Sharing Food, Growing Community: Inside Salt Spring’s Food Share Program
Every year, fruit trees across Salt Spring Island bend beneath the weight of apples, pears, and plums. Much of that fruit would simply fall to the ground and go to waste — especially on properties owned by elders or people no longer able to harvest it themselves.
There are also gardeners struggling to deal with the quantities of zucchini and tomatoes they've produced, and farmers who have surplus they need to pass along - all shared at our Food Share gatherings where anyone, whether they have food to share or need food - is welcome.
The Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust’s Food Share Program exists to redistribute the abundance.
The program brings together volunteers, landowners, school groups, and community partners to harvest surplus fruit from around the island and share it where it is needed most. The idea is simple: food that might otherwise go to waste is gathered and redistributed, while creating connection and community along the way.
The harvest is always shared in thirds:
One third goes to the landowners
One third goes to the volunteers who helped pick
One third goes to the Farmland Trust for redistribution through the food bank, Gabriel’s Kitchen, community workshops, and value-added products like bottled juice
In 2024, the Food Share Program gleaned more than 15,000 pounds of fruit and produce. In 2025 they surpassed 24,000 pounds.
For many landowners, the program is a relief as much as it is a gift. In the video, island resident Gary Barlow describes what it meant to have volunteers come harvest the fruit from trees he and his wife could no longer manage themselves:
“The fact that fruit is all there and it doesn’t have to fall on the ground and rot — it was wonderful.”
Gary speaks movingly about the energy and generosity of the volunteers, and about the importance of community as we age. For him, the program is about more than fruit: it is about helping each other, staying connected, and making sure abundance is shared.
Another landowner, Jorge of Salty Pear, reflects on the joy of seeing people work together:
“It’s really nice to just share, with other people, the harvest, and to see them working together and being part of the program.”
The Food Share Program also creates opportunities for young people to experience harvesting firsthand. School groups sometimes collaborate with the program, and the whole class form into picking crews, helping students connect with the land and with one another. In the video, children laugh, fill baskets, push wheelbarrows, and dream aloud about what can be made from the harvest: applesauce, apple chips, and of course, apple juice.
As one teacher says:
“I love harvesting with the kids because it’s pure joy.”
That joy is part of what makes the program so powerful. Volunteers often arrive expecting simply to pick fruit, and leave with a sense of belonging and purpose. The work is physical, but it is also deeply human: neighbours helping neighbours, strangers becoming friends, and everyone leaving with something to share.
This year, the Food Share Program has another reason to celebrate. Thanks to support from the Salt Spring Foundation, the Farmland Trust has acquired a fully electric cargo van to support the growing program. The new van replaces “Evangelina,” the beloved older vehicle that logged more than 50,000 pounds of fruit and produce moved last summer — from harvest sites to The Root, and onward to community partners across the island. The new van can carry up to 4,000 pounds, travel 200 kilometres on a charge, and help move harvested fruit, ladders, boxes, and cooling equipment across the island.
The Foundation has also generously supported a pasteurizer for the program, allowing us to produce shelf-stable juice that does not require refrigeration ! This will allow us to sell our juice to support the program, and store much larger quantities for sharing throughout the year.
With nearly 100 volunteers and more than 60 harvest sites, the Food Share Program continues to grow — but it depends on community support to keep going.
If you are wondering, "how can I support this incredible work?" : please sign up to volunteer, or support the program as a monthly donor. Together, we can make sure more local food is shared, more fruit is saved, and more people experience the simple truth at the heart of this project:
By sharing food, we're growing community.
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