What could be better than biting into that crisp, ripe apple that you just picked off the branch? There are few sweeter tastes in life, and we are lucky to live in a city full of fruit trees where this opportunity abounds.

However, the abundance of the harvest can be overwhelming – in many cases one family simply cannot eat or preserve all the fruit their tree produces. Walk through Seattle in the fall, and you will see yards littered with apples, plums and Asian pears. 

This is where Lettuce Link’s Community Fruit Tree Harvest comes into play. Since 2005, we have been coordinating a fabulous crew of volunteers to harvest unwanted fruit and deliver it to food banks, shelters, and meal programs. 

Come join our team! We are currently recruiting harvest leaders, harvest volunteers, and fruit donors.

Be a Harvest Leader
Get to know your neighbors, share food with your community, and keep that beautiful, organic fruit in your neighborhood from going to waste! Responsibilities include:

• Coordinating 1-2 harvests/week in your neighborhood (July-October, depending on fruit availability)
• Ensuring fruit is donated to local food banks, shelters, and meal programs
• Storing ladders and picking buckets

This is a volunteer position, but mileage is reimbursed. Please see the position description for details. To apply, submit a volunteer application and a short statement of interest to Amanda at fruitharvest@solid-ground.org by Friday, July 13th.

Volunteer

We need volunteers who can do one or more of the following:

• Scout trees ahead of time to see if the fruit is ripe (especially needed in Northeast and Central Seattle neighborhoods)
• Harvest fruit at scheduled work parties and/or on an on-call basis
• Provide garage space for storing ladders, picking buckets and/or fruit
• Deliver fruit to food banks or meal programs
• Host fruit-oriented socials for your neighborhood harvest crew, such as canning, baking, or  preserve-making parties

To get started, please fill out a volunteer application.

Donate your fruit
If you have fruit to donate, please contact Seattle Tilth’s Garden Hotline at 206.633.0224 or help@gardenhotline.org. Depending on where you live, they can connect you with us or one of the other fantastic groups harvesting fruit in the Puget Sound region!