Sunday Edit: Volunteering with SLCgreen Fruit Share

This past week, my husband and I volunteered as fruit harvester with SLCgreen’s Fruit-Share program.  While commuting with our bikes to work, we both noticed how many fruit trees hung ripe with cherries and apricots, but eventually fell to rot on the lawn or got trampled underfoot on the sidewalk. 



What if there was someone who harvested these trees?
Well, in Salt Lake City there is! 

SLCgreen’s Fruit-Share is a city run non-profit organization that each year harvests thousands of pounds of fresh produce from private backyards and public places across the Salt Lake City valley.  Salt Lake City residents can confidentially register their trees with SLCgreen in order to create a database that connects homeowners, partner organizations such as TreeUtah, Avenues Fruitshare, Green Urban Lunchbox and Salt Lake Community Action Program in order to fully utilize the tree's harvest.  The salvaged fruit is divided three ways, so that some remains with the homeowner, volunteers may take some home and much of the harvest goes to several local food assistant programs.  Blemished produce is made into jams and sold at the local farmer’s markets.





I WISH there was more awareness for the fruit-share program.  With just a little effort and forethought, it is easy to prevent food going to waste.   At the same time, it empowers homeowners to give to a charitable cause while also receiving help to collect their plentiful harvest.  As an added bonus, volunteers not only give their time to a good cause, but they also receive beautiful, unsprayed and sun-ripened produce for their labor.

This is an amazing initiative to reduce food waste by sharing healthy and locally harvested fruit in the community.  Learn more about this awesome program here, and if you like to share your plenty, please register your tree or sign up to harvest!

I’m curious to know if you have a similar program in your city.  Let me know in the comments!

♡Nina