
The volunteers for the Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard in mid-town Toronto are busy preparing our park for this coming Saturday’s fundraising sale (May 5, 2018 from 9am to 1pm)! Even the daffodils in our pollinator garden are popping up for the occasion.
Free Starbucks Coffee for All at the Event
If you come and join us, we’ll have free coffee for you to enjoy – donated by our local Starbucks. We’ll have homemake baked goods that you can buy as well as plants, books, housewares and other treasures. Come and join us! All the funds raised go towards the care of our fruit trees and pollinator garden.
Buy Great Stuff for Great Prices

Vibrant red dahlias will be amongst the plants on sale at our event.
We have collected both new and gently used things to include in our sale, including dozens of great hard cover thrillers (at just $2 each), new ceramic and plastic mugs donated by Starbucks ($2 or $3 each), housewares, costume jewellery, sports items and pet accessories. We have an oval mirror from Gingers ($30), some small furniture, wicker baskets and lots more goodies. And of course then there are the yummy baked goods that will go so well with your free coffee!
Win One of Our Raffle Prizes
In addition to the sale, you can stroll around our orchard and check out our apple, cherry, asian pear, plum and apricot trees and ask the volunteers questions about what it’s like to grow fruit in the city. And of course, you’ll be able to buy tickets to this year’s raffle with great prizes donated by local businesses. Here are just a few of them:
Anna’s Pretty Nails at 1132 Eglinton Ave. West has donated two manicures, each worth $20.
Print Plus Sign at 1034 Eglinton Avenue West has donated a beautiful poster and $20 gift certificates that you can use towards printing business cards, brochures, or even printed t-shirts.

Mark’s Choice Veggie Gardener’s Prize includes a gardeners vegetable wash basket, lots of seeds, a fan nozzle and organic fertilizer.
Mark’s Choice, the brand of product selected and endorsed by Canada’s gardening guru Mark Cullen, has donated two amazing prizes for gardeners:
- The Veggie Gardeners Package contains a stainless steel gardener’s wash basket filled with goodies including vegetable seed packets, a fan hose spray nozzle, and organic fertilizer.
- The Grass Grower’s Package contains two packages of grass seed (for sun or shade) and Premier Tech lawn fertilizer.
Simple Human is a fantastic company that makes “tools for efficient living” and they have donated three prizes, worth about $50 each. Their prizes include:

One of three Simple Human prizes is a compact wireframe dish rack.
- A compact wireframe dishrack (value is $49)
- A touch free soap sensor pump (value is $49.99)
- A 10 litre chrome and steel in-cabinet garbage can (value is $39.99).
Raffle tickets are just $2 each or 3 tickets for $5. We will announce raffle winners at 12.30 pm so be sure to be there to claim your prize!
Come and Join the Fun!
This Saturday will be a great day to come to check out this beautiful community orchard, a hidden gem in our city, while meeting great people and supporting community grown fruit.
We look forward to seeing you in the orchard this Saturday!
Susan Poizner is the coordinator of the Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard. She is also the author of the award-winning fruit tree care book Growing Urban Orchards and the creator of the fruit tree care website www.orchardpeople.com. She is also the host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show on RealityRadio101.com
