Who We Are

Abundance Manchester is a project which picks surplus or unwanted fruit from gardens and public trees around South Manchester and distributes it to local groups and communities. We also collect and distribute surplus vegetables from allotments and we have started our own Abundance allotment to grow our own food to donate to groups who can make good use of it. Below you will find the latest updates on the project.

To get in touch please email abundancemanchester@yahoo.co.uk

Abundance activities over the winter

Abundance is quite a seasonal project – harvesting work goes on from August to mid October (approximately) while we’re busy on our veg plot (in the car park of Manchester Bridge Club on Palatine Road,  West Didsbury, M20 3JJ) from late Febuary until mid October. The winter months are the quietest time for us,  but there is still some work to be done at the plot. We’ll be there 1 – 3pm on the first Sunday of each month, making new beds, clearing, planting and doing general maintenance. Plus a tea and cake break/meeting. If you’d like to come along, do ring and check on the day just in case – 07967 227 981 or 0772 960 4862.

Just so you know, over the summer we pick pretty much every Saturday, and work on the plot every Sunday.

Apples, pears, damsons

This Saturday we picked a great mixture of fruit, by the end of the afternoon we had trailers full of apples, pears and damsons.  Lots of new volunteers came along to help this week and several people had their first ever experience of fruit picking! Good use was made of our homemade fruit picking devices, poles with plastic bottle taped on the end. The apples were huge, the pears plentiful and the damsons sweet- a very satisfying picking session.

The fruit, along with veg from our Abundance allotment, has been donated to HARP mental health project, Safestop hostel for people with mental health needs, The Boaz Trust project for destitute asylum seekers and Cornerstone, providing meals to homeless people.  Tomorrow Abundance volunteers will also be having a cooking session with some of the apples and damsons and we will distribute the produce to The Boaz Trust.

New way to pick fruit!

In the spirit of using what’s around us, one Abundance volunteer took to a trampoline to reach those last few apples just temptingly out of reach. This Saturday we picked apples, pears and plums from five different houses and filled 6 trailers, 2 paniers and several rucksacks full of the fruit and also veg donated from allotments and picked from our Abundance plot.  We had so much fruit and veg that we were delivering it into the night!

The fruit and veg was distributed to Cornerstone, which provides food to homeless people, Stopover hostel for homeless women, The Destitution Project supporting destitute asylum seeks, Leaf Street Harvest Festival, Critical Mass bike ride, HARP project for people with mental health needs, the Jabez Group promoting community cohesion and Safestop hostel for people with mental health needs. Thanks to all involved!

Beautiful Beans

Beans, courgettes, apples, tomatoes, marrows, pears and even grapes- in the last couple of weeks all this and more has been donated to Abundance!  The veg donations have been particularly generous, with lots of unusually coloured veg donated from two allotment shows- check out the pink and purple beans! The fruit and veg has been distributed to The Boaz Trust project for destitute asylum seekers, Safestop hostel for young homeless women and Cornerstone, which provides meals for homeless people. Thanks for all donations!

Abundance at Climate Camps

Workshops about Abundance Manchester and autonomous food distribution were held at both the Scottish and London Climate Camps, which raise awareness and take action on climate change and related issue.

During the workshops we looked at the problems of the current food distribution system and alternative sustainable ways of distributing food, such as through projects like Abundance.  In the London workshop we provided a practical example of the abundance of food out there by bringing along and giving out apples and pears we had picked from trees near the camp- a five minute walk from the camp we discovered two pear and four apple trees! There was an enthusiastic response about Abundance in the workshops and new groups look set to be springing up!

New week, new harvest…

Plenty of donations & harvest from the Abundance plot and Saturday picking again this week.. This week most of our harvest was from individuals who picked their own produce.

We donated to the Salvation Army, Boaz Trust, and veg fresh from the plot went to the Safestop Hostel next door. We also gave to Reclaim the Scene who will be having a free picnic open to all at 4pm on Saturday 29th after the Pride Parade.  The picnic will be on UMIST campus off Sackville Street, see link below for more details;

http://www.reclaimthescene.com/events/

New Poster and Leaflet downloads..

Here is our new publicity material for you to download & distribute.. The leaflet is for anyone potentially interested in Abundance Manchester, and the posters are for allotments:

Abundance Leaflet

Abundance Allotment Poster

Bountiful Harvest

A bountiful harvest this week at Abundance with boxes of apples, plums and veg a plenty!  We picked the apples on Saturday  and donations of veg came pouring in on Sunday. The fruit and veg went to The Destitution Project, run by the Boaz Trust, and Safestop, the hostel next door for people with mental health needs, as well as HARP, an organisation which improves the skills and confidence of people with mental health needs through training them to work in their community cafe. We also received a donation from Seymour Grove allotment which went straight to the Salvation Army Homeless Hostel.
Thank you to all those who donated and helped out with the picking and distributing, and we are looking forward to next weekend! Please get in touch if you want to get involved,  now is the perfect time of year!

An unexpected guest…

We had an unexpected but welcome guest at the Abundance plot last Sunday… A fox came by and had a look around, completely unphased by 5 of us! He / she even came up close to pose for a series of photos…