"Saturday is okay, as that's when our climber is free! The volunteers will meet outside your house at 1.20, so that we can all come into the garden together . . ." says Elizabeth Proud with cheerful efficiency, a week before the event.
Saturday arrives, a sultry, overcast day in August, the air close and ominous. In the north-west corner of London, in Willesden's leafy suburb, an estate car pulls up outside a semi-detached house. Elizabeth, middle aged with short ash-brown hair, and sporting casual t-shirt and trousers, is just one of those to alight. Following her is another group and together they make up a small, enthusiastic army of ten. An easy comaraderie between them, these are men and women aged between 40-60, carting cardboard crates, long-life bags, gleaming blue tarpaulin, step and platform ladders and a strange telescopic implement with a yellow grab sac at the end - the essential tools of their trade.
I am here because I am intrigued. Aren't Saturday afternoons traditionally spent in fractious mood in supermarket queues or plonking your children unceremoniously in front of the tv to stop them squabbling with their siblings? Not so, it seems, here.
Apple Picking in London
This group of volunteers, all living locally, have arrived with one purpose in mind, to make a rich harvest of the fruit trees in a local household and to distribute the fruits to the community. A man in his late 40s, Michael Stuart, with striped blue shirt and quiet charm, is introduced to me as the one who started this group, a group only known in name by the geographical boundary they operate in. In this case, they are 'Kensal to Kilburn'.
Together we are marshalled to the back garden, to a patch of lawn surrounded by apple and pear trees, bowing under the weight of their yield. A health and safety briefing follows. Almost immediately the fruit pickers pounce on one heavily laden apple tree as if confronted by a treasure trove, tugging at the ripe and ready fruits, loading up bags, climbing on ladders, using the telescopic implement to pluck hard-to-reach apples, resisting the temptation to shake it all to the ground.
Michael, an ex-manager of a charity for the elderly, is soft-spoken. He fills me in on how it all started. “I used to pick blackberries and when they were all cut down, I noticed fruit trees with apples and pears going for waste. So I advertised for volunteers and lots of people were interested” he says. Starting in September 2009, they have so far picked 880 kilos from 10 gardens in an area from Kensal Rise to Kilburn although they now have 100 pickers with 20 gardens to pick from. “The best garden was 250 kgs of pear in one hour” he says with pride. In return for householders donating fruit to the community, the group offers to prune the fruit trees for free, although they might have to charge for this in the future.
Midway through the urban harvest, I can hear the jolly banter of pickers as the apples rapidly start to swell the bags. It is clear that around this simple communal activity, new friendships are being forged.
"Ladies, shall we pick all of them?"
"Not the titchy ones"
"That's an off one, it's a cooker"
Fruit Harvest as a Transition Initiative
Michael explains that today's fruit picking is not just one person’s idea. The initiative is based on a model outlined by Sheffield’s ‘ Abundance ’ project promoting urban fruit harvesting. And fruit harvesting is only part of a bigger drive to 'think global, act local'.
The harvested apples are given away free to schools and some are sold to local shops or restaurants to pay for the equipment pickers need. The hosts are allowed to keep as many as they will use. The group also own an apple press which produces apple juice that is sold at events. As it is school holidays, today's harvest is destined for Cricklewood Homeless Concern who are also hosting an 'apple pie day' to raise money for Pakistan flood relief.
“It is all part of Transition Town” says Michael, explaining that initiatives such as this translates into action that doesn’t rely on oil-based economy and therefore reduces global warming. Meaning, that in this case, “importing apples from around the world is ridiculous”. A transition town is a group of people who meet together to act on the transition model which can mean anything from local fruit picking to action on transport, environment or housing.
Transition Town is Spreading
These initiatives between local government and the local community are catching. Started in 2006 by Rob Hopkins and Naresh Giangrande in Totnes, there are now over 300 Transition Initiatives in Europe and across the world with 5 in Camden in north London alone. Michael is planning to give talks to local schools to get young people interested and to help them understand that fruits don't just grow on supermarket shelves.
One of the key tenets of Transition Town is that “if we collectively plan and act early enough there's every likelihood that we can create a way of living that's significantly more connected, more vibrant and more in touch with our environment than the oil-addicted treadmill that we find ourselves on today.”
"It's sixty-seven and a half kilos!" I hear someone holler from the background. Michael smiles. "That's just from one tree" he says, excusing himself to join the harvest. I tell Michael I'll be back, but only when the group start producing their very own cider.
Preethi Manuel - Preethi Manuel is a teacher and freelance writer on media, education and disability. She holds an M.A. in Screenwriting from the London ...
