I get the GoodWorkCanada green job site email every day (hoping to find my dream green job one day) and today there was an interesting listing. I mean, there are always interesting listings, but this one I never thought about before. Say you have some fruit trees on your property that you don't have the time to or are otherwise unable to harvest. You can call up Not Far From the Tree and a group of volunteers will come and harvest your fruit. 1/3 of the harvest goes to you, 1/3 gets split between the volunteers, and 1/3 is distributed (by bike) to community organizations who can make use of the fresh fruit. What a great idea!
It looks like they may be only working in Ward 21 of Toronto right now (St. Clair West) but I've sent an email to see if there are any picking spots closer to me. Anyway, there's more information on the website so have a look if you're interested.
The email also included this list of similar projects (fruit tree projects, sharing/gleaning/harvesting) in other parts of North America, too:
Toronto ON http://www.notfarfromthetree.org
Guelph ON http://appleseedcollective.org/?option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=42
Hamilton ON http://northendneighbours.blogspot.com/2007/06/hamilton-fruit-tree-project.html
Ottawa ON http://ottawa.kijiji.ca/c-community-other-Looking-for-People-with-Fruit-trees-and-or-Berry-Bushes-W0QQAdIdZ55657431
Ottawa ON http://www.spcottawa.on.ca/ofsc/en/buylocal/buy_local_home.htm
Montreal QC http://www.mucs.ca/zero+food+waste/
Vancouver BC http://www.vcn.bc.ca/fruit/
Victoria BC http://www.lifecyclesproject.
Fernwood BC http://www.commongroundproject.ca/node/101
Nanaimo BC http://www.nanaimofoodshare.ca/glean.htm
Richmond BC http://www.richmondfruittree.com/
Nelson BC http://www.earthmatters.ca/fruittree.php
Summerland BC http://www.sadi.ca/fruit-tree.aspx
Powell River BC http://www.agriculturepowellriver.org/AgriculturalNews/ProjectFruit.htm
Portland Oregon http://portlandfruit.org/
Seattle Washington http://www.solid-ground.org/PROGRAMS/NUTRITION/LETTUCE/Pages/TheCommunityFruitTreeHarvest2007.aspx