Fruit Share

New Location

2011-04-29T07:48:00.001-05:00

Hi There,

If you're looking for all the latest and greatest from Fruit Share, visit us at our lovely new home at
www.fruitshare.ca

Hope you'll check it out and enjoy our new look.

Spotlight on Resource Assistance for Youth

2011-04-20T10:46:00.000-05:00

Here's yet another option for you to consider when trying to decide what to do with extra fruit.

Resource Assistance for Youth

Resource Assistance for Youth (RaY) is a non-profit street-level agency working with street-entrenched and homeless youth up to the age of 29. It provides youth with what they need, on their terms, to better their lives by being the crucial link between street-entrenched youth and much-needed support services.

RaY uses donated fruit to prepare meals and fill food hampers.

Contact Information
Street Address: 125 Sherbrook Street
Phone: 204-783-5617
Website: www.rayinc.ca

Donations Accepted
Fruit
Apples, apricots, berries, crab apples, grapes, rhubarb, sour cherries, plums
Other Food Items
Homemade preserves (dated & labelled with ingredient list), frozen fruit (dated & labelled), homebaked products (dated & labelled with ingredient list), garden vegetables.
Non-Food Items
new toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, new soap, other toiletries (razors, shaving cream, sewing kits, etc.), used clothes, backpacks, sleeping bags

Donation Logistics
When
Monday to Thursday 10:00 am to noon (flexible, please call for other times)
Where
- 125 Sherbrook Street
- use front door next to a colourful elevator
- parking lot available
Special Notes
Please phone ahead to 783-5617.

Guide to Backyard Fruit - Harvesting Options - What to do and who to call if you can't harvest your fruit.

2011-04-14T10:52:00.000-05:00

Progress on the Guide to Backyard Fruit is coming along nicely. I'm currently working on the "Harvesting Options" section. In this chapter, I'd like to list as many options and ideas for homeowners who are unable to harvest their own fruit as possible. The goal is to have fruit being used not wasted.

What ideas would you suggest for this chapter of the Guide?

Here's what I've got so far...

Harvesting Options

If you are unable to harvest your fruit yourself, for whatever reason, here are some options to consider:

Register your fruit with Fruit Share to come harvest your fruit for you. Fruit Share will send a team of volunteers who will pick your fruit and then split it three ways 1/3 stays with you (if you’d like), 1/3 is split between the volunteers and 1/3 is shared with community food charities.
Host a family fruit picking party. Turn the chore of fruit picking into an annual fun, family event. In return for picking all of your fruit, serve light refreshments, order in some pizza or turn it into a potluck. If there's too much fruit for your family, add a trip to a local food charity to donate any extras.
Ask you friends and neighbours for help with harvesting fruit. And, while they’re picking for themselves, ask them to pick an extra bag for the neighbour down the street who isn’t as mobile but would appreciate some fresh fruit. It’s a great way to build positive relationships with people on your block.
Hire a neighbourhood teenager to harvest your fruit for you. If you don’t know who to call, ask your community centre for a list of neighbourhood babysitters or dog walkers. These keen, young individuals might consider adding fruit picking to their repertoire of services offered.
Ask your local garden club, church or community centre to post a notice asking for people to pick your fruit in return for a share of the bounty.
Put a classified ad in your community paper or online at places like Kijiji Winnipeg. Offer free fruit in return for fruit picking. There are a lot of people who welcome the opportunity to get some fruit.
Ask some of the vendors at a local Farmers’ Market if they would be interested in picking your fruit. For a list of Farmers’ Markets in Manitoba visit the Farmers’ Markets Association of Manitoba or call (204)485-7574.
Ask a local community group to pick your fruit in return for a share of the harvest. For example the Boys and Girls Club.

Would welcome any ideas and links to other organizations that are interested in picking fruit.

Thank you

Spotlight on Teen Challenge

2011-04-12T10:03:00.002-05:00

Here's another worthwhile organization to consider for making food donations.

Teen Challenge

Teen Challenge is a 12-month, faith-based, residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. The program has a strong faith-based approach and offers spiritual, academic and vocational training that helps equip individuals to return to society as responsible citizens.

Teen Challenge uses donated fruit to prepare meals, fill food hampers, share with other organizations, and process for future use.

Contact Information:
Street Address: 414 Edmonton
Phone: 949-9484 ext. 2011
Website: www.teenchallenge.mb.ca

Donations Accepted
Fruit
Apples, apricots, berries, crab apples, grapes, rhubarb, sour cherries, plums
Other Food Items
Homemade preserves (labeled & dated), frozen fruit (labeled & dated), homebaked products (labeled & dated) garden vegetables, fresh or frozen meat (labeled & dated).
Non-Food Items
Men's clothing and personal hygiene products, bedding, towels, mugs and cutlery

Donation Logistics

When
Monday to Saturday 7:00 am to 9:00 pm
Where
- back door of 414 Edmonton Street
- park in back lane by door while unloading
- ring buzzer (high on a silver pad on the red brick wall)
Special Notes
Please phone ahead to 949-9484 ext. 2011 or try Mike at 232-2905 or Jane at 688-7605.

Cannot accept heavily bruised fruit.

Teen Challenge has a freezer and refrigerator for storing perishable food.

Spotlight on Forward House Ministries

2011-04-08T11:44:00.000-05:00

Consider Forward House Ministries as a place to donate any extra fruits or veggies you might have available. And, if you're thinking about all those extra preserves from last summer that you need to move to make room for this year's harvest, Forward House will gladly take those too.
Here's the description of Forward House Ministries that will be included in the new"Guide to Backyard Fruit".

Forward House Ministries

Forward House is a Christian home for men and children who are trying to get their lives back on track. Forward House operates five houses in a row and uses donated food to prepare meals for 40 people three times a day, every day.

Contact Information
Street Address: 407 Chalmers Avenue (main house)
Phone: 204-471-1244

Website: www.forwardhouse.ca

Donations Accepted
Fruit
Apples, apricots, berries, grapes, plums

Other Food Items
Homemade preserves (labeled & dated), frozen fruit (labeled & dated), homebaked products (labeled & dated) garden vegetables and any other food items.

Non-Food Items
Men’s personal hygiene products

Donation Logistics
When

Monday to Sunday from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm

Where
- Back door of 407 Chalmers Avenue
- Parking available at the back

- Knock on the back door

Special Notes
- Forward House has walk-in freezers and coolers that always have space for donated perishables.
- Fresh fruits and vegetables are always welcome.

Where to Donate Fruit in Winnipeg

2011-04-05T15:49:00.000-05:00

Once in a while we get emails or phone calls inquiring where people can donate fruit and other perishable food in Winnipeg. They're eager to share, they just don't have information about where to go.

We'd like to help. We're working on developing a complete list of organizations that accept food donations and all the details about when, how much, where, etc. All this information will be collected and published in an online and printed guide that we call Guide to Backyard Fruit.

Thanks to funding from the Manitoba Alternative Food Research Alliance and the Canadian Home Economics Foundation, this guide will be completely free of charge to charities, libraries, community organizations and neighbourhood associations.

Here's who we've been in touch with so far. If you know of other organizations that should be on our list, please let us know or forward this post to them along with this link Food Charity Registration Form.

Agape Table
Siloam Mission
Salvation Army
Union Gospel
Lighthouse Mission
Teen Challenge
Winnipeg Harvest
Behavioural Health Foundation
Forward House
Main Street Project

Thanks for helping us share!

Microwave Apple Crisp for One

2011-03-23T14:07:00.000-05:00

It’s 1:30pm and after writing several articles on tasty, delicious Manitoba fruit, I’ve got a huge craving for apple crisp. I’m home alone, and I just can’t wait until everyone comes home tonight.

It’s time to whip up a nice little serving of Apple Crisp for One.

Microwave Apple Crisp for One
Ingredients
1 apple
1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp homemade granola or rolled oats
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp butter - melted

Preparation
Core, peel and thinly slice apple.
Place apple slices in a small microwave safe dish.

In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients.
Pour melted butter over dry ingredients.
Mix.
Pour crumbly mixture on top of apples.
Microwave on high power for 2 minutes or until apples are tender.
Top with a small scoop of ice cream.
Enjoy!

Of course, using the microwave can’t reproduce the crispy, golden crumbs that you get when you bake a crisp in the oven, but this recipe is a nice, quick alternative.

New Logo and URL

2011-03-17T13:34:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited to share our new logo and URL with you. Check it out and tell everyone that it's easier than ever to find us online....

www.FruitShare.ca

info@fruitshare.ca

Thanks to MAFRA for believing in us and supporting us with funding. Thanks to 6P Marketing for turning our ideas into reality.

Guide to Backyard Fruit - Coming Soon!

2011-03-17T11:59:00.000-05:00

It's official! Fruit Share received funding through the Manitoba Alternative Food Research Alliance (MAFRA) to develop an online Guide to Backyard Fruit. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I'm thrilled they chose to fund the guide. Here's what's going to be included in the guide:

Identifying Manitoba Fruit

o pictures, descriptions and illustrations to help homeowners identify what’s in their backyard

o particularly useful to new homeowners and new Manitobans

Recipes for Manitoba Fruit

o recipes for enjoying local fruit

o a minimum of 2 recipes for using for backyard Manitoba fruit (eg. Rhubarb, cherries, apples, crab apples, and grapes - not including U-Pick type fruits which are already well described by the Prairie Fruit Growers Association)

o links to other organizations and sources of recipes (e.g. PFGA)

Preserving Manitoba Fruit

o complete how-to instructions for preserving backyard Manitoba fruit

o a minimum of 2 preserving techniques for backyard Manitoba fruit

o links to other organizations and sources of preserving techniques

Harvesting Options

o complete listing of organizations/groups who help harvesting fruit ( eg.Fruit Share, neighbourhood associations, Hutterite colonies, etc.)

Sharing Options

o complete listing of organizations that will accept fruit and any specific criteria that must be met (eg. Agape Table, Siloam Mission, Winnipeg Harvest, Teen Challenge, etc.)

If you have recipes, preserving techniques, contact names or any other information that would be useful for the guide, please let email me at info@fruitshare.ca.

We're still waiting to see if we get funding for a printed edition of the guide book as well. We'll keep you posted.

WANTED - Food Charities

2011-03-08T15:02:00.000-06:00

We're looking for organizations that accept perishable food donations to share our fruit with and to feature in our "Guide to Backyard Fruit".

Fruit Share is expanding into six new neighbourhoods this summer. That means we're going to have a lot more fruit to share. It also means we can help provide fresh, local, nutritious food to some of the 58,000 Manitobans that use food banks each month.

But, no matter how big Fruit Share gets, we know Fruit Share volunteers will never be able to pick it all. We also know that Winnipeg homeowners hate to see their fruit go to waste. So, we're also producing a "Guide to Backyard Fruit" that will help homeowners identify what's growing in their backyards, how to use it and what to do with any left over fruit. This guide will include a listing of as many organizations in Winnipeg that accept fresh fruit as possible. Hence, the call for Food Charities.

Our goal is to avoid this...

33 bags of apples headed to the landfill

And do much more of this...

Dropping rhubarb at Siloam Mission

Please help us build our database of food charities. We've already approached the organizations we donated to last year (Agape, Siloam, Wpg Harvest, Teen Challenge, and Sisters of Charity) but are interested in hearing about others. All organizations have to do is complete this Food Charity Registration Form.

Thanks for spreading the word.

Plans for Fruit Share 2011

2011-02-27T07:45:00.002-06:00

It is an exciting time for Fruit Share Winnipeg. More fruit, more volunteers, more sharing are on the way for 2011!

As a result of meetings and discussions with people throughout the city, I've written several proposals to several funding sources to help coordinate the expansion of Fruit Share into 6 neighbourhoods that have expressed an interest. Of course, the nature of funding grants means we have to wait to hear what kind of funding we actually get. But, even without funding, Fruit Share 2011 is poised to grow and pick a lot of fruit!

Here are our plans:

continue to operate in Riverview/Lord Roberts with the support of the South Osbourne Urban Community Cooperative
expand into 6 new neighbourhoods with the support of neighbourhood associations or groups:

Wolesely
Daniel McIntyre/St. Mathews
West Broadway
North Main
St. Vital
Spence Neighbourhood

hire a summer coordinator
develop a "Guide to Backyard Fruit" for both online and in print
hold fruit preserving workshops for social and educational purposes
come up with a practical, easy, and irresistibly tasty method for managing thousands of crab apples

If all goes well and enough people volunteer to help out in their neighbourhood, I'm confident we'll pick over 7000 lb of fruit this year.

Come on summer!

Growing Local Conference 2011

2011-02-27T07:29:00.000-06:00

Had a fabulous time at the Growing Local Conference here in Winnipeg. It was wonderful to hear about all the different initiatives going on throughout the province and learning lots of tips and ideas.

I had a chance to present the idea and experiences of Fruit Share at the conference as well. I hope the result will be more interest from all parts of the city and/or province. Fruit Share could work in any community with unpicked fruit and people interested in doing something with it. And, we would gladly share all our administration tools (spreadsheets, blog, pictures, ideas, processes) with anyone from anywhere! As we learned last year all it takes is a small group of volunteers with a big love for fruit and community.

Thanks Food Matters for a great conference.

Fruit Share Expansion

2010-11-22T14:47:00.000-06:00

It's time to share Fruit Share with the rest of Winnipeg!

We had a great first year - 14 volunteers, 30 homeowners, 6 community organizations and 1700lbs of fruit! Way to go everyone!

In our first year, we also had tons of positive feedback and interest from individuals and organizations across Manitoba. Everyone, it seems, would like a piece of the apple pie!

As a result, it's time to think expansion. What would a bigger, better Fruit Share look like? How would a bigger, better Fruit Share be coordinated and funded? Who would be interested in participating in a bigger, better Fruit Share?

These are the questions we're interested in discussing at an upcoming Fruit Share Expansion meeting.

If you're interested in participating in the discussion, please call 284-1234 or email getty.stewart@gmail.com with your email and contact information. We'll send you the exact date, time and agenda for the upcoming meeting (early December).

Congratulations Fruit Share!

2010-10-01T11:35:00.000-05:00

I opened the mail today and found the first letter addressed to Fruit Share. Very cool.

Even better was what was inside the envelope. (insert drum roll here)

The letter said...

Congratulations on being nominated for a Golden Carrot Award, as an Urban Community Food Champion!

How awesome is that! Apparently we are, and I quote, "amongst a stellar group of individuals who are engaging Manitobans towards healthy, fair and sustainable food for all."

Congratulations Fruit Share volunteers! And, thank you to Fernando for nominating Fruit Share.

The award is an annual award put on by Food Matters Manitoba. If you want to join the celebration and learn about all the other great initiatives going on around Manitoba consider attending the Golden Carrot Award Ceremony.

Golden Carrot Awards 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Manitoba Legislature, in the Rotunda
9:30 - 11:30 am followed by light refreshments
RSVP 943-0822
www.foodmattersmanitoba.ca

Hope to see you there.

Fruit Share on Breakfast Television

2010-09-16T13:00:00.001-05:00

We made it to the big leagues! Fruit Share made it's debut on television this week on the Manitoba Association of Home Economists' Family and Home segment.

Melanie and Aidan, two of Fruit Share's biggest fans and helpers, (also my 6 and 9 year olds) joined me to share the story of Fruit Share with City TV's early morning viewers.

Check out the videos.

Aidan has an apple peeling contest with host Jon.

Melanie makes apple oat muffins.

Apple Curry Soup

2010-09-13T13:30:00.005-05:00

You know you have too many apples when you start making apple soup!

I was a little skeptical about this simple apple soup recipe. Apples and onions - really?

Really, it's great! Simple and elegant, this soup makes an impressive first course to any special dinner.

Apple Curry Soup

Ingredients

1 Tbsp. butter
1 large onion, sliced thinly

4 cups vegetable stock

3 Manitoba Goodland apples, cored, peeled, & chopped

1 tsp. curry powder (or to taste)

3 sprigs of curry plant leaves (optional)

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp. butter

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup light cream

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Sauté onion in 1tbsp of butter until soft.

Add soup stock, apples, curry powder, curry leaves and lemon juice.

Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and let simmer for 10 to 20 minutes until apples are soft but not mushy.

Strain mixture through a sieve or a food mill.

Compost the remaining pulp.

In another large saucepan, melt remaining butter.

Mix in flour and cook 1 to 2 minutes.

Whisk in the strained soup.

Heat through.

Adjust seasoning.

Heat cream in the microwave.*

Add cream to soup.

Garnish with sprig of curry plant.

Serve.

Makes 4 servings.

*Heating cream will help prevent it from curdling when being added to a hot liquid.

Sauté onions.

Add apples, stock and seasoning.

Strain mixture through food mill.

Dried Apple Rings

2010-09-13T12:38:00.004-05:00

We finally made those oven dried apple rings that we mentioned several weeks ago. They're fabulous! The adults love them as much as the kids do. They make a perfect snack for back to school.

These apple rings still have a little moisture to them. If you are going to store them for a long time, you might want to dry them out even more by keeping them in the oven a little longer. Storing them has not been an issue in our house since they're all gone within a couple of days.

In an effort to be somewhat energy efficient, I throw in a fresh batch whenever the oven is already on after baking something else.

We've also discovered that sprinkling a little cinnamon on top before they go in the oven, is a great addition.

Here's a photo gallery of how we made them.

Wash, peel, core and slice apples.

Soak in lemon water for 5 minutes.

Drain and pat dry.

Place on rack on top of cookie sheet.

Put in oven for 3-4 hours.

Take out when dry - chewy but not crispy.

More Apples for Agape Table

2010-09-10T15:04:00.001-05:00

Last night, we beat the rain and cleared three more apple trees. In the end, we added about another 450 lbs of apples to our tally.

This morning, Agape Table got another two boxes of apples to share with their guests.

Thanks to our amazing volunteers and homeowners for making Fruit Share possible.

A Nice Thank You

2010-09-09T17:22:00.000-05:00

It was nice to hear a lovely Thank You message on the Fruit Share hotline (aka my phone) today from Micheal at Fred Tipping Place. I don't know Micheal, but he wanted to extend a hearty THANK YOU to all the Fruit Share volunteers and fruit owners for sharing fresh fruit with them.

Thanks Micheal for your appreciation, it makes our volunteer work that much more rewarding.

More Goodlands

2010-09-08T20:53:00.000-05:00

Another great picking session this afternoon. Thanks Stephanie! We got about 180 pounds of big, delicious Goodland apples.

This time, we shared a box with seniors at Fred Tipping Place. Douglas was one of several seniors who thoroughly enjoyed taking a few apples up to his apartment.

City TV also came out this afternoon to get some footage of us picking apples. It will be aired on Tuesday, September 14 when my kids and I will be doing a Breakfast Television segment on Fruit Share for the Manitoba Association of Home Economists. Stay tuned for more details.

A Drive to Apple Junction

2010-09-02T10:01:00.003-05:00

Back in the old country, my family had an orchard right next to our circa 1600 Bauernhaus (farm house) on the outskirts of our small farming village. We had plums, apricots, pears, cherries and apples. While we preserved much of that fruit for our own use, we took many of our apples to the apple mill in the city. We would drop off bushels of apples and return home with glass bottles of fresh pressed apple cider*.

Memories of those trips came flooding back as I packed up the kids for our own journey to Apple Junction just East of Landmark, Manitoba. We were excited to turn our bruised and dented apples from our tree shaking experience from last week, into fresh, delicious apple cider.

Apple Junction is a family run operation that, in addition to making their own brand of apple cider for sale, offers to custom press apples for the public one day a week (call ahead for an appointment at 204-355-9288). Tony and Debbie Unger along with their seven daughters are amazing to watch. While some of the girls are busy baking in "Mum's Country Bakery" attached to the apple room, others are helping their dad handle the apple pressing.

When we arrived, we were met by 10 year old Melissa Unger who was handling a pallet jack and 50 lb boxes of apples as if it were nothing. She was strong, confident and at ease with customers who looked on in awe. Inside the press room, things weren't going as smoothly. A glitch in the machinery temporarily halted operations. The first break down of the season didn't stop the girls - they simply switched tasks cleaning the floor, emptying the pulp bin, loading apples and helping in the bakery.

As Tony worked to get the machine back in operation, we took a stroll around the farm and went to the bakery for some homemade cookies. After finishing every last crumb, we decided to leave our apples and pick up our juice at another time. We left Apple Junction without our juice, but with a heaping load of admiration for the work of the Unger family.

While we didn't get to see the juice pressing live, we did watch this video to see the whole process as explained by Tony himself.

Since then, we've picked up our 104 litres of apple cider and are enjoying every sip. Because our cider didn't go through the pasteurizing process mentioned in the video, we froze our cider to enjoy all year long - good thing we have a big freezer!

*A quick note about cider. Apple cider is commonly used as a term for unfiltered, unsweetened, unprocessed, fresh pressed juice from apples. It is opaque and darker than store bought apple juice because of minuscule bits of apples suspended in the liquid. It has a short shelf life unless frozen or heat sealed. Hard apple cider is cider that has been fermented and turned into an alcoholic beverage. Although, beware, for some people, cider always refers to the alcoholic version so be careful what you ask for!

A Good Day of Apple Picking Helps Reach 1000lbs of Fruit!

2010-09-02T07:51:00.003-05:00

After a busy day of picking some more gorgeous Goodland apples, Fruit Share passed a major milestone of 1000lbs of fruit. That's a lot of fruit! Thanks everyone!

Yesterday, Aidan felt more comfortable climbing the tree rather than the ladder. He swears by his new found technique and claims he picked the best apples from his vantage point. Meanwhile, Melanie, who decided climbing ladders or trees wasn't her thing, was busy snapping these photos.

After we picked as many apples as we possibly could, we shook the the last few remaining branches. But this time, we held out a blanky to catch them all. Well, we didn't catch them all, but we were able to save quite a few from the "bruised box".

Linda, Janet and Scott went on to pick at yet another location -an even bigger tree with even more apples.

Everyone walked away with several big boxes of apples and today Teen Challenge, Agape Table and Janet's church will get their share too.

Agape Table Gets Apples

2010-08-31T12:52:00.000-05:00

Agape Table has been serving hot meals to people in the inner city since 1980. It is able to provide this service through the support of the Winnipeg community. Fruit Share is proud to share some of its bounty with this great organization.

Mike, a volunteer with Agape Table gladly takes in one of the two big boxes of apples we brought earlier this morning.

More Picking Set for Wednesday

2010-08-31T09:10:00.000-05:00

Come join us as we rescue more apples. We have two locations for the morning of Wednesday, September 1.

Exact times and locations will be sent to all registered fruit picking volunteers.

Hope to see you there.

Apple Cake Recipes

2010-08-27T08:43:00.000-05:00

My friend Kathryn sent me this link to two dozen apple cake recipes.

http://tipnut.com/make-apple-cake/

Now, which one to make first?