A Black Diamond man determined to get good food into the bellies of his neighbours is implementing a program that’s ripe for the picking.
Rob McWilliam is putting a call out to residents who need help harvesting their fruit trees, as well as volunteers eager to pick the fruit, in a new program he’s implementing in Black Diamond, Turner Valley and Longview.
“Last year I started thinking about food security out here with what’s been happening in California with the wildfires and Florida with the weather problems,” he said. “I’ve noticed food coming from further away like South Africa and Australia and I thought that’s dangerous to put all our apples in one basket and depend upon sources that are a long ways away.”
Having participated in Calgary Harvest for five years before moving to Black Diamond in 2016, McWilliam decided a similar initiative would be beneficial in his new home community.
The way the program operates in Calgary, said McWilliam, is the owner provides the location, type of tree and informs the volunteers when the fruit is ready for harvest. After the volunteers pick the fruit, it's split between the homeowner, volunteers and the rest is sold at a farmers' market to cover the cost of picking equipment and to run the website.
“There were 1,000 trees in our database in Calgary when I left - that was fruit that people didn’t want or couldn’t pick,” he said. “I have no idea what there is out here. It’s a nuisance for some people to clean up every year with no time, energy or ability to harvest. That’s why we’re doing this.”
McWilliam obtained a map from the Town of Black Diamond that shows public places where fruit trees and shrubs are located. He’s working on getting maps for Turner Valley and Longview as well.
“It would be good if we could get a database of all the berry and fruit trees on the map with the ones that the owners are willing to share,” he said. “You see these articles all the time about how much food gets wasted. I just hate to see fresh healthy food go to waste.”
McWilliam posted his idea on three Facebook forums and in less than a week heard from two people with trees who are willing to share their fruit and seven potential volunteers.
Rather than sell the fruit, McWilliam plans to donate a portion to the Oilfields Food Bank.
“I’m sure they would love to have some fresh fruit,” he said. “That would be great to provide fresh fruit to people in need.”
Participating homeowners must guarantee that no chemicals, pesticides or herbicides were used on their trees, said McWilliam.
He said picking will be done at the convenience of the homeowner with appropriate safety measures in light of COVID-19 to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.
Sourcing food locally means living a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle - something McWilliam wants to see occur community-wide.
“There’s the freshness issue, the flavour issue and supporting the local economy issue,” he said. “All of those things are important and there’s going to come a time when the current economic situation changes and that time may be very soon, and if it’s not due to the pandemic it might be due to loss of petroleum supplies and the inability to do long distance transportation. This is the time to think differently.”
Anyone wanting to participate in the fruit harvesting initiative can contact Rob McWilliam via Facebook Messenger.
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