Abundance Manchester is not currently operational! (2019 onwards)

Sorry fruit-lovers, due to lack of capacity, Abundance Manchester is on hold. We’ve enjoyed a decade of fruit picking with this delightful project but there aren’t enough of us to organise things anymore.

If you are able to harvest your own produce, there are many homeless shelters and food banks around Greater Manchester that will be very happy to receive it. FareShare Manchester may also be able to accept produce to re-distribute.

We’d love to see others take the reins, so if anyone out there has a serious interest in getting the group back up and running and has time to look after the website & email account as well as organising harvesting sessions and distributing the fruit, please contact 07967 227 981. Thanks!

Who We Are

 

PLEASE NOTE – THE PROJECT IS CURRENTLY ON HOLD DUE TO LACK OF CAPACITY, SEE ABOVE.

A mature garden fruit tree produces more than the average family can eat. And at the same time there are lots of people in our city not able to access fresh food.

Abundance Manchester is a voluntary project which picks surplus or unwanted fruit from gardens and public trees around South Manchester and distributes it to local groups and communities who can use it. We also collect and distribute surplus vegetables from allotments. Scroll down for our latest news and a blog of our activities since we were set up in 2008.

Watch the clip here from BBC’s North West Tonight programme to find out more about what we do.

Abundance Manchester also strongly supports other groups and campaigns which promote sustainable, local and organic food, and see ourselves as part of the movement for Food Sovereignty. This approach calls for a localised, ecological and democratic food system, and puts the people who produce, distribute and consume food at the centre of decisions on food systems and policies, rather than the demands of markets and corporations that have come to dominate the global food system.

We are part of a growing network of  fruit harvesting groups, for a list of others around the country see the Abundance Network website.

Big Didsbury Harvest Coming up – Sunday 24th Sep

Our first fruit harvest of the season is going ahead in Didsbury on Sunday 24th Sep from 1-4pm. There will only be two or three sessions in 2017 and this one is probably going to be the biggest harvest, so if you’re keen to get stuck in, this is one to make!!

We have a true Abundance of apples to pick, with at least five laden trees waiting for us. The more of us there are, the more we can rescue and send to a good home.

The pick is at an allotment site close to the River Mersey, a lovely peaceful oasis in the city. Spend an afternoon with us there, meet some lovely like-minded people and help save tons of fresh fruit for foodbanks, community cafes and homeless shelters to use!

Please drop us email or text if you’d like to join us, and we’ll send details of where to meet. 

07967 227 981/AbundanceManchester@yahoo.co.uk

There’s not only football in Old Trafford…but plenty of apples too!

After a 2 year break, Abundance Manchester had a lovely pick from 2 large apple trees on a sunny Saturday at Seymour Grove Allotments (Old Trafford). Pete, a cute friendly dog, also did his bit to help!

Picking with Pete the dog

 

 

Nine trays of apples were harvested, along with a few large marrows and French beans to be collected by Fareshare for distribution across the city. A lovely way to get back into fruit picking.

Glebelands Market Garden

We had a lovely harvest session at Glebelands organic market garden in Sale on Sunday. They produce delicious salad, veg and herbs for local shops and the co-op Manchester Veg People. Their apple tree wasn’t viable to havest commercially this year so they kindly let us have a go, plus the last of their lovely yellow courgettes. Another great haul, and another sunny day…what a great season! The fruit and veg was shared between Madogs Street Project, Lifeline and Manchester Fareshare. 

Apple Recipes

If you’ve got more apples then you know what to do with, here are a few appley recipes, from the BBC Good Food website. Abundance Apple Crumble,  Abundance Apple Chutney,  Abundance Baked Apple, Abundance Date & Apple Squares

Enjoy!

Our biggest ever harvest!

We had an AMAZING pick at Bradley Fold allotment site in Didsbury this week, with the most pickers and the most apples we’ve ever had.

We reckon between the thirteen of us we picked a haul of apples worth several hundred pounds, not bad for an afternoon’s work in the sunshine! All of it will be finding a great home as always, being picked up from our hub in Didsbury over the day 24 hours by various groups in the city providing food to people who are struggling to eat well.

Thanks everyone who got in touch and let us harvest their surplus produce. 

Late summer picking!

At last the sun came out for a lovely second pick of the season from three different addresses in Whalley Range and 5 trees.  Produce collected will be donated to FareShare Greater Manchester  which redistributes food to over 90 charities and community groups in Manchester to help people facing hardship. Thanks to all who helped and for the delicious muffins offered to us by Rachel, Laurie, Riley and Edie!         

Fab first pick of 2014

We had a great first session on August 24th, with a total of 5 apple trees and 2 small pear trees harvested. The majority this week are heading to the Peak District Challenge, a charity event next weekend where participants will be running/walking upto 90km of hilly ground in just 24 hours!! The eating apples and pears will be given out to keep energy and spirits high throughout the event and the cookers will be made into cakes and pies to reward the  exhausted runners at the end.

 

 

 

The rest of the fruit will be distributed via Fareshare Manchester to shelters, refugee groups and community kitchens throughout the city.

 

 

 

 

We’ll be out and about every Sunday afternoon from now for the next couple of months – if you want to help out or have a fruit tree you need harvesting, just get in touch

We Are Harvesting Now!! August 2014

Everything’s come early this year so we are springing into action a few weeks sooner than usual. If you live in South/Central Manchester and have an abundance of fruit in your garden or allotment, give us a shout! We can harvest it and get it to people who can really use it. We pick on Sunday afternoons, by arrangement. Give us a ring or drop us an email –

Nicola 07515 116 730 or Debs on 07967 227 981 or Email abundancemanchester@yahoo.co.uk

Picking 2013

Our picking season is now underway for 2013! We’ve begun with a huge haul of apples from various houses in Chorlton and Whalley Range, plus lovely allotment veg from the Southern Cemetery allotment site produce competition!

If you have a surplus of ANY fresh fruit or veg, please get in touch. We can either come and harvest it ourselves (leaving you as much as you’d like) or you can harvest it and drop it off by our shed in the carpark of Manchester Bridge Club, 30 Palatine Rd,  Didsbury, M20 3JJ. We will then take it to various hostels, shelters and charities around south/central Manchester.

If you have an allotment and you notice produce going to waste on your site, get in touch! We mostly harvest apples so allotment veg is always HUGELY appreciated by our recipient groups. We can provide a drop off box and signage for your site – we just need you to co-ordinate getting the produce to our drop off point above sometime before 4pm on a Sunday, for the next couple of months, then we can distribute it from there. Alternatively, we can put you in touch directly with a recipient project near you that needs fresh produce.