City Fruit

Conservation: Preserve fruit trees on public and private properties.

Preservation of the urban canopy: Increase fruit trees planted on public and private properties.

Stewardship: Improve the care of fruit trees and reduce the impact of fruit pests and diseases using non-toxic methods.

Harvest: Increase the amount of fruit harvested by harvesting fruit ourselves, developing the capacity of neighborhoods to harvest, and promoting harvesting by tree owners.

Reducing hunger: Redistribute fruit to those who need it most.

Community building: Build and strengthen connections within community groups through the planting, stewardship, harvest and sharing of fruit.

Our volunteers and staff perform tree care activities in public orchards. We have 600-1,000 volunteers in any given year, who help with tree pruning, netting, and harvesting. We host volunteer work parties in public orchards on the majority of weekends throughout the year.

We have staff who support tree owners with tree care and maintenance. Tree owners can request an assessment of their tree, whereby they receive detailed information about how to care for their tree to maximize quality fruit. We also help with pruning and netting trees, to keep trees healthy and producing good fruit.

In summer months, our staff increases with the addition of seasonal harvesters and interns who harvest hundreds of trees on public orchards, private yards, and parking strips. We also have a U-pick program -- we drop off empty crates, tree owners pick the fruit, and then we pick up the loaded crates. City Fruit staff work with local nonprofits and community groups to determine where the fruit is most needed.

We also host a series of pop-up fruit stands (aka Fruit for All events) in various Seattle neighborhoods, providing a direct distribution channel for fresh fruit within our community. These fruit stands are primarily co-located with farmers markets hosted by Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods in underserved neighborhoods.

Our education activities include adult and youth learning. Our adult education is primarily in the form of our Master Fruit Tree Steward certification program. Participants undergo intensive training on tree care over the course of 5 months. Our youth education program is reserved for summer months; we host educational camps and workshops in Seattle's public orchards, in partnership with several youth-focused organizations.

We have a small staff, a large volunteer base, and a growing number of Master Fruit Tree Stewards (75 graduates and counting) available to support this work.

City Fruit works in partnership with the City of Seattle's Urban Food Systems program and other community groups to manage fruit trees in public spaces.

City Fruit was founded in 2008. The organization has transitioned from an all-volunteer grassroots organization, which was fiscally sponsored by another organization, into an independent 501(c)(3) organization with a year-round staff. We have worked to improve the quality of fruit grown and harvested in Seattle, and the percentage of harvested fruit that is edible has increased dramatically. (It's now over 85%.) We have also worked to be a strong community partner and to redistribute the food to members of our community who can really use it. Accordingly, we try to identify neighborhoods and populations with higher needs and prioritize sharing fruit with them.

Our 5-year plan includes deepening our ties with community partners, growing the tree canopy in Seattle, expanding public orchards in Seattle, and mapping fruit tree locations city-wide. We also seek to include more neighbors in the management of fruit trees and enjoyment of fruit in our shared public orchards. We are working to build an orchard stewardship council, which would be comprised of representatives from every neighborhood that is home to a public orchard.