Hamilton Fruit Tree Project Hamilton, ON

Hamilton Fruit Tree Project harvests local, fresh fruit from backyards and the bounty is divided up between homeowners, volunteers and food banks. The project has come to play a critical role in supplying much-needed fresh, healthy local produce for area food banks and breakfast programs, but needs your help to continue to benefit Hamilton residents. http://www.environmenthamilton.org

Need: $5000

"From tree to table, the Hamilton Fruit Tree Project harvests fresh, local, tasty fruit and makes the bounty available to those who would otherwise go without. Our goals include: increasing food preservation knowledge, diverting fruit from going to waste and increasing community awareness about the fruit that thrives in Hamilton."

With the ‘Eat Local’ movement gaining more and more momentum and as the economic downturn continues to inflict impacts on our communities, we need to turn to our own backyards to look for resources to help the situation. The Hamilton Fruit Tree Project has come to play a critical role in supplying much-needed fresh, healthy local produce for area food banks and breakfast programs. Project participants also work to reduce their carbon footprint by car pooling, biking or walking to pick sites and the fruit we harvest is generally from trees and vines that are not treated with chemical pesticides.

Hamilton Fruit Tree Project harvests local, fresh fruit from backyards and the bounty is divided up between homeowners, volunteers and food banks. The project includes a variety of powerful community-building features: 1. The freshly picked fruit is on food bank shelves and breakfast program plates within 24-72 hours. 2. Any seconds are used in canning workshops across Hamilton – many of which are providing food preservation skills to low income individuals - and any thirds are given to a local pig farmer as feed. 3. Volunteers are the real power behind this project; in 2008, they harvested close to 5,000 lbs of fruit from over 30 local trees and grape vines. The picking sessions are fun for our volunteers, who all express great enthusiasm over the opportunity to socialize and help the larger community at the same time. 4. Homeowners open their backyards to the project and without their generosity the fruit we harvest would have otherwise fallen to the ground and gone to waste.

The funding will be used to pay a part time co-ordinator. In the last two years, a paid co-ordinator facilitated the harvesting of more fruit (5,000 lbs in 2008 vs. 2,400 lbs in 2007) and the ability to offer canning and other food preservation workshops. In 2009, we plans to make the project more self-sustaining by selling some of our preserved fruit at local markets.