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Opened date: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 Opened by Mary Luz Mejia

Toronto's urban fruit bounty is no longer rotting on people's front lawns thanks to a non-profit organization called "Not Far From the Tree." Homeowners register to have their trees picked by a group of volunteers and the harvest is shared between volunteers, homeowners and community groups who can use local, fresh fruit. They are expanding this year to cover two new neighbourhoods.

Original photo:

Laurel Atkinson

Original video:

Since 2008, Toronto’s formerly untended urban fruit trees have been getting their just desserts, thanks to a non-profit initiative called Not Far From the Tree.

Conceived by environmental studies graduate Laura Reinsborough, the concept includes volunteer pickers scouring Toronto neighbourhoods for fresh fruit. It started in Reinsborough’s own neighbourhood.

“I realized there were so many fruit trees tucked away in people's yards. Most of these trees are overflowing with ripe fruit and homeowners just can't keep up with the harvest,” she says. “The real irony comes when you're on your way to the grocery store and you walk past a tree dropping fruit all over the ground. The solution seemed simple.”

Reinsborough saw everything from sour cherries, mulberries, apples and apricots lying around that could be picked and put to good use, so she decided to make the most of this urban bounty by sharing it with those in the greatest need.

Wychwood Open Door, NaMaRes, Humewood House and the Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre (PARC) receive some of the fruit for their food programs.

 “The fresh fruit donated to us through Not Far From the Tree means increased health for many who cannot afford access to the essential fruits and vegetables people need to consume daily," says Michelle Quintal, the PARC food service and program chef.

That's a sentiment echoed by Parkdale-High Park volunteer Heather Kilner, who is in her second year of helping to pick fruit.

 “The best part is how the fruit is utilized in a way that benefits the entire neighbourhood," Kilner says. "Having helped out at a food bank, I know that fresh produce is the hardest thing to come by.”

In 2009 alone, Not Far From the Tree picked 8,135 pounds of "residential" fruit in Toronto. That number is up from 2008’s 3,003-pound crop, in part because the number of registered trees grew from 40 to 450.

In 2008, the group harvested fruit in Ward 21, or the St. Paul neighbourhood bordering Spadina, Ossington just past Eglinton to Briar Hill. In 2009, its territory expanded to include Beaches-East York and Parkdale-High Park.

Toronto sits on some of the best agricultural land in Canada, program coordinator Laurel Atkinson says.

And while the fruit hasn’t been certified organic by a governing body, it is “virtually organic” because it hasn’t been sprayed with any pesticides, she says.

“I have been amazed at the quality of fruit available in the city,” she says. “We don’t pick if there was a known industry in a given area.

"When you’re driving down to the Niagara region, you see rows of orchard trees beside major highways that have likely been sprayed. I’d rather eat something grown in mine or someone else’s back yard that hasn’t been sprayed with anything.”

Local food advocates such as chef Jamie Kennedy and Marc Bretton of the Gladstone Hotel have purchased some of the group’s fruit to make everything from cherry sorbet to pickles and preserves. The group is trying to connect with more restaurateurs who want to support local food.

Most of the harvest, however, is distributed as follows: one third goes to the homeowner whose trees were harvested, one third to volunteers and one third to local shelters and community groups. The fruit is delivered via bicycle in keeping with the eco-friendly, zero-footprint mandate of the venture.

This growing season, Not Far From the Tree will add the Trinity-Spadina neighbourhood and Riverdale to its roster.

Organizers hope the groundswell of community support continues so that “we’re able to blanket the whole city with volunteers.," Kilner says. "Think of the hundreds of thousands of fruit we’d be rescuing.”

Do you know of an urban tree whose fruit is going to waste? Let us know in the comments section.