We have lots going on in October! If you don’t get our monthly newsletter, here’s what’s happening:
Hard cider!
We’re very excited to invite you to the City Fruit Hard Cider Tasting in Pioneer Square on Thursday, Nov 3 (it’s also Art Walk night). Alpenfire, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Snowdrift and Tieton Cider Works will bring their Washington-made craft ciders and pearies. You can taste the ciders, meet the producers and buy some cider to take home. The Northwest Sustainability Collaborative and Northwest Cider Association are our partners. Proceeds from the event benefit City Fruit’s 2012 fruit harvest.
Details:
Thursday, Nov 3. 5 – 8 pm. 314 1st Ave So, Seattle (just down the block from the former location of Elliott Bay Books)
Tickets: Brown Paper Tickets or at the door.
Quince class this Saturday
Next up in our Beyond the Canning Jar cooking series is “Demystifying Quince” with culinary celebrity Amy Pennington. Chefs love quince, but the rest of us don’t know what to do with this exquisite fruit. Amy will teach you how to make quince jam and quince paste — yum– on Saturday, Oct 8, 10 am – noon at Dish It Up! in Ballard. Amy’s last book will also be available. Register online or mail a check to City Fruit.
Following on the next three Saturdays are: Shrubs (ancient drinking vinegars) Oct 15; Fruits – from Appetizer to Dessert, Oct 22; and Poaching, Roasting and Braising Fruit, Oct 29. We greatly appreciate the support of our partners, Dish It Up! in Ballard and The Pantry at Delancey — and hope you support them too.
Harvest festivals galore
Our five orchard steward groups are holding get togethers this fall to introduce neighbors to their urban orchards. On Sept 25 the five Ladies with Loppers and Ladders pressed apples into cider under a red tent along the Burke-Gilman Trail, as cyclists and joggers stopped to have a sip and the wind threatened to blow everything away. (Did you know there are apple trees along the Trail?) Then last Sunday the Martha Washington crew gathered more than 60 neighbors at the small park cum orchard on the lake where, again, cider was pressed, cupcakes eaten, and talk revolved around the history of the park and its old apple trees. Coming up: Meadowbrook Harvest Party Oct 7 (6 pm), Beacon Hill Harvest Festival with the Jose Rizal orchard stewards on Oct 22 ( 1 – 9 pm), and the Bradner Gardens Harvest on Oct 30 (2 – 4 pm).
Orchard stewards expanding
Our second grant from the Department of Natural Resources allows us to expand the orchard stewards project to three additional Seattle Parks. Several parks have applied, and we will be meeting on Oct 29, 10:30 – noon, at the Ravenna Eckstein Community Center. Anyone interested in knowing more about the project is welcome.
2011 fruit harvest
The harvest is winding down — wait! apples and grapes are still out there — and we have harvested more than 6000 pounds of fruit in a year we had feared would be worse. A full report on the harvest will come next month, but meanwhile, we will be glad to harvest grapes, apples and quince, so let us know. Contact info@cityfruit.org .
Calendar
Oct 6 Holy Cross orchard Meaningful Movie: Good Food. Contact Farness, Janet jkftahiti@comcast.net
Oct 7 Meadowbrook Harvest Party, 6 pm. Meadowbrook Community Center
Oct 8 Demystifying Quince cooking class with Amy Pennington, 10 am – noon, Dish It Up! in Ballard
Oct 8 Prune Fruit Trees class, Seattle Tilth, 10 am – noon
Oct 15 Shrubs cooking class with Patricia Eddy, 10 am – noon
Oct 22 Fruit – from Appetizer to Dessert cooking class with Roxanne Vierra, 10 am – noon
Oct 22 Beacon Hill Harvest Festival, 1 – 9 pm, Garden House on Beacon Hill
Oct 23 Seattle Tree Fruit Society Fall Show, 10 am – 3 pm, Cedar Valley Grange
Oct 29 Poaching, Braising and Roasting fruit cooking class with Laurie Pfalzer, 10 am – noon
Oct 29 City Fruit orchard steward kick off meeting, 10:30 am – noon, Ravenna Eckstein Community Center
Oct 30 Bradner Gardens Harvest Festival, 2 – 4 pm, Bradner Gardens
Please join City Fruit. We depend on your memberships and support to fund our harvests, and we’re planning for next year now. And remember to friend us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and read our Blog
