If you’re a gardener, and you grow greens, sometimes you end up with more than you know what to do with. Even with all the giving away of vegetables to neighbors, there’s always something left over. Sometimes, as with chard or kale, the leaves get tough or bug-eaten before we get around to picking them; sometimes, as with broccoli and cauliflower, the leaves are not ordinarily eaten — not by humans, anyway. 

You could compost these greens, but gardeners living in or near Roxborough can put them to another good use by donating them to the Schuylkill Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. Every spring and summer, the clinic harbors large numbers of animals that eat greens (particularly ducks and geese), and the staff often has to go out and buy them. So if you have unwanted greens, just drop them off any day of the week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Almost any kind is desirable: broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower trimmings; beet greens, kale, chard, mustard greens, collards, carrot tops, even lettuce (except for iceberg, which has a low nutritional content). SWRC is located at 304 Port Royal Ave. You can reach them at 215-482-8217, although there’s no need to call before dropping off greens.