This is for those of you living here in Edmonton and surrounding areas…

If you’re looking for a field-tripish outing with your children, why not go out and pick from fruit? Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton just started up a few weeks ago and is a wonderful idea to get some fruit that would otherwise be wasted.

Every so often (usually a weekend), a location is established in a certain neighborhood where several residents have fruit waiting to be picked, but no one to pick it. Fruit ranges from apples, to rhubarb and berries. Half of the fruit is given to the food banks, while the remainder is divided among the volunteers. Many take the fruit home, while others decide to pool it (like with apples, perhaps), to process at a later time.

This is great for children for so many different reasons. First, it re-enforces the concept that fruit comes from a tree or bush, and not from a grocery shelf. Secondly, children learn the value of volunteer work to help those in need. Third, they get a taste of cooperative living where people work together for a common goal (picking and dividing fruit)…it’s a work of the whole group that will determine the success or failure of the even…not just the efforts of a single person.

They are now picking fruit in the North end. Look for them on their blog and sign up either through the comments or ‘contact us’ link.