Local Apple/Fruit Picking Project

[Transition Kensal to Kilburn]

So far
• We’ve picked in 4 gardens, from 60 plums to 250kg of pears.
• 20 volunteers, with average of 8 at picks.
• 3 local schools taking fruit + restaurants and youth project
• Need more gardens to harvest
• Several organisations are very interested in what we’re doing, eg Elders Voice, Groundwork in Brent, BTCV in Camden, Sustain, maybe Brent.


Future activities?
• Train and share skills in pruning and prune trees over the winter
• Train and share skills in disease management
• Lending out equipment (fruit picking tools, tarpaulin, fruit press) / via HSS or community centres etc
• Fruit exchange – people with too many pears swopping with people with apples
• Education – schools
• Education – public awareness: public picking and juicing
• Communal cooking – crumble, pies, chutney etc
• Have a fruit press that anyone can bring their apples for juicing
• Selling juice and chutney etc?
• Structure: there could become several small groups of very local pickers who work in eg Brondesbury or in a larger area such as Kilburn. In addition, the project could go wider than the TT area.
• Co-ordinating role – I’m very happy to do this for now but will definitely want to share it or possibly move on. So need to see if other people are interested or can be encouraged to take that on.

Needs
• Insurance
• Bank account
• Fundraising
• Storage?
• Juice press
• Use of communal kitchen
• Climbing equipment, eg harness and rope?
• Expertise (pruning, disease management)
• Pruning tools
• Helmets
• More picking equipment to enable various small groups to pick

[Michael Stuart]

It's been an interesting learning curve but so we've succeeded in every challenge. How much further do we take fruit picking next year? There is tons and tons of fruit out there - quarter of a ton in just one garden that we will go back to in a few weeks to finish harvesting. Do we move into chutney, jam and juice making? Teach people pruning over the winter? Have people in every street encouraging fruit picking among their neighbours?

[MissyH]

You are right, the whole place is bursting with fruit this year, and there are trees along the main roads too- a block of flats in Wembley on Harrow Road i go past every day must have hundreds of pounds of apples on it this year, dropping into the street on the main road. My neighbour on the corner of Furness Road has 3 apple trees, all bursting as well. I don't think its quite as prolific every year though. It would be great to turn all the fruit into a social enterprise of some sort. I tasted the juice from the juice press at queens park day and it was really lovely, much nicer than the juices you can buy in the shops, I would love to borrow a fruit press and persuade my local neighbours to share it for a day or two to use up their fruit.

Michael Stuart said:

It's been an interesting learning curve but so we've succeeded in every challenge. How much further do we take fruit picking next year? There is tons and tons of fruit out there - quarter of a ton in just one garden that we will go back to in a few weeks to finish harvesting. Do we move into chutney, jam and juice making? Teach people pruning over the winter? Have people in every street encouraging fruit picking among their neighbours?

[Michael Stuart]

We have an apple press weekend of 10th October. It will be at Marlorees School orchard open day on Saturday and QP farmers market on Sunday. We may be able to let people bring apples and we juice it for them!

MissyH said:

You are right, the whole place is bursting with fruit this year, and there are trees along the main roads too- a block of flats in Wembley on Harrow Road i go past every day must have hundreds of pounds of apples on it this year, dropping into the street on the main road. My neighbour on the corner of Furness Road has 3 apple trees, all bursting as well. I don't think its quite as prolific every year though. It would be great to turn all the fruit into a social enterprise of some sort. I tasted the juice from the juice press at queens park day and it was really lovely, much nicer than the juices you can buy in the shops, I would love to borrow a fruit press and persuade my local neighbours to share it for a day or two to use up their fruit.

Michael Stuart said:

It's been an interesting learning curve but so we've succeeded in every challenge. How much further do we take fruit picking next year? There is tons and tons of fruit out there - quarter of a ton in just one garden that we will go back to in a few weeks to finish harvesting. Do we move into chutney, jam and juice making? Teach people pruning over the winter? Have people in every street encouraging fruit picking among their neighbours?

[George Latham]

Michael - Have you got enough apples to pick ahead of last weekend? Would it be worth sending a blast email to all members to ask if anyone knows of trees that could be picked in the next week? George

[Michael Stuart]

Our end of season fruit project report: A-
Our 40 volunteers and 15 garden-owners have saved 850 kg of fruit, and at the same time got to know near-neighbours with common values and interests.

In the most exciting harvest, Joe the climber shook quarter of a ton of pears from one tree in Victoria Road, Kilburn in an hour. The pears landed in a tarpaulin held by four volunteers, were funnelled into boxes and taken by bicycle trailer to be given away free to local schools and sold to some restaurants.

“Thank you so much for the apples, we received them yesterday and the pupils got very excited. They made apple crumble today.”
Deborah Latouche, Queens Park Community School

A very successful use was pressing apple juice at the Transition Town stall at Queens Park Day and QP farmers market. That generated a lot of interest, sold over 400 glasses, raised awareness of the connection between nature and food – and that supermarkets and clingfilm are not essential.

We’re planning next year and ideas or help are welcome. Suggestions so far include pruning and pest management; researching the history of local orchards; buying our own fruit press to make juice; cooking chutney, pies etc; working closer with schools and other local organisations; and lending fruit picking tools.

The two main things we need are more trees offered and people who can organise the picking or pruning.