The hidden harvest on our streets: a tale of London's fruit pickers

I grew up blackberrying in Stanmore at the northern end of the Jubilee line. Little did I know that 8 tube stops further down the line and 50 years later, I’d be in a group harvesting 3 tonnes of apples and pears from gardens in Kilburn. Now I want to help other people start fruit harvesting groups across London.

How I started

On the ten minutes walk round my block, at the right time of year, I pass 9 trees dropping apples, pears, plums, sweet chestnuts and figs on the Kilburn pavement.

That’s one reason, along with the warm memories of blackberry-picking, that I started a group to harvest fruit. Another is that I’d recently quit a job that hadn’t suited me. It was August 2009 and I needed to do something useful with my sudden spare time. But the biggest motivation is that I really don’t like waste, especially food that I imagine is slowly going off. I didn’t have the chutzpah to knock on someone’s front door, standing there on my own to ask to go into their garden to collect the fruit. But by starting a group, I could hold a flyer, look official and make it happen.

Saying I wanted to start a group was nerve-wracking too, so I recruited a friend for moral support, putting up notices in local shops, and then emailed resident associations and other local connections.   

How harvesting works

17 seasons later, Kensal to Kilburn Fruit Harvesters grew to save 3 tonnes this summer, mostly apples and pears. I’ve got to know my neighbourhood differently. My landmarks these days are fruit trees I know personally, every walk or cycle prompting memories. I know many more people - there are 500 people on our pickers mailing list, as well as the local foodbanks and projects we give the fruit to. A harvest takes around an hour and yields about 40kg, with a haul of 200kg in our best garden. Five people hold a tarpaulin under the tree and take it in turn to use a telescopic pole with a hook to shake a branch.

It's an intense 6 week season in August and September, with a team of a harvest co-ordinator and a 10 pick leaders who scout for trees and lead fruit picks. Then it goes quiet for ten months of the year. We’re all volunteers and enjoy meeting like-minded people who are either into fresh food, or against waste - or both.

I was initially motivated by reducing waste and the sense of community but soon added connecting people with food to the group’s aims. People were asking if it was safe to eat apples growing on their own fruit trees. They were buying supermarket apples while apples fell on the ground in their gardens!. They didn’t notice when the apples ripened. We help people make that connection and slightly loosen the grip of supermarkets.

Along the way we’ve linked up with a sixth form that did an enterprise project.  Parlour restaurant in Kensal Green makes us Freud Plum Jam from fruit we pick at the Freud Museum garden and local libraries  lend out our harvest equipment. Once a year at a huge local festival we make apple juice with a very labour intensive press that attracts bemused onlookers, boosts the group’s annual income to buy more equipment, and recruits new pickers and trees to our group.

Want to get involved?

Now I want to spread the fruit harvesting idea across London. There are already thriving groups in Chiswick, Wimbledon, Brent and NW5. I’m looking for people who want to start an independent group to harvest in their own neighbourhood. You might already be part of a community group and want to add this to its activities or you might want to set up something completely new. Your group might prefer to stay small and modest, maybe a few streets, or have ambitions to harvest a neighbourhood.

I can guide or coach you and your group on what is involved and the charity London National Park City can provide you with tools and resources. All support is free.

Sign up to find out more and apply here to be a Fruit Harvest Co-ordinator. Just curious and want to find out more about the project.