Posted in Events, In Backyards, Spadina Saturdays on Sep 17th, 2008
The Gladstone’s Harvest Wednesdays invited us to host a table at another one of their tasting events. This is always a great chance to meet great people and taste great food.
We shared a table with Ben of Monforte Dairy, who served up his classic old cheddar with our fresh pears and apples. We couldn’t have […]
Posted in In Backyards on Sep 17th, 2008
Last week we picked from two Ward 21 properties in one afternoon, dropping the pears off to two of our partner agencies (Humewood House and NaMeRes) immediately after each pick. We had a multi-tiered approach at both houses, picking from the ground, on a picnic table, on ladders, in trees, and on a second-storey patio.
I […]
Posted in In Backyards on Sep 3rd, 2008
This backyard was made for jelly. A beautiful elderberry tree provides the bulk of the berries, and a crabapple tree makes for natural pectin. The fruit tree owner, who has long made her own jellies, showed off some of her canning equipment, shared a few jars with those who came to pick, and offered to […]
Posted in In Backyards on Sep 3rd, 2008
The emails and phone calls keep coming, with Toronto fruit tree owners happy to find a use for their overly-abundant backyard pears.
We picked a total of six trees (apples, pears, elderberries, and crabapples) over the Labour Day weekend. Our volunteers were happy to offer their labour for this community initiative and were rewarded with a […]
Posted in In Backyards on Aug 21st, 2008
Last night I was greeted by two beautiful pears when I arrived home. Rachel led a gleaning team on our first pear pick then generously left me two to sample. Antonietta led another team this morning, and yet another package arrived at my doorstep. Fresh, local, beautiful, hand-picked pears - wow!
We’re learning more and more […]
Posted in In Backyards on Aug 15th, 2008
Half apricot pickers, half media types - we created quite a spectacle while picking yesterday morning. Local artist Stan Krzyzanowski captured the whole thing through time-lapse photography. (While browsing his site, I found some kindred content here, here, and here.)
I’ll be keeping a good part of the apricots to try some home preserving, a bit […]
Posted in In Backyards on Aug 13th, 2008
While scouting a tree for tomorrow’s pick, I strolled through the neighbourhood to see what other fruit trees I could find. The evening had big plans for me.
Some of the fruit tree owners we work with ask us to pick their fruit because they’re not sure how to go about doing it. But then there […]
Posted in In Backyards on Aug 12th, 2008
Part I
At the end of July we picked plenty from an apricot tree. The tenants had just moved in and were just sitting down to celebrate on their back porch when we showed up to provide the entertainment for the evening - a circus performance of apricot picking! It was well-staged, with pickers at […]
Posted in Events, In Backyards, Spadina Saturdays on Aug 7th, 2008
Yesterday evening Suzanne and I hosted a table at the Gladstone Hotel’s Harvest Wednesdays “Summer Tasting.” It was such a lovely event, filled with inspiring producers, businesses, and organizations. The menu was tantalizing, particularly the prosciutto-wrapped apricots mixed with walnut sage butter and wrapped in phyllo - although we here at not far from the […]
Posted in In Backyards on Aug 7th, 2008
The other day I was asked how long we’d been picking for, and I answered, “Oh, it must be 7 or 8 weeks now…” but when I checked the math I found that our very first residential fruit pick was on July 2nd. In our first month of picking, we’ve gathered (drumroll, please!) almost 1000 […]
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