sandy is where it starts, and every link depends on the one before it, ripples travelling outward from one neighbor to the next.

She’s not done, either. Sandy plans to add a dwarf lime and a mandarin tree, and she has already told friends in Carlsbad with fruit trees of their own to give us a call. Volunteering has been part of her life for years, from food banks to delivering meals to neighbors recovering from illness, and once her new floors are in this December, she’s looking forward to checking out ProduceGood's volunteer opportunities.

Ask Sandy about life these days, and she’ll tell you, “I’m happy with my life.” Sandy, thank you for sharing your abundance, and for being such a generous first link. We’re so glad you landed here.