Gleaning Abundance Program

Sharing the Abundance

The Gleaning Abundance Program brings people together to help harvest our local abundance of fruit and vegetables and share it with the greater community. Produce that might have gone to waste becomes a welcome source of fresh food for many who might otherwise go without.

Our main focus is fruit trees, but we also glean farms and gardens. People with an overabundance of produce get their crops harvested, our volunteers get free fresh-picked produce, and local community groups receive fruit and vegetables for their clients and programs. This year we are connecting with 22 different organizations throughout our city!

Join Us!

Have fun, meet new people and take home fresh produce! Join the Gleaning Abundance Program to receive email notifications about upcoming harvests and other food action opportunities. If you are unable to pick fruit, there are other ways for you to get involved and share in the harvest.

Join the GAP

Register your tree or garden

We can help you share your abundance! Register your tree or garden to have a volunteer gleaning crew pick your produce and share  it with the community.

Before we schedule a harvest we’ll call you to get some details about your garden or trees.

Register a Tree
Register a Farm or Garden

Prune Along Service

Do you have a fruit tree that needs pruning, but you’re not sure where to start? Please email us at gleaning@kamloopsfoodpolicycouncil.com if you would like to schedule a one hour consultation with our lead horticulturist. This service is available for free until the end of August 2022.

142, 000

Lbs of fruit and vegetables gleaned since 2013!

11, 500

Lbs of fruit and vegetables gleaned so far in 2020!

Caring for our Trees

While many trees are pruned for either aesthetic and/or maintenance purposes, fruit trees are pruned for optimal growth and production. If not well maintained, they can easily become a burden to homeowners, who sometimes opt for complete removal over remediation. To avoid the loss of these valuable community assets, we at the GAP have put together some resources to give people the confidence to tackle some of that maintenance on their own. The benefits to this care can be seen in increased crop production and resilience to ever changing weather patterns.

There are generally two times of year that you should prune your fruit trees. Structural or remedial work is done in late winter/early spring before the buds have opened and the sap starts running. This involves the removal of larger limbs to improve the overall shape and structure, and should be your first step when restoring trees that are damaged, overgrown, or neglected. During the summer months is when we refine the structure of the tree. This includes removing dead or vertical branches, and training lateral branches to encourage fruiting growth.

Pruning Info & Resources

Click below to find some videos and resources that will help to give some context to this information.

This article gives a great outline for the basic principles of pruning.

Created by the US centre of Agroecology, this video explains what kind of pruning can be done during the summer months and elaborates upon different types of seasonal care.

Integrated Pest Management

Integrated pest management (IPM) is a system that was created in order to help reduce our reliance on noxious pesticides. Benefits include reduced pesticide use, lower costs and less exposure to harmful chemicals. By using cultural, mechanical, and biological control measures we are able to manage pests while creating healthier agricultural practices.

Food Outreach Partners

The GAP donates fruit to community organizations who share the fruit through their programs. Our partners include:

Kamloops Food Bank

Kamloops Food Bank  The food bank provides healthy food to any resident of Kamloops who is in need while allowing them to maintain their dignity. They would never be able to accomplish this if not for their talented and dedicated group of volunteers. As well as their hamper  programs, the food bank  collects, sorts, and distributes food items donated from local grocery stores through their Foodshare program.

ASK Wellness

A local agency that is dedicated to helping marginalized and at-risk individuals in  our community. Following the agencies guiding principles of harm reduction, client centered and social justice; the staff and volunteers of ASK are involved in addressing the needs of our communities’ most vulnerable populations

Elizabeth Fry Society

An active community based non-profit agency that offers programs and services in the areas of housing and community justice to people in the Kamloops area, with a focus on women and youth. A regular group of volunteers from Elizabeth Fry comes out to glean and then shares the harvest with other families who are unable to pick fruit themselves.

Interior Community Services – Community Kitchens and We Can Together

A Community Kitchen is a small group of people who get together in order to prepare meals and learn healthier cooking techniques and habits. We Can Together is a program that partners seniors who know how to can with individuals and families who don’t. The seniors share their skills and expertise and together they can and make preserves. In2014, much of the fruit gleaned by the GAP was canned or made into jam, salsa, or chutney by the eager volunteers in these two programs.

St. Vincent De Paul Society

In the back of the St Vincent De Paul thrift shop is a kitchen and dining area where volunteers prepare breakfast for hungry men, women, and children several days a week. The fresh fruit donated by the GAP is a welcome addition to the breakfast program.

New Life Mission

The mission offers  various programs to the less fortunate in our community – among them a hot lunch program which is available seven days a week. Fresh fruit can be baked into pies or crisps or offered fresh to mission visitors.

Centre for Seniors Information

CSI is a non-profit charitable organization which has been offering free services to assist seniors with independent living for over two decades.  They lobby for solutions to assist low income seniors with aging in place in safe, appropriate  housing and are dedicated to supporting seniors with issues such as abuse, health and finances. They have a kitchen and concession for special events. Donations of fresh fruit are put out to share or used in baking.

Gleaning Abundance Program News

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Pruning Workshop

Our upcoming Pruning Workshop will be held on August 23rd from 4:30 - 6:30 pm. (We will provide the address and accessibility details following registation). In this two hour workshop we will be offering basic information about pruning…

Pruning Consultation Servicess

Our Gleaning Abundance Program is expanding!   We know that it is important to take care of our trees and help them be more resilient to climate change. Annual pruning keeps fruit trees producing fruit and looking great. So we are developing…
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We’re Hiring: Tree Trimmer/Pruner

We are hiring a Pruner/Tree Trimmer to support our GAP this summer!   This temporary 8-week position (~30 hours/week) will work closely with our Gleaning Abundance Coordinator to help with harvests, pruning, and tree care/maintenance!    The…

Sponsors

We could not do the important work we do without the support of our generous sponsors:

We acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia