Tree Harvest

Share your fruit with the community.

Register your tree for picking

Make a difference by sharing your bounty with the community.

Join our picking team

Got Fruit?

Have a fruit tree that produces more than you can use? We can help pick and share it! When your fruit is ripe, we’ll send over a team of fruit pickers to harvest your tree and split the harvest three ways – ⅓ is offered to you, ⅓ is shared amongst the volunteers, and ⅓ is delivered by cargo bike to a social service agency in your community.

Tree Registrant Membership

To grow and sustain Toronto’s fruit harvest, we ask Tree Registrants to become a member and contribute just $30/year to cover the costs of the harvest and support the expansion of our program. Your support of $30/year allows you to request unlimited picks, and you’ll also receive discounts at our local business partners. We’ll also clean your yard of fallen fruit. Membership expires on January 1st every year.

Where We Pick

For season’s past we operated in the downtown core, south of Eglinton, east of Jane, west of Victoria Park and north of the waterfront. This year we will be expanding our borders to capture more fruit trees. In the West our borders will extend to the communities south of The Gardiner to the Waterfront, up to Brown’s Line. In the East, we will expand to cover the area enclosed by Birchmount, St. Clair East, and The Waterfront. If your tree falls within this area, we’re able to pick it this year!

Please note our Portal has NOT been updated with the expanded border and therefore, will NOT allow new tree registrants in our new catchment area to join as members as of yet. Please RSVP your tree here. We will be sure to contact you before the launch of the picking season to official register your tree, shrub or vine on the Portal.

Your Impact

By sharing your bounty with NFFTT, you make an impact directly in your community. Your yard becomes a hotbed for community connection, bringing people from all walks to life together to enjoy the bounty. ⅓ of the fruit from your tree is donated directly to a social service agency in your neighbourhood. Together these agencies feed over 4,000 people and incorporate your fruit into meals for their clients.

Heard Through the Grapevine

“It’s great to know the apples are going to be used. You always clear and tidy up our garden. And, we get to meet different people every time! We’ve had our tree picked by NFFTT for several years. It’s a nice end-of-summer tradition for our family.”
Deborah and Richard Tree Registrants

“HUGE thanks to [the team] for picking over 200 lbs of apples from my backyard tree. I'm so thrilled that NFFTT helps make sure all this bountiful fruit in our communities doesn't go to waste!”
Mara Jay Tree Registrant

“I think that food is incredibly important. It’s a basic need of life and especially for those who are low income, that’s the first thing that they need to survive. To provide that and to help in any way is incredibly important for the community.”
Jessica Jia Tree Registrant

“It's a justice issue for us. Working with Not Far From The Tree is one way our family supports those in our community who do not live in abundance.”
Jim Lewis Tree Registrant

“I just phoned and it was very easy, everyone was very friendly, helpful, and grateful. [NFFTT] provides food that isn’t destroying the earth and food that isn’t destroying the atmosphere.”
Merlin Homer Tree Registrant

“I love the charity aspect of it: giving a third to different groups around the city. Hopefully, people enjoy the fruit.”
Stu Freen Tree Registrant

Step 1: Register Your Tree

First thing’s first – sign up on our online portal and provide us with some basic information about your fruit tree(s). You’ll pay a $30 membership fee for the season, and then you’re all set!

Step 2: Request a Pick

Once your fruit is ripe, request a pick using our online portal. You’ll provide us with a window when we can harvest your tree, and we’ll be in touch as soon as one of our Pick Leaders has scheduled your pick.

Why Memberships?

Your membership not only provides much needed financial support to sustain our harvest program, but also represents a belief in our mission and buy-in to the sustainable community we are building together in Toronto.

Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to be home?

Nope! Only if you must be home to give us access to your yard. We'll take care of your property and leave everything as we found it.
How long is a fruit pick?

Fruit picks last for a maximum of two hours. Sometimes there's so much fruit our volunteers can't get it all in two hours. If that’s the case, you can always request another pick, and we’ll do our best to return as soon as we can.
I requested a pick, but NFFTT can’t find volunteers!

We have over 1,800 trees registered with our program and do our best to meet every pick request. All picks are run by our amazingly dedicated volunteers, and while we’ll try our best to find a group for your tree, sometimes we just can’t meet every request. To help us grow our capacity, please consider becoming a Pick Leader, or making a donation to support the expansion of our program.
There’s still fruit left on my tree after the pick. What gives?

We pick as much as we can in two hours but keep in mind our volunteers aren’t professional arborists. Sometimes we can’t quite get every single fruit – especially if your tree is a tall one.
Why do I have to provide a ladder? Can’t NFFTT bring one?

Because our volunteer leaders arrive via cargo bike, unfortunately they can't carry a ladder to the pick. If your tree is tall, please do your best to provide a ladder so volunteers can pick as much fruit as possible. If you don’t own one, we encourage you to borrow from a neighbour or the Toronto Tool Library.
How do I cancel or reschedule my fruit pick?

If either you or the Pick Leader cancels the pick, it is your responsibility to indicate to us that you would like to reschedule. You must sign into your profile on the Portal to cancel or re-schedule your pick for a later date. Please do so at least 24 hours before your pick so we have time to notify the volunteer fruit pickers.
My fruit’s gone all of a sudden! What happened and what should I do?

Unfortunately, this does happen from time to time. With some fruits (especially cherries and berries), there’s a very short time window between them being ripe and them falling off the branches. Birds, squirrels, or raccoons may have also beaten us to the fruit. Whatever the case, please cancel your pick on the Portal, and we’ll hope for better luck next season!