Where Does the Fruit Go?

City Fruit prioritizes the distribution of harvested fruit to food banks and meal programs in order to support equitable access to healthy, local foods!  We also share fruit directly with community members through our free Fruit-for-All Farmstands in locations across Seattle.  

When fruit is too ripe, undersized, or buggy to be donated directly to a food bank or meal program, we work with our community diversion partners!  Our diversion partners include local businesses that can process the fruit into products such applesauce, cider, baked goods, and jams.  Not only does this divert food from waste, but it supports local businesses, and can create shelf-stable products that can then be donated to food banks, meal programs, and organizations working with food insecure populations.  In 2021, a community diversion partner of ours, FareStart, processed hundreds of pounds of buggy apples and Transparent apples (a variety of apple that is best cooked rather than eaten fresh) into over 12,000 servings of applesauce.  It is through the support of our diversion partners that we can utilize fruit that might be challenging for community members to process on their own (ex. quince or medlars) or might otherwise be sent to compost if undersized or buggy. 

As an environmental organization, we strive to share fruit with community partners located within 2-miles of where the fruit was harvested in order to reduce carbon emissions from transporting fruit long distances.  Are you a local business or organization that would like to receive fruit or serve as a diversion partner? Please consider joining our network of Community Partners!

Fruit-for-All Farmstand

Fruit-for-All is our signature pop-up fruit stands set up as another low-to-no barrier way to share fruit for free!  Our Fruit-for-Alls are planned every summer and fall (July-Oct) in neighborhoods across Seattle so that anyone can enjoy the bounty of our city’s fruit trees.  Each harvest season, we plan for 12-19 Fruit-for-Alls in neighborhoods from High Point, to Ballard, to Meadowbrook, to New Holly, to Phinney, to Delridge – and more!

 

We’ll be popping up with our Fruit-for-All fruit stand as part of farmer’s markets and occasionally on our own to reach youth in summer programs, families accessing libraries, and more.  While we focus on Seattle’s underserved neighborhoods, our reach with Fruit-for-Alls in 2021 made sure that everyone in our community could have access to FREE, fresh, nutritious fruit – that may have been picked just that morning, just down the street! Fruit is first-come, first-serve at at fruit stands, but don’t fret! If you’re a City Fruit member, you can reserve a share of fruit! Your member share may even include some special fruit varieties that are available only in limited quantities (think figs, grapes and berries). Up to 10 member shares are available at each pop-up.

Curious about which fruits might be available at our pop-ups?  Here is a breakdown of when different kinds of fruits are ripening in our city’s orchards:
 

July: cherries, plums

August: plums, figs, peaches, apples, pears

September: plums, peaches, apples, pears, grapes 

October: apples, pears, grapes, figs, persimmons, quince, kiwis

 

Do you have a site for a Fruit-For-All we should consider?  Please email [email protected].

2023 Fruit-for-All Dates

Tue, July 25     South Park Comm Center            4-6pm

Thu, July 27    Van Asselt Comm Center              4-6pm 

Tue, Aug 1       Garfield Comm Center                  5-7pm 

Tue, Aug 8        Ballard Comm Center                   6-8pm

Thu, Aug 10     Phinney Center                                9:30-10:30am 

Sat, Aug 12        Delridge Farmers Market              10am-2pm 

Wed, Aug 16     High Point Drive                             3:30-5:30 pm 

Fri, Aug 18        Bitterlake Comm Center               5:30-7:30pm

Sat, Aug 19        Bellevue Library                               12:30-2:30pm 

Tue, Aug 22      Garfield Comm Center                  5-7pm 

Fri, Aug 25        University Heights Center             6-8pm 

Tue, Aug 29      Meadowbrook Comm Center      4-6pm 

Sat, Sept 9          Delridge Farmers Market                10am-2pm

Tue, Sept 12      South Park Comm Center             4-6pm

Thu, Sept 14      Van Asselt Comm Center             4-6pm 

Tue, Sept 19       Meadowbrook Comm Center    4-6pm 

Sun, Sept 24       Angel Morgan P-Patch                   2-4pm 

Wed, Sept 27      High Point Drive                             3:30-5:30pm

Sat, Oct 7            Delridge Farmers Market               10am-2pm

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