Abundance nottingham - help us pick fruit

[Chunky]

Hi,
As some of you know, I am involved with a volunteer group called Abundance Nottingham. We pick surplus fruit (mainly apples and pears) from public and private fruit tress, sort it and distribute it to a number of local community organisations.We have been running for around 4 year now and its a really nice way of getting out, doing something physical, meeting new people and eating fruit.
We need enthusiastic volunteers to help pick, sort and distribute - would you like to get involved? Then read on and come along to any of the picks below. We do this on Sundays starting at 11am for as long as you want. See the bottom of this email for dates and places.
Community groups we have distributed to include: Sneinton Surestart (school), Refugee forum, Multicultural centre, Emanual House (alcoholic rehab), Sneinton Hermitage kids group, Crocus Cafe, Sneinton Hermitage cafe, Sumac Centre and Iona School. We are interested in hearing about community groups which could benefit from a delivery of fresh apples - please drop us an email if you have any ideas or contacts (abundan...@googlemail.com). I will bring in apples for the hackspace community as well.

There are also some hackspace related ideas we could work on:

• Build the best apple grabber for those hard to reach apples (Dominic is already on the case with the mother-picker).
• An app for apples - We keep a record of trees using a google map. It would be great to have a phone app which allows you to geo-tag and photo apple trees and apples that are seen. This soulds like a good app idea (its probably already done...). Maybe a hackspace app challenge.
  

Here is the general email that was sent around, along with dates for the picks.
Come along and get involved! Cheers. Matt.

ABUNDANCE FRUIT PICKING 2012 - Its scrumping season.

Abundance is back for the harvest season of 2012. Abundance Nottingham is a volunteer run group which collects excess fruit, mainly apples and pears, and distribute it to local community groups. Check out abundancenottingham.wordpress.com for more information

This is the year to join in, the harvest is upon us and we need as many volunteers as possible. It is a great way of getting out and about, meeting some different people, climbing some trees (if you want to), learning about fruit and generally having scrumping fun. Also, there are usually as many apples as you can possibly and cider for volunteers when its ready! 

We are doing regular picking sessions on *Sundays meeting at 11am* at the following dates and locations:

Sunday  23rd Sept - Lenton Pick - meet at: Savoy Cinema, Derby Road

Sunday 30th Sept -  Forest Fields Pick - meet at: Forest Fields Tram stop

Sunday 7th Oct - Arnold Pick- To be confirmed

Sunday  14th Oct - Wollaton Pick - To be confirmed

Sunday  21st Oct - Sneinton Pick - meet at: Sneinton Market

Sunday  28th Oct - Forest Fields Pick - meet at: Forest Fields Tram stop

Sunday  4th Nov - Lenton Pick - meet at: Savoy Cinema, Derby Road

(Tea and biscuits provided. Bring some food to share, if you'd like.)

You can join in for as much or as little time as you like. We generally

spend around 4-5 hours on these picking sessions, but that depends upon the

harvest.

Please spread the word to any other people who might be interested - we rely

upon enthusiastic volunteers.

Email: abundan...@googlemail.com (querys or to join mailing list for weekly updates)

Phone: 07947671182

[Russell]

Wow it's been a year since this time last year !
Sorry I'm not there to help.
Peru is full of wonderful elder trees but no-one here knows about
Elder Flower Cordial
or Elderberry jam !

Eat well people .

[Spandex]

On Thu, Aug 30, 2012 at 10:03 AM, Chunky <chunky...@gmail.com> wrote:

• Build the best apple grabber for those hard to reach apples (Dominic is already on the case with the mother-picker).

I'm very much interested in this (along with cider making).  Thought one thing worrying me is that the apple crop on the tree in my garden this year seems VERY poor compared to last year. Fewer apples and the ones that are there seem really.. um.. well.. crap. They're smaller than last year and kind of a bit dishevelled, if it's possible for an apple to look dishevelled.  I'm worried that I'm going to end up making very little cider on my first try :/

I think it must have been the weather. Is anyone else noticing a similar thing with apple/fruit trees?

Matt

[Dylan Swift]

same with our apple tree - though there are just enough apples for us to use as a family.

The crop on the cherry tree failed completely this year - it went mouldy on the tree, mainly I think due to the excessive rain in June and the lack of sun

My plums have shrivelled too. 

And no that isn't meant to be a double entendre 

;-)

Dylan

--
http://about.me/dylanswift

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[Chunky]

I've got to admit I've been a bit worried about the harvest this year.
Generally fruit trees have one good year then one bad so it would be OK if its half the trees, but with the lack of sunshine earlier in the year and huge amount of rain I think this year there will not be a total abundance. I also think the apples will be quite late this year.
But hopefully there will be some and still some excess we can gather....

My plums were quite swollen this year but they have dropped off now.

Matt

[Dominic Morrow]

Ive seen a lot of laden trees actually so I'm fairly optimistic 

Sent from my iPhone

[Wendy]

I'm in, not been scrumping for years :)

[Spandex]

On Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 10:32 AM, Chunky <chunky...@gmail.com> wrote:

My plums were quite swollen this year but they have dropped off now.

TMI :)

The amount of fruit on my tree is so poor this year that I'm going to actually bail on the cider-making - think we'll have to make do with a few apple crumbles instead.  But I do have a small press and would be more than happy to lend it out (and lend a hand - I'd like to have a go using it myself!) if anyone else needs.

Matt Spandex

[Spandex]

The amount of fruit on my tree is so poor this year that I'm going to actually bail on the cider-making - think we'll have to make do with a few apple crumbles instead.  But I do have a small press and would be more than happy to lend it out (and lend a hand - I'd like to have a go using it myself!) if anyone else needs.

Oh, and ditto with my pulpmaster - http://www.wineworks.co.uk/product/pulpmaster/

Matt Spandex 

[Martin Raynsford]

We've got an apple tree in the back garden. I say it's an apple tree because it has produced an apple this year. It better be a bloody good apple.

[Michael Erskine]

I've brought in Wendy's electric kitchen juicer that she let me have a
few weeks ago. Even if we only get a handful of apples then at least
we can juice some at the space for immediate consumption.

[Matthew Gates]

Did we get the press? Does it need transporting? zomg hackerspace cider!

[Dominic Morrow]

I've not heard another thing about it

Sent from my iPhone

[Chunky]

Yo,
The apple press is in Forest Fields. Person who has it has gone on holiday. It will be moved to hackspace when she returns in a week or so.
Dont worry - its coming.,...
Matt