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London's best foraging groups

Get involved with fruit harvesting or recommend trees for picking in the capital

Pick Your Own farms in London

Find the best farms to pick your own fruit and vegetables in the capital.

Discover the best Pick Your Own farms in London
© Craig Deane

The streets of London may not be paved with gold, but they are lined with fruit trees. Groups all over town are gathering forces to pick fruit that would otherwise go to waste. Get involved in the harvest, or suggest trees that need pickers.

By Zoe Kamen

  • Abundance London

    Chiswick

    Now in its fourth year, the Chiswick Abundance group meets regularly in gangs of up to ten people to harvest fruit in private gardens and on the streets of west London. Apples, plums, damsons are nearly ripe for plucking and an online map points the way to the trees to visit. This year’s Abundance Fruit day, with apple pressings and jam sales, will be on October 1 at St Michaels & All Angels church (time not yet confirmed, Bath Road, W4 1TT). www.abundancelondon.com or contact info@abundancelondon.com

  • Brockley Harvest

    Brockley

    Local Transition Town groups all over the country come together to reduce carbon footprints and this south-east London hub cut down the food miles with its first harvest in August, and is planning more over the season. www.transitionbrockley.blogspot. com or contact brockleyharvest@yahoo.co.uk.

  • Hackney Harvest

    Hackney

    London Orchard Project (which plants community orchards) teamed up with the Stoke Newington Transition Town to organise Hackney Harvests. Up to 30 people go out every fortnight in small groups, mapping fruit trees and picking. This year, crops are also being cooked at the People’s Kitchen in Dalston. www.hackneyharvest.com / www.thepeopleskitchen.org or contact hackneyharvest@gmail.com

  • Incredible Edible Lambeth Harvest

    Lambeth

    This new group, spearheaded by David Blair, forages around Lambeth and is an offshoot of the successful Hackney Harvest. A harvest feast with community garden produce, scrumped fruit and live music is planned from 1pm on Sunday September 18 at Myatt’s Fields Park (Cormont Road, SE5 9RA). www.incredibleediblelambeth.org or contact david@thelondonorchardproject.org.

  • Organiclea Vestry House Museum

    Vestry Rd, Waltham Forest, E17 9NH

    Organiclea is a workers’ food-growing cooperative in the Lea Valley. It has been running a scrumping project in the area since 2004. Harvests are divided between local residents and the rest is sold on Saturday stalls (10am-3pm) to raise money for ongoing community projects. www.organiclea.org.uk or contact info@organiclea.org.uk.

  • Transition Belsize

    Belsize Green

    Paul Mackay coordinates ad-hoc harvesting trips in and around NW3. A fourth annual Belsize Green Fair will be held from 10am to 4pm on Saturday September 24. Expect a pop-up urban farm, with animals, bees, produce and tips on how to forage for your own wild food. www.transitionbelsize.org.uk or contact abundance@transitionbelsize.org.uk.

  • Transition Town Kensal to Kilburn

    Kensal Rise, Kilburn and Queens Park

    Initiated by Michael Stuart in 2009, this collaboration has so far gathered 100 members. Smaller groups go out regularly to pluck fruit from local trees and meet up to preserve the harvest bounty in jams and chutneys. This year, they are holding a harvest festival from 10am to 2pm on October 9, and a harvest supper from 7.30pm to 11pm on October 15, at Salusbury Primary School (Salusbury Road, NW6 6RG). www.ttkensaltokilburn.ning.com/ or contact michael.stuart6@gmail.com.

  • Urban Harvest

    Gatherings take place in north London

    An informal online network that organises monthly foraging and juicing sessions in north London. www.urbanharvest.org.uk or contact info@urbanharvest.org.uk.



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Comments

By Katy - Nov 4 2011

I went to an AMAZING foraging class with The Amazings... It was very cheap too considering we made a lunch and a jam from things we found in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park! Check it out here...

http://theamazings.org/2011/09/forage-for-a-feast-with-terry/

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