Do you have tree fruit on your property that needs a home?
The second of four Tree Fruit Round-Ups takes place this Saturday from 12 to 3 p.m. at the Cochrane Lagoon, 141 Bow Bend Way, by the SLS Centre.
It's a community-driven program aimed at mitigating attractants for bears and other wildlife while providing food for both human and injured and orphaned wildlife in the care of the Cochrane Ecological Institute.
It's an ideal way to dispose of fruit that you may not gather from your trees. Cochrane lies in plant hardiness zones 3a & 3b, and while we don't have a large variety of fruit-bearing trees, apples, crabapples, and sour cherry trees are common.
Frankie-Lou Nelligan, executive director of Cultivate Cochrane, uses crabapples as one example.
"We have tons and tons of crabapples in different variety," says Nelligan. "A lot of people just think of them as ornamental, but a bear doesn't. It sees a small piece of fruit that it wants and takes it."
Right now, there's a perfect storm of ripening fruit crops and wildlife stocking up for the winter ahead.
MORE: First of four tree fruit roundup days this Saturday
Residents can donate their fruit in one of two ways.
Picked fruit that hasn't touched the ground will be redistributed to local food providers, including the Cochrane Food Bank, the Îyâhrhe Nakoda Food Bank, and the Helping Hands food shed.
Fallen fruit is utilized by the Cochrane Ecological Institute, located about 28 km northwest of Cochrane.
Mushy fruit won't be accepted. It's best disposed of in green bins.
Fruit received at the first round-up on Aug. 31 has been put to good use, reports the town, who is coordinating the campaign with Cochrane and Area Food Connections (CAFC) and Cochrane Environmental Action Committee (CEAC).
Two other round-ups are scheduled for Sept. 28 and Oct. 5.