Apple picking_Flickr

In British Columbia there is an abundance of fruit bearing trees. European settlers were planting fruit trees as early as 1826. Though many people have fruit trees within their reach, they often go unattended and their harvest ends up rotting on someone’s lawn. While bugs devour the local fruit, the same general kind is still bought at grocery stores – but for its durability and good looks rather than its local significance, flavour or tradition.

Fruit tree projects try to take these trees that are producing good usable, tasty food and harvest them to their full potential.

It started with residents in Victoria realizing the irony of working at a thriving orchard while fruit was falling from neighbour’s trees. They organized picking parties to harvest the abundance in 1998. After that, Lifecycles agreed to host the busy project. As of 2002 there are now five chapters of fruit tree projects across British Columbia.

This guide has everything an organizer needs to know about starting their own fruit tree project, including

Workshop outlines

Organizing pickings

Safety and liability

Outreach

Sample press releases, release forms, picking forms and more!