Got fruit trees? This non-profit wants you to share them

There are thousands of fruit trees in Seattle bursting with fruit that end may end up in waste.

One local non-profit wants to collect that fruit. City Fruit is now looking for volunteers who could help.

Five months out of the year, the City Fruit spends time picking fruit from private properties and public orchards like this one at the Meridian Playground in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood.

City Fruit executive director Carrie Ferrence says the non-profit could use more help to collect tens of thousands of pounds of fruit from all over the city.

“You get to go up on a tree, you get to get down on your hands and knees in the dirt,” said Ferrence. “And you get to pick fruit and share it.”

Ferrence says the collected fruit will be donated to food banks. Those that don’t make the cut for eating end up in compost or used as animal feed.

Tree owners can request boxes and pick on their own. City Fruit will collect the harvest within 48 hours.

Correction, 2:13 p.m., 08/27/2018: A previous version of this story misidentified Carrie Ferrence.