Sudbury joins the urban fruit movement

Fruit for All is Sudbury’s very own fruit tree project, inspiring Sudburians to harvest, learn and share in nature’s bounty, right on our doorstep. The project aims to collect and grow food sustainably within the city.

When a homeowner can’t keep up with the abundant harvest produced by their tree, they contact urban fruit programs, like Fruit for All, and volunteers mobilize to pick the fruit. The collection is then divided up with a quarter offered back to the homeowners, a quarter to volunteers, a quarter to food programs and food banks and the last 25 per-cent will be used for revenue generation in order to make this program sustainable in the long term.

The popularity of the urban fruit-picking movement in North America has grown exponentially with more and more homeowners turning their backyards into tiny, urban farms complete with fruit trees and berry bushes. At the same time, there is also more pressure being put on municipalities to plant fruit bearing trees instead of ornamentals.

Program manager Carrie Regenstreif first heard about a similar program called “Not far from the tree” in Toronto, and thought that it would be a successful program to start in Sudbury.

Regenstreif started up the program on a volunteer basis two years ago, and this year Fruit for All received an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant for three years, which will allow the program to go beyond basic picking.

In fact, Fruit for All is offering two free workshops this spring, aimed at increasing fruit tree care skills. One workshop will cover general principles and techniques, while the other will focus on older, neglected trees. The instructor for both workshops will be local expert Ron Lewis, who has more than 30 years’ experience growing fruit trees that are hardy for the north.

Regenstreif is hoping that the workshops will not only encourage home owners to care for and harvest their fruit trees, but will also bring out some new volunteers to the program.

“Last year we weren’t able to pick all the trees offered,” said Regenstreif, “But this year with these workshops helping to increase this skill in the community, we’re hoping that long term volunteers will help sustain the program.”

Fruit for All is designed to make use of fruit that isn’t otherwise being used. Regenstreif aims to get fresh produce into the hands of people who can’t afford it. While the division of fruit is allocated in theory, she finds that the largest percentage of fruit collected is being used in local cooking programs, and by food banks in Sudbury.

Beyond the workshops, Fruit for All is looking at the Edible Trees Program, and plans on purchasing and planting fruit trees in association with the Community Garden Network in order to grow a variety of fruit trees right here in Sudbury.

To find out more about Fruit for All and how you can get involved visit Eat, Local Sudbury or contact 705-521-6717, ext. 105 for details.