Harvesting unwanted fruit from private and public land and redistributing it to the community.
Did you know The Hidden Orchard runs workshops? Last winter we had terrific turnout for our pruning workshops with Jean Paul-Trijsburg. Starting with a beginners workshop and then one for the more advanced pruner. We learnt all about equipment, how to choose which branches to prune, creating shape, avoiding fungus growth, what trees grow in … Continue reading Pruning Workshops with Jean Paul-Trijsburg
Last year THO team were invited to tour the soon to be open @foodbankvictoria Community Food Centre in Ballarat’s West 🍐😊 The centre will house:☕️ Community hub and cafe🍎 Free supermarket to aid food insecurity🍳 Fully equipped kitchen for training & cooking education🥕 Market garden🌱 Space for regenerative agriculture☀️ Storage for food supply during emergency relief The … Continue reading The Hidden Orchard visits FoodBank Food Centre
Check out this amazing work from Harvest Leaders Amanda & Larissa with their team of volunteers. A whopping 94kg of Plums and 83kg of Plumcots Thank you team for your massive efforts. The fruit has been donated to the Neighbourhood Centre Cooking Program and Food is Free Ripon St. If you know of a tree … Continue reading 2024 Season Begins!
Two weeks ago we harvested over 300 kg of apples and pears in Durham Lead. Three harvest leaders and six volunteers spent an hour picking this beautiful bounty Fruit was distributed to Anglicare, Food is Free Laneway, Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre, several local school programs, Breazeway and the Soup bus. Continue reading Harvest in Durham Lead
We have some good news and some bad news… The bad news is that we are pausing our 2020 harvest.We will be hibernating for the next few weeks until the dust settles on COVID-19 and it is safe to resume harvests. A lot of the fruit charities that we donate to are currently closed and … Continue reading COVID-19 ends our Harvest Season
Although the season finished early, we were still able to harvest a whopping 2.5 tonne of fruit which included 1 tonne of apples, 770 kgs of pears, 475 kgs of plum/nectarine & 255 kg of peach/lemons.This doesn’t include all the damaged fruit collected & donated to the local animal sanctuaries.Thanks again to our wonderful volunteer … Continue reading 2.5 tonnes…..wowwww
One of our last harvests held was over the weekend of March 21/22 at two properties in Cambrian Hill & Durham Lead. Multiple Harvest Leaders & families picked 220 kg of apples & pears from Cambrian Hill & a whopping 500 kg of apples & pears from Durham Lead.These were the last fruit drop-offs made … Continue reading Whopping weekend harvest
Saturday February 15 saw a lovely misty morning family pick aided by four enthusiastic children that ended up yielding 60 kgs of apples & plums. Our two volunteer Committee members, Charissa & Kim and their families shared the bounty with both the Salvos & Anglicare with all damaged fruit delivered to Ballarat Wildlife Park. Some … Continue reading A misty morning family harvest
58kgs of pears harvested Friday Feb 21 from a backyard in Brown Hill with an extra 25kg of damaged fruit taken for the enjoyment of animals at Ballarat Wildlife Park. A light drizzle threatened the pick but then the sun came out and a great harvest prevailed with 2 rosellas & a cockatoo watching closely … Continue reading Pear Pick – Brown Hill
47kg of apples harvested in Brown Hill, plus 30kg of damaged (codling moth infested) fruit taken to Ballarat Wildlife Park Apples best suited for cooking donated to Our Kitchen & Food is Free Continue reading Apple Harvest – 20.02.2020