Archive for July, 2011

Don’t let that fruit go to waste!

When out for a walk, it’s surprising how often you see lawns littered with bruised fruit, patches of rhubarb that go unpicked and large currant bushes that have been neglected for years. It’s time to put an end to that! And you can help.

Simply visit our Resources page, print off a few of our mailbox stuffers and pop them in the mailbox of the house that belongs to the forgotten fruit. There’s no reason for any fruit to have to go to waste. We want to rescue as much fruit as possible this summer, and the best way to do it is if we all pitch in and work together as a community at it.

Thanks for your efforts!

Please contact Fruit Share Coordinator Sagan Morrow at [email protected] if you would like a large quantity of mailbox stuffers or Fruit Share posters or if you do not have access to a printer.

Fruit around Winnipeg

If you’re looking for fresh produce in Winnipeg or anywhere across Manitoba, this 2011 Local Produce Guide is for you!

It includes farmers’ markets, pre-picked market stands, U-Pick vegetable gardens and community supported agriculture programs. It’s no Fruit Share but it is a fantastic document for finding the nearest fresh local produce to you.

The last page features a number of farmers’ markets specifically around Winnipeg, including contact information and a cute map locating each of them for quick and easy reference.

Do you have a favourite farmers’ market that you visit?

Rhubarb crumble recipe

This is a fantastic, nutritious way to use up all that rhubarb you harvested! It’s also a very simple and easy recipe to follow, and one which you can adapt according to what ingredients you have at your disposal. After a rhubarb harvest a few weeks ago, I chopped the rhubarb up into little pieces and then tossed it in the freezer. When I was ready to make a crumble, I took it out and didn’t even worry about defrosting it. The result of this concoction was a delicious, delicately-sweetened crumble that you can enjoy for breakfast or as dessert.

We recommend using local ingredients where possible.

Hot out of the oven.

Ingredients

- Enough frozen rhubarb and strawberries to cover an 8-inch Pyrex dish.

- 3 tbsp sugar + 1 extra tbsp sugar.

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

- 1/4 cup spelt flour

- 1.5 cups oats

- Cinnamon

- A few tbsp butter

Yum!

Method

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine rhubarb, strawberries, 3 tbsp sugar and vanilla in the Pyrex dish.

3. Combine the other 1 tbsp sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon and butter in a separate bowl until the mixture is nice and crumbly. Add more butter or sugar if desired.

4. Sprinkle the crumble mixture over top of the fruit. There will likely be a little bit too much, so you can either reserve part of it to spoon over a mini crumble, or just munch it straight from the bowl

5. Bake in the oven for about an hour, or until it is hot all the way through and bubbling. Enjoy!

Please email [email protected] with any recipes you have!

Fruit Share on the radio

We were honoured to be invited to go on the CKUW radio show Wooden Spoons last week! You can listen to the show by visiting the CKUW website or by clicking here (go to the July 22 archive).

Thanks to everyone who tuned in, and to Mary Jane and Wooden Spoons for having us on the show. We had a great time!

Recent Fruit Share harvests

Right now we’re in a bit of a lull before apple season really begins in August, but we’ve still been having a few great harvests.

In the past couple weeks, our harvests included:

- 14 lbs rhubarb between two locations in River Heights.

- 10 lbs rhubarb at one location in the North End.

- 5 lbs bok choy at one location in the North End.

- Two 4-litre buckets red currants at one location in Crestview.

After a 10-lbs rhubarb harvest.

Everything was composted on-site and the Union Gospel Mission, Lions Personal Care Centre, Siloam Mission, North End Food Security Network and welfare clients all benefited from our harvests. Thank you to all of our volunteers for their hard work!

Fruit for a healthy child

Fruit is a wonderful way to give your children a nutritious boost. Containing healthy antioxidants to prevent disease, as well as other nutrients to promote heart health and preserve eyesight, fruit is a delicious way to maintain a health mind and body.

The naturally-occurring sugars in fruit make it a sweet treat for any child. Try the following strategies to increase their fruit intake and decrease their intake of added (unhealthy) sugars:

- Add frozen fruit to a morning smoothie.

- Mix fresh berries into plain, unsweetened yogurt.

- Top cereal and oatmeal with freshly-cut fruit instead of heaping spoonfuls of sugar.

- Make your own “fruit roll-ups” at home by dehydrating fruit into strips.

- Add chopped apples or strawberries to a salad.

- Use unsweetened applesauce in a peanut butter sandwich instead of sugary jam.

- Have fruit for dessert instead of cookies.

- Toss a handful of local fruit into your muffin batter before baking.

What do you do to incorporate fruit into your child’s diet? Share in the comments section below!

Fresh red currants

Last week we had a great harvest of two 4-litre buckets of red currants.

By the end of the harvest, all buckets were full of lovely red currants.

It took our dedicated volunteers nearly two hours to pick all of the currants! One of the volunteers, a social worker, brought one third of the fruit back for her clients. Thank you to our volunteers and to the homeowner for their hard work and contributions.

The empty bush after all the currants were picked.

Vegetable Share

This week we received our first-ever vegetables at Fruit Share! One homeowner had piles of beautiful bok choy. It was a lovely harvest.

Just look at those luscious big leafy greens! Bok choy tastes great tossed into a stir fry.

Although we specialize in picking fruit, we’d hate to see any delicious and nutrition local produce go to waste. We welcome any local produce and do not discriminate against vegetables

Thank you to our volunteers for harvesting this bok choy. The majority of it (about 5 lbs) went to Siloam Mission.

Fruit Share online

Just in case you hadn’t seen, Fruit Share is both on Facebook and on Twitter! Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to hear about the latest news about fruit in Winnipeg and what we’re harvesting as it happens. We’d love to chat with you both on Facebook and Twitter and find out about fruit you’ve harvested, your favourite recipes, ideas you have for Fruit Share or anything related to local Winnipeg fruit!

Please also share our Facebook and Twitter links with friends and family so that everyone can benefit from tasty local fruit.

Our Twitter handle is @FruitShareMB.

Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fruit-Share-Manitoba/161844617215636.

How to pick rhubarb

Rhubarb season is just about over but in case you still have a rhubarb patch in your yard that you’re getting ready to harvest, here are a few tips for the best ways to pick it, ensuring that next year you’ll still have plenty of rhubarb at your disposal:

  • Pick from the outside in.
  • Slide your hand to the base of the stalk and pull gently.
  • If pulling does not work, carefully cut the stalks as close to the ground as possible.
  • Leave the smaller, center stalks on the plant so it can continue to grow and thrive during the summer – NEVER pick all of the stalks from a rhubarb plant.

Rhubarb harvested in River Heights on July 8.

Do you have any tips for picking rhubarb? Share in the comments section below! Some of our volunteers are long-time experts at rhubarb-picking, whereas others (me ) are just learning the techniques to help the plant survive whilst reaping a good harvest. We can use any advice you have!

- Sagan.

Learn how to compost

Composting is an integral part of Fruit Share. At each picking location, once the fruit has been divided into thirds (for each the volunteers, the homeowners and a local charitable organization), we compost anything that is inedible. We are delighted to note that many homeowners have compost bins on-site, but there are also public compost bins available in different areas of the city.

If you’ve ever wondered what is involved in composting, how it works and how you can get the most from your compost, you should definitely check out this July 19 workshop, co-hosted by SoulFude.com and Urban Eatin’ Gardeners Worker Co-op. Adrienne Percy of SoulFude.com and Mark Klassen of Urban Eatin’ are both extremely knowledgeable in food policy and growing local food, respectively (and they are also lovely individuals to boot!). It looks like it will be a fantastic workshop, so sign up today if you would like to learn more about composting and how you can reap the benefits of household waste!

Partners of Fruit Share

We have a brand new page on our website dedicated to the partners of Fruit Share! Please visit the page to view some of our fantastic supporters who are making Fruit Share possible, including:

- Canadian Home Economics Foundation

- Food Matters Manitoba

- Manitoba Alternative Food Research Alliance

- Moffat Foundation

- Morrow Family Fund

- South Osborne Community Cooperative

Thank you to all of the friends of Fruit Share!

Green smoothie recipe

Trying to think of an innovative way to use your freshly-picked fruit? Look no further! “Green” smoothies are a fantastic way to drink your fruits and veggies. Forget the caffeine: when you need an energy boost, a nutrient-rich homemade green smoothie will be just the ticket.

Sometimes my "green" smoothies turn out purple or pink because I use a higher quantity of fruit - but I just love this shade of bright green!

The best part about green smoothies is that for the most part, you can’t taste the leafy greens at all. As long as you use a higher ratio of fruit to leafy greens, the flavour of the fruit will completely override the green taste. The banana is really useful for making the smoothie creamy, and the seeds offer high-quality protein and fat to compliment the fruit and leafy greens.

This recipe is highly adaptable in terms of the various leafy greens, liquids and fruit that you can use. Have fun playing around with it! And be sure to email us at [email protected] with your new creations. We love finding new recipes for using all the local fruit we pick, so keep those recipes coming.

Basic Green Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients

- 1 cup water (can also use 100% pure fruit juice* or any type of milk)

- 1 handful leafy greens (my favourite is spinach because it breaks down easily in the blender, but green leaf lettuce and romaine lettuce work very well too)

- 1/2 frozen banana (peel the banana before you freeze it and put it in a tightly-sealed container to save yourself hassle when you bring the frozen fruit out of the freezer)

- 1/2 cup other frozen fruit (blueberries work awesome here, but any fruit will do)

- 1 – 2 tablespoons ground flax or chia seeds (optional)

Directions

- Add all ingredients into a blender

- Blend on high until everything is very well-blended and smooth (add more liquid if necessary, a couple tablespoons at a time)

- Pour into a tall glass and enjoy!

What’s your favourite smoothie recipe? Have you had a green smoothie before? What creative recipes do you make with the fruit you pick?

*Try pressing your own fruit at home and make fresh fruit juice with the fruit you pick through Fruit Share!