HARVEST RESCUE
HARVEST RESCUE
The Nelson Community Food Centre Harvest Rescue program gleans fresh produce, with the help of trained volunteers, from backyard gardens in the Nelson area and vegetables from nearby farms. This produce, that would otherwise go to waste, is then shared with people living on low incomes through the our Good Food Bank and other social service organizations. This program will be a little different for the 2022 season. Read below for more info.
| Tags: | Environment, Community, Waste Reduction |
HARVEST RESCUE WILL BE A LITTLE DIFFERENT THIS YEAR
As you may have heard, our kitchen is under renovation and we have temporarily relocated our Good Food Bank. Because of this, the Harvest Rescue program is going to run a little differently this year.
Without a kitchen this summer, we are unable to process the large amounts of fruit that we usually do. This means we’ll be hosting fewer picks of local trees and only distributing what we are able to give out directly, unprocessed, through our Good Food Bank and what we can pass on to other local organizations.
We recognize the value of the Harvest Rescue program to the community in reducing waste, redistributing fruit and mitigating bear and pest attractants. In order to bridge this unusual year until we are once again able to process lots of fruit in our new kitchen, we’re working on some creative solutions that’ll keep the program rolling and allow for your participation.
Here’s how you can participate this season:
1) Limited Picks for NCFC: We are doing a limited number of picks this year. With that in mind we will be offering opportunities for volunteers and for people to have their trees picked but cannot guarantee that everyone will be able to participate.
To register your tree for picking click this link: https://form-can.keela.co/tree-registration-v2
2) Join our Harvest Rescue Fruit Exchange Facebook group: Our Facebook group is a place for you to connect with people in the community who would like to pick your fruit and find other harvest rescue opportunities. If you have a tree and you are looking for it to be picked, this is the space for that to happen. Click here for the Facebook group page.
3) Pick your own fruit and donate it to NCFC or other community organizations: If you have the ability to pick your own fruit, feel free to contact us or other organizations in the community to see if they want your donations. Keep in mind that the fruit will need to be in good shape as most organizations do not have the capacity to process and compost fruit.
4) Picking Equipment Borrowing Program: In order to help facilitate the community getting fruit from their trees to people’s bellies we will be offering limited borrowing of our picking equipment (ladders, bags and baskets). We will require a refundable $20 deposit and for participants to sign a waiver in order to participate.
If you have any questions, or would like to volunteer, please email hannah@nelsoncfc.ca, call 250-354-1633 ext 6 or visit https://nelsoncfc.ca/harvest-rescue/
Note that we pick fruit in and around Nelson, from around Blewett and out to Balfour. Many of our volunteers have limited capacities, and our ladders can only reach so high, so we generally only pick trees that are “smaller than your house.” We split the harvest between the pickers, the Nelson CFC and you—if you want it.
Tree owners should also be aware that we cannot accept fruit that is wormy, over-ripe or windfall. Know that we are volunteer-based and may not get 100% of the fruit, though we will make an effort to get as much as we can.
Other Programs
