going city-wide?
Jan 11th, 2008 by Laura Reinsborough
What if not far from the tree were to go city-wide in its scope? What if we were to become a comprehensive, full-blown fruit- (and berry- and nut-) harvesting project for Toronto?
Well, first of all we should do some research. Here are some resources from other fruit tree projects:
Tucson, Arizona – http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/005408.html
Vancouver, British Columbia – http://www.vcn.bc.ca/fruit/
This project is often cited as inspiration for other projects on this list. It has also received a lot of good press: http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/12/20/FruitTrees/ and has encouraged the City to plant orchards: http://urbanwildnes.blogspot.com/2005/02/vancouver-fruit-trees-in-public-spaces.html
Victoria, British Columbia – http://www.lifecyclesproject.ca/initiatives/fruit_tree/
Fernwood (neighbourhood in Victoria), British Columbia – http://www.commongroundproject.ca/node/101
Richmond, British Columbia – http://www.richmondfruittree.com/index.html
Nelson, British Columbia - http://www.earthmatters.ca/fruittree.php
Summerland, British Columbia - http://www.sadi.ca/fruit-tree.aspx
Los Angeles, California - http://www.treepeople.org/vfp.dll?OakTree~getPage~&PNPK=28 and http://www.fallenfruit.org/
Santa Clara Valley, California – http://www.villageharvest.org/
Palo Alto, California – http://www.ecomagic.org/fruition/
Not only does this project salvage fruit, they also salvage fruit trees and then plant them in schoolyards!
Las Vegas, Nevada – http://projectangelfaces.org/
Hamilton, Ontario - http://www.environmenthamilton.org/eatlocal/docs/2006_Report_for_TD_FEF.pdf
and http://www.environmenthamilton.org/eatlocal/fruittree.htm
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario – http://littlecityfarm.blogspot.com/2007/08/urban-fruit-harvest.html
It looks like this project is in a similar phase. Here’s the follow-up after their first season: http://littlecityfarm.blogspot.com/2007/09/apple-cider-pressing-heritage-apple.html
And a creative event they hosted: http://littlecityfarm.blogspot.com/2007/11/apple-tasting-extravaganza.html
Guelph, Ontario
http://www.appleseedcollective.org
Portland, Oregon - http://www.growing-gardens.org/portland-gardening-resources/fruit-tree-project.php
Seattle, Washington – http://www.solid-ground.org/Programs/Nutrition/Lettuce/Pages/TheCommunityFruitTreeHarvest2007.aspx
And this year’s job description for their Fruit Tree Harvest Project Coordinator: http://lwtchort.blogspot.com/2007/12/fruit-tree-harvest-project-coordinator.html
London, UK
http://www.organiclea.org.uk/scrump.html
RELATED PROJECTS
Leeds - http://www.celebrateleeds07.com/800trees
A city tree-planting initiative that encourages fruit trees to be planted, and suggests planting them in school yards.
Armenia – http://www.armeniatree.org/whoweare/dd_dec04.htm
This tree planting program includes a school orchard, which “will become a major source of food and income for the school.”
Southern Africa – http://worldagroforestrycentre.net/ar2004/tf_story02.asp
Hi there, I was just googling fruit tree projects because yet ANOTHER person has asked me for info (I’m part of the Vancouver Fruit Tree Project (VFTP) Society). I found your site, and WHAT a fabulous list, so I was happy to pass that on to him. I did notice, however, you’ve stated the VFTP encouraged the city to plant trees. As far as I know, this is not true, and we in fact, were against it, worried there’d be no one to take care of them. Demand for our services by private homeowners with trees is already so high (we usually are able to have a 30% response rate), we’re not sure the city trees would get picked, let alone taken care of. Unless, of course, it was made very public where they are & people learned when they’d be ripe. Anyway, just wanted to clarify.
Cheers,
Erin