Harvesting unwanted fruit from private and public land and redistributing it to the community.
On April 3, we held the first Hidden Orchard cook up – turning various harvested fruits into jams, lemon butter & other goodies. Here are some shots from the day! Thanks to everyone who came along: some jars went home with participants and others may be available for sale as a Hidden Orchard fundraiser at … Continue reading Cook up
Big thanks to Carmel, who donated three metal fruit pickers, which will be attached to long poles to help us reach fruit high up in the trees. These are fabulous devices and we’re so grateful to Carmel for her generous gift. Continue reading Thank you Carmel!
Next Monday we are hosting our first Hidden Orchard Community Jam and Sauce Making Day. A chance to get together and preserve some of the Hidden Orchard harvest. No experience is necessary. We’ll be working together and it will be a great opportunity to share and learn new skills. All the ingredients including fruit harvested during … Continue reading Big cook up
This morning we harvested from a couple of older yards that had been sensibly planted with food security in mind (long before food security was a ‘thing’)! One was in Sturt St and included apple, lemon, fig and walnut trees. The second was this crazy wild backyard in Ballarat East; behind a Victorian house in … Continue reading Wild orchards in Ballarat
As well as providing lovely fresh fruit for eating, The Hidden Orchard also contributes to the winter stores of our harvest volunteers. Here is some gorgeous Spicy Plum Chutney made with plums & apples from last Saturday’s harvest. Continue reading Spicy Plum Chutney
Over 40 kg of plums and nearly 90 kg of apples were harvested this morning, with the bulk of the harvest distributed to Food is Free Laneway. This amazing bounty came from just three trees! The plum tree (see picture below) didn’t look that stunning until you got up close – it was loaded with … Continue reading Saturday bonanza
Apples, pears & plums with the possibility of blackberries and quinces. Thanks to the generousity of the local community we have the opportunity to harvest apples, crab apples, pears and plums in the Black Hill and Eureka areas tomorrow morning starting from 10am. Where: Meet at the playground on the corner of Peel St and … Continue reading Sat March 18 harvest
Thanks for your interest in harvesting and making use of neglected fruit from the Ballarat area. Although we’ve only been going a few weeks, The Hidden Orchard has already distributed hundreds of kilos of fruit to local organisations – and our harvest volunteers have taken home their share to eat, juice, stew or otherwise enjoy! … Continue reading Welcome to The Hidden Orchard