On July 3rd, Ben Nobleman Park was buzzing with cherry lovers of all ages. It was our annual community cherry harvest, and this year, our two big sweet cherry trees really showed off — they were heavy with fruit, branches dripping with beautiful, sweet cherries just waiting to be picked.
Before our official harvest day, park visitors had already picked just about every cherry within arm’s reach. Unfortunately, a few branches got broken in the rush. So here’s a gentle reminder for next year: our fruit trees give so generously, but they need us to be gentle in return. A little care goes a long way in keeping them healthy and productive.
When harvest day rolled around, there was still plenty of fruit up high. First, our dedicated pruning crew, all trained in specialist fruit tree pruning, came in to do a bit of summer pruning. They trimmed a few well-chosen branches, heavy with fruit, and laid them on our harvest table for everyone to pick from. Neighbours filled bowls and Sara, who led the event, weighed out two pounds at a time, packing cherries into paper bags that participants would take home at the end of the evening.
After that, folks grabbed extension harvesting tools and reached for the cherries that remained high up in the canopy. It was pure joy to watch families and friends working together, reaching, having fun, and filling bowls with fruit. By the end, everyone went home with at least two pounds of fresh, sweet cherries — and we tallied up an amazing 50 pounds picked that day. Add that to the 50 plus pounds picked earlier in the week, and you can see just how generous these trees really are.
Many in the group also got a chance to harvest some yummy serviceberries from our serviceberry tree. When the berries are dark purple they are beautifully ripe.
After the picking was done, everyone pitched in to rake and clean up fallen fruit around the trees. The orchard looked tidy and loved — exactly how we want it to be.
We also had our regular stewardship day over the weekend. Volunteers tackled the pollinator gardens, pulling weeds and tidying up. Sarah took on the tough job of pruning out some fire blight from one of our apple trees. Carolyn dealt with bacterial canker in our apricot trees — not the most fun task, but so important to help these trees stay as healthy as they can.
I always say it’s a bit like being a tree doctor. Sometimes, with disease-prone varieties, you have to do what you can to give them the best life possible — however long that might be.
Nature had a few surprises for us too. One day a hornet moth — a beautiful creature that looks like a hornet but isn’t — landed right on my jeans. And Jose, one of our new volunteers from Peru, found a big cicada clinging to my neck. Its little wing was damaged, but it seemed perfectly happy resting in Jose’s hand until he found it a safe spot.
Speaking of Jose, he’s jumped right in with pruning and weeding in our west-side pollinator garden. It’s wonderful to see new volunteers learning and contributing their care and time.
More than anything, days like these remind me why we do this. Our cherry trees don’t just feed us with fruit — they feed our sense of community and connection to nature.
Thank you to everyone who came out, lent a hand, and took some cherries home. If you’d like to hear about future harvests, sign up for our email list by sending an email to growingforgreen (at) gmail.com — we’d love to see you at the next one!
Susan Poizner is one of the volunteers for The Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard in Toronto. She is the creator of the fruit tree care education website OrchardPeople.com. Susan is the author of four fruit tree care books including Grow Fruit Trees Fast: A Beginner’s Guide to a Healthy Harvest in Record Time. She is also the host of the Orchard People podcast and an ISA Certified Arborist.