THE GARDEN PROJECT , a nine-year-old gardening and job-training program, has provided free food to soup kitchens and residents of the Bay Area's poorest communities for years. Based at the San Francisco County Jail, the program trains 15 ex-prisoners each year to grow organic vegetables and helps them make the transition into a legal working life.

Now project founder Catherine Sneed is issuing a plea for folks to pitch in and buy shares of the farm's harvest. The proceeds will subsidize its weekly food donations and support the job-training program. Sheriff Michael Hennessey praises the program for keeping former inmates out of jail far longer than most. After learning new job skills and benefiting from the emotional support of project staffers who help the trainees kick addictions and other demons, many never go back, Hennessey said.