Fruit Tree Project
Connecting back yard fruit trees with volunteer harvesters,
decreasing hunger, bear encounters, and waste all at once.
We connect the community through FRUIT!
Every year, hundreds of thousands of pounds of local fruit is left unpicked. Good food falls and rots, attracting bears, rats, and other wildlife to neighbourhoods and back yards in the process. Meanwhile, food insecurity is at a 30 year high – hundreds of families need urgent access to fresh and nutritious food.
We match tree hosts and people wanting to harvest, ensuring that gatherings are organized, safe, equipped, and insured.
Fruit is split four ways – tree hosts, pickers, charitable/free food programs, and One Straw Society for preservation workshops, events, and to help raise funds for food security programs like this one.
How do I get involved?
I have a fruit tree!
Step 1: Register your tree
Fill out the Tree Host Registration Form with your tree & fruit details.
Step 2: Plan the harvest
Let us know when you think we’re 7-10 days away from perfect ripeness, and we’ll take care of the logistics – the harvest, pickers, orientations, equipment, ladders, vehicles, and distributing that fruit.
Step 3: Prepare for our arrival
Ensure your property is safe, clear of rotten slippery fruit & dog poop, ensure dogs & farm animals are secured, and leave a yard waste bin out for cleanup. As program capacity grows, we hope to help you with inedible/rotting fruit by connecting to farms with livestock and composting programs.
I’d like to pick fruit!
Step 1: Register as a Picker
Fill out the Picker Registration Form.
Step 2: Attend an orientation session
Once registered, you’ll be invited to an orientation to review safety and equipment use, program logistics, and how to pick fruit with the best care and respect for the trees and host property.
Step 3: Sign up for specific harvests
Picks will be scheduled with 5 to 10 days’ notice as fruit ripens, and you’ll have the chance to sign up for the picks of your choice. We plan for estimated harvest size & number of pickers so that everyone has a job and will be able to go home with fruit. There is likely to be a waitlist to join picks – there are simply more pickers than trees available.
Harvest Day!
Pickers meet at the property entrance. Our harvest leader will give the picking team identification before entering the property, and review site plans and safety.
The team will load equipment and crates, and harvest for up to 2 hours. The team will then tidy up, divvy up the fruit, and head home.
We pick as much as we can in 2 hours. We can’t guarantee a cleared tree, and due to health and safety concerns, we can’t clean up fallen or rotting fruit from the ground aside from what’s fallen during picking.
Connecting it all
The Fruit Tree Project is a part of connecting the dots – fruit is used in workshops and education, skill-building, community connections, mentorships, and food access, using programs, resources, and mentors that we already have.
Tool Library
Tools and equipment are available in the Tool Library to grow, harvest, and process fruit: pole pickers, orchard ladders, apple presses, etc.
Foodboxes
Fruit is shared with families and seniors in need through Foodbox subsidies throughout the harvest season, either whole and fresh, or preserved.
Kitchen
We bring people together to sort and process fruit into jams, syrups, and baked goods in the Tiny Farm Kitchen, teaching traditional skills & food safety.
One Tiny Farm
The Tiny Farm provides a home base for fruit gatherings, workshops, tools, equipment, cold storage, kitchen, and events.
