From Farm to Family -- a cabbage tale

Jack Vessey, owner of Vessey & Co. farm, examines the cabbage as it moves along the conveyer. He sold this crop of vegetables at a deep discount to the Farm to Family program. “It’s a win-win situation,” Vessey said. “We’re happy to help. It’s important to give back to the community.”  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

A buyer with Farm to Family earlier this month purchased 38 totes -- cardboard boxes that hold about 1,000 pounds of cabbage -- from Vessey & Co. Most of it was trucked to Los Angeles, with the rest of it divided up among Garden Grove, Oxnard and Santa Barbara, a food program official said.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Juan Palomino prepares cabbage for transport from a Holtville, Calif., farm to area food banks. Cabbage is popular at pantries because people from many cultures eat it.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Steve Sharp of Farm to Family watches 12 tons of winter cabbage leave the Vessey & Co. fields. Some of the vegetables will go to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Ahyra Rivera moves a 1,000-pound tote filled with fresh cabbage through the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, a 96,000-square-foot facility south of downtown that can store about 2.9 million pounds of food.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Lekeshia Henriques takes fresh cabbage from a huge box at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. She and her crew repackage the vegetables into 25-pound crates for distribution at 900 food-giveaway sites.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

A man at the head of a long line rests his eyes while waiting for food to be distributed at the New Life in Christ Church in South Los Angeles.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Maria Martinez, second from right, and others pick up bags of fresh cabbage, apples and yams at a weekly distribution at New Life in Christ Church in South L.A. The church’s pastor said as many as 600 families get assistance.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Lilian Monroy and her 3-year-old son, Allen Garcia, head home with apples and other food items from the distribution at New Life in Christ Church.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Lilian Monroy and her son, Allen Garcia, prepare vegetables for their lunch. The cabbage, picked from the Vessey farm in Holtville, was put into a soup.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Lilian Monroy ladles out soup made with vegetables she received through the Farm to Family program. “They give out natural, nutritious stuff, things that are healthy,” she said.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Lilian Monroy, her son, Allen Garcia, and husband, Juan Garcia, enjoy the cabbage soup in their South Los Angeles home.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)