For several years we have been making good use of surplus fruit in the borough, by picking from street trees and in gardens where the residents are unable to pick or make use of all the fruit. Mainly apples and pears but also plums, cherries, figs, grapes, nuts and soft fruits too.
We bring small teams of pickers to local residents who want help harvesting the fruit from their trees. We offer them 25% of the fruit collected and distribute the rest as fruit, jams, pickles and juice through the market stall and café at the Hornbeam Centre. Any surplus raised is put back into the community projects. Come along to the Hornbeam on a Saturday in September and October to see the apple press in action.
If you have more fruit than you can handle, please let us know. Contact us when your trees are ready for picking – call 020 8558 6880 or email info@organiclea.org.uk
Or come to the Hornbeam Centre to borrow our picking tools and bring the fruit along yourself.