A Harvest Meant for Sharing
At Braden Hill Orchard and Farm in Summerland, volunteers from the Okanagan Fruit Tree Project (OFTP) have finished picking apples for the day. Before they leave, Ella Braden asks if anyone knows of a place in the community that might like some freshly picked fruit.
Before long, a box of apples ends up outside the entrance of the Summerland Seniors Village. It’s not the only place the harvested fruit will end up. Braden and her family will keep two-thirds of the harvest, small bags of apples will go home with the volunteers who’ve picked them and the rest will go to local organizations supporting those in the community without access to fresh produce.
An equitable share
Small orchardists with bumper crops they couldn’t sell or use, and homeowners with backyard trees they didn’t have time to pick, had for a long time been talked about by the Central Okanagan Food Policy Council (COFPC) as contributing to food waste in the region.
In 2012, that changed. Casey Hamilton, a member of the COFPC, turned talk into action. Like all great ideas, it was its simplicity that made it stand out. The idea was to find growers with fruit, nuts and produce to spare and then arrange for volunteers to harvest that produce and divide the bounty between the grower, the volunteer and those in the community who need fresh local produce. Hamilton labelled it a win-win-win.
The concept grew quickly thanks to some social media and some posters. Growers signed up, and by the end of the first season, more than 70 volunteers had harvested 5,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables, with two-thirds donated to local schools and social service agencies (shelters, transitional housing, seniors’ residences and youth clubs). By 2014, the idea of sharing the harvest with those in the community experiencing food injustice had become so popular that the OFTP became a non-profit society independent of the COFPC, with Hamilton as its executive director.
Reaching a quiet majority
A 2018 report by the Community Foundation of the South Okanagan found 20 per cent of people in at least seven communities throughout the region had lower than average incomes. It seemed likely that these people weren’t able to afford fresh fruits and vegetables.
“There’s food going to waste and people needing it,” says Lucie Bardos, current program manager for OFTP. “We build partnerships with as many community organizations as we can, realizing that most food insecurity goes unrecognized. Only one in five people who are food insecure register with food banks or other social service organizations. We still support local food banks and food hamper programs and believe that those organizations are doing important work, but we also want to offer diverse access points for obtaining food.”
Monika Belovska is the clubhouse co-ordinator for Unity House in Penticton. Run under the auspices of the Canadian Mental Health Association, it supports those recovering from and living with mental health disabilities.
“Many of our clients,” she says, “are on a limited income and don’t have access to fresh produce. The fresh fruit provided by the OFTP is a lifeline. We use it to teach our clients kitchen skills, such as how to make fresh jams and jellies or even just nutritious apple chips. This creates social connection and community and provides a sense of empowerment so important to those suffering from mental health issues. Without the produce the OFTP provides, we would not be able to create that opportunity for our clients.”
Kelly Hopkins, the front office manager for Kelowna’s Mamas for Mamas, a poverty relief agency and an all-inclusive community for mothers and caregivers, agrees with Belovska. “Without the produce the OFTP provides, there would be a void in what we could offer to our mamas who struggle already to have enough fresh healthy produce for themselves and their little ones.”
Changing perceptions
The OFTP’s mission has always been to provide stigma-free access to fresh produce. There is empowerment in picking your own fruit or produce that creates a sense of self-sufficiency not found in the line at the food bank. With this in mind, everyone is invited to volunteer and help harvest food, and they do. Working professionals, retirees, children, low-income individuals, at-risk youth and single parents all pitch in.
Before Braden owned her orchard, she volunteered with the OFTP.
“I’d take my daughter with me; she was only a toddler, but it was a wonderful way to teach her about where food came from and the importance of sharing it with others.”
In 2021, the OFTP was gifted a farm in East Kelowna, its first permanent home. It gives a sense of stability to OFTP's outreach and, perhaps more importantly, expands its dreams of creating a food-secure Okanagan Valley.
Throughout the year the OFTP works with community organizations, such as the YMCA, and gives workshops focused on food sustainability and equity. The farm creates a permanent location for knowledge-sharing to transition from theoretical PowerPoint presentations to hands-on learning focused on food production.
There’s even chatter about creating social enterprise opportunities and businesses.
“Maybe a farm store,” says Bardos, “where proceeds from the sale of produce are filtered back into our programs or to community organizations working towards food justice throughout the Okanagan.”
Since 2017, Donna Harco has invited the OFTP onto her threeacre Summerland property to harvest apples.
“I don't understand why a region with sprawling acreages of pears, apricots, cherries, plums, peaches and apples, is also a place of food insecurity,” she says. “I don’t know what we’d do without the OFTP.”
Okanagan Fruit Tree Project
P.O. Box 22001, Kelowna, B.C.
250.277.1932 | fruittreeproject.com | @okfruittreeproject
