If you like whiling away the hours with the New York Times crossword, or like to kill a few minutes fiddling with Sudoku, or unscrambling the daily Jumble you will love our latest advert on the back cover of Edible Toronto. This month we’ve put together a challenging little crossword puzzle that will test your knowledge about some of Toronto’s Food Heroes; agencies and actors that make our city a world-renowned source of inspiring food stories.
We’ve been big fans of Edible Toronto since it first came on the scene in 2014, and our ads have graced the back cover for some time now, and you can always pick up a copy at our store, so this issue’s fun little crossword asks the question, “Have you been paying attention to what’s happening locally in our food community?” If so you’ll find the puzzle a breeze.
To get the ball rolling, we thought we’d re-introduce you to some of Toronto’s Food Heroes that are featured in the puzzle, and today we look at one of our favourites, Not far From The Tree, the Toronto-based fruit picking service founded by Laura Reinsborough that sends volunteers to your property to harvest the fruit on your tree, fruit that otherwise might go to waste. This harvest is then shared between the homeowner and various local food agencies. We all know that food waste is a huge problem in the western world, and we applaud any and all initiatives and charity events that try to combat this troubling issue.
“Approximately 1.5 million pounds of fruit are produced from Toronto’s urban canopy each year, and yet most of this goes unpicked. Not Far From The Tree sprang to life in 2008 as a bright and hopeful solution to this surplus of local fruit. Torontonians with fruit-bearing trees often have fruit to spare – everything from apples, pears and grapes to sumac, apricots and elderberry! Once they register their tree, we’ll pick their fruit and divvy up the harvest 3 ways: between the homeowner, our volunteers, and local food banks, shelters and community kitchens.”-Not Far From The Tree
In their first season, Not Far From The Tree picked and shared over 3,000 pounds of fruit, and since then have harvested upwards of 150,000 pounds. That is not a typo; one hundred and fifty thousand pounds of local fruit! Unfortunately, there is a wee typo in the crossword puzzle as it appears on the back cover of Edible Toronto, so we thought we should rectify that here: it should read, “Not Far From The _______ has picked 150,000+ pounds of fruit …”
a volunteer with Not Far From The Tree
Isn’t this a fantastic initiative! Completely altruistic and wonderful and, yes, heroic. Even on the street where I live there are cherry trees, mulberry trees, apple trees and Concord grape vines, and every year so much of it goes to waste, which is a real shame. So if your street is the same, and/or you or your neighbours have fruit trees that keep on giving, give Not Far From The Tree a call, just click here to register.
