Local Fruit, Free for the Sharing

Unless you have a mature orchard in your backyard you probably don’t have access to a diversity of local fruit. The grocery store may sell a small selection of local fruit, however most fruit is trucked in from afar. Distant fruit is picked early and expected to ripen enroute. This results in fruit with focus on texture rather than taste. How do you get local fruit when you don’t have fruit trees? The answer is Fruit Share.

Fruit Share is an organization started by Getty Stewart in Winnipeg that connects volunteer fruit pickers with tree [or rhubarb] owners to harvest luscious, local fruit. This year South Eastman Transition Initiative is bringing Fruit Share to Steinbach.

When you walk the neighbourhoods of Steinbach you may notice many fruit trees and bushes. Apple trees, cherry trees, and rhubarb plants are just a few of the possibilities. During September you may notice some fruit beginning to get over-ripe, it may even be littering the sidewalk on which you walk. Local fruit going to waste!

With many people struggling to fill their bellies, food should not be squandered. There are different reasons that fruit owners may not be able to harvest their own fruit. Fruit owners may not be physically able to reach the fruit on the high branches or they may not have time due to a busy schedule. Un-harvested fruit drops to the ground and rots; this attracts insects, undesirable animals and makes a mess.

Now Steinbach fruit owners who do not have the ability or desire to pick their own fruit can register with Fruit Share. Fruit Share will organize Steinbach volunteers to harvest that fruit. On the day of the harvest 1/3 of the fruit will go to the fruit owner, 1/3 will go to the volunteer pickers and 1/3 is donated to a local organization such as the South East Helping Hands Food Bank. Instead of wonderful fruit going to waste, Fruit Share connects those in the community who have excess to those that have a need.

Not only does Fruit Share rescue fruit and deliver it to those who want it, Fruit Share also builds community. New friendships and connections can be made over the sweet success of a full apple basket or a freshly baked crisp made from the harvest of a neighbour’s plentiful tree or bush.

Next time you bite into a tasteless apple trucked in from a distant land take the time to sign up with Fruit Share. Make your fruit trees available to those with the ability to harvest them or sign up to volunteer and go home from a harvest with an armload of delicious fruit costing you only an afternoon of picking with friends.

Fruit Share is now picking rhubarb. Do you have excess or are you looking to make some rhubarb crisps? Visit and register at www.fruitshare.ca or call Fruit Share Steinbach at 326-3919. 

Rebecca Hiebert