Community Fruit Harvesting: not far from the tree
by Bonnie Alter, London on 07.30.08
How many times have you walked by a tree weeping with unpicked fruit that has been left to rot on the tree and the ground and thought--what a waste? not far from the tree is a new local Toronto organisation that ensures that fruit in one small section of the city doesn’t go uneaten. The idea behind it is so ingenious and generous that it brings joy to every community-minded person. When fruit tree owners can’t harvest their bounty, not far from the tree sends out a team of volunteers to do it for them. Then one third of the collection goes to the fruit tree owners, another third goes to the volunteers for their labour, and the final third is distributed (by bicycle or cart) to community organizations in the neighbourhood who can make good use of the fresh fruit. So far they have harvested 494 pounds of fruit from residential gardens. How fabulous is that.
To add to the love, they have linked up with a local museum that has a demonstration vegetable garden and orchard on its grounds. Since it is a Victoriana museum, much of the produce is heirloom varieties. The extra is taken, by bicycle of course, to a local saturday market where it is sold, with the proceeds going back to the Museum's orchards. This is such a wonderful model: locally grown food, recycling, slow food miles, avoiding waste, saving food, community involvement and charitable acts. What more is there to say but bravo! :: not far from the tree
More on Eating Local Food
:: Eat the Season
:: Eating Local Food
:: Preserving the Local Harvest
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Just be sure to pick from the tree. Don't eat stuff already on the ground. E Coli from animal droppings is a serious hazard in windfall fruilt. Leave it for the animals or compost it.
Fantastic idea - love it.
If I see you damned kids in my yard I'll kill every last one of you!
Treehugger, thanks for featuring our project! We're pleased as punch - fruit punch, of course.
We've learned a lot from existing fruit tree projects (there's a full listing here).
Rob: That's a good point. We separate out the windfalls and never give them to the agencies that we partner with.
Man: We ask permission, so you won't need to kill anybody. But there are some great projects out there that harvest public fruit, so watch out!