Community Fruit Trees
Community Fruit for All
What are Community Fruit Trees?
Community Fruit Trees are publicly owned and available for everyone to enjoy. The goal is to have access to delicious, nutritious fruit. We also hope to reduce hunger, improve our natural environment, create a deeper connection to our food, build community, and exercise our independence from the globalized, industrial food system.
A sign next to the tree invites people to enjoy the fruit. Trees can be found on the map below, brought to you by our friends at fallingfruit.org. Just imagine picking an abundance of fruit directly from the trees and shrubs right in your neighborhood!
We are here to help establish Community Fruit Trees in your community! Since 2018 we have been of service through two programs. With our grants program, we provided grants to selected recipients to purchase the trees from local nurseries as well as basic materials like mulch. With our trees by mail program we had the trees mailed to our recipients through our partner nurseries.
1 Million Community Fruit Trees Initiative
We are in the development stages of our 1 Million Community Fruit Trees Initiative with a goal of planting 1 million fruit and nut trees from 2025 through 2037. We are working to establish 100 Micro-Nurseries around Turtle Island (The United States).
We welcome you to learn more about our 1 Million Community Fruit Trees Initiative here. This includes a form that can be filled out by those seeking to plant trees, serve as micro-nursery stewards, volunteer, financially support and more.
For information on how to add your neighborhood’s Community Fruit Trees (whether you are a recipient of our program or not; this is open to all!) to the FallingFruit Map, follow this page for instructions.
Why do we need Community Fruit Trees?
Everyone deserves fresh fruit, but millions of US Americans live in food deserts (more aptly titled food apartheid) with limited access to local produce. Grocery store fruit typically arrives from across the country and around the world via fossil fuel-powered transportation, causing harm to the environment. These fruits are also picked unripe, which hinders peak flavor and nutrition. We hope to inspire and empower people across the nation to plant thousands of fruit trees. Food doesn’t have to come from the store. It can grow freely and abundantly all around us!
Where can the trees be planted?
Highly accessible locations – residential front yards and businesses with access from a public sidewalk, in the medians between streets and sidewalk, at schools, in public parks, in churchyards, and along bike trails.
Planting on the median between the street and sidewalk:
How did the Community Fruit Trees program begin?
We set out on the mission to ensure that our neighbors have access to delicious, nutritious fruit. To do this, Robin Greenfield and the Live Like Ally Foundation came together to establish the grassroots project, Community Fruit Trees. By establishing public fruit trees, this initiative helps reduce hunger, creates a deeper connection to our food, improves our natural environment, builds community, and exercises our independence from the globalized, industrial food system. We believe food is a human right, not a commodity.
In 2018, the Community Fruit Trees program launched in Orlando, where we planted 200 Community Fruit Trees. In November 2019, we began offering grants to folks across the USA to bring Community Fruit Trees to their towns. In 2021 the initiative successfully planted 1,000 Community Fruit Trees in 30 communities across 20 states. Learn more about our 2021 planting here. To date we have planted over 2,000 Community Fruit Trees. Our goal is to inspire and empower people to plant one million fruit trees across the nation.
Is Planting Trees a Fruitful Investment?
You bet it is! A fruit tree typically costs our program around $30 (the cost of a dozen pounds of fruit) plus the time needed to plant it and minimal ongoing care. That’s it. That small effort will provide fresh, local, nutritious fruit for your community for many years to come. A single mature persimmon tree has the ability to grow as much as 90 to 100 pounds of fresh fruit in one season, talk about a return on investment! We want to help ensure your success, please utilize the variety of resources linked below for a wealth of knowledge and support!
Community Fruit Trees FAQ – For more specific information and any additional questions.
Community Fruit Tree Care and Planting Guide – Bare Root Trees – An in depth guide to planting and caring for bare root and young trees.
Community Fruit Tree Care Guide – An in depth guide for maintaining healthy potted and mature trees.
The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation – An amazing resource that includes a guide to planting fruit trees, what to do once your tree is in the ground (aftercare) and more
Community Fruit Tree Care Guide for Florida – An in depth guide for maintaining healthy potted and mature trees in Florida.
Want to Get Involved?
– Read about our developing 1 Million Community Fruit Trees initiative. This page how you can currently get involved.
– Plant a Community Fruit Tree in your community. Simply follow the guidelines for a good location, put up a sign, add it to the fallingfruit.org map and then email us at growfood@robingreenfield.org so we can add it to the database.
– Share Your Tree with the Community. Already have a fruit tree and want to share the bounty with your neighbors? Simply put up a sign, add it to the fallingfruit.org map and then email us at growfood@robingreenfield.org so we can add it to the public database.
– Sign up for our waitlist to be supplied with Community Fruit Trees to plant in your community! Sign up for our waitlist here.
– Sponsor the planting of Community Fruit Trees! Donate here.
Additional Resources:
Join our Facebook Group; where those involved or interested in the Community Fruit Tree program exchange updates, advice, and establish a larger connected network for community and support.
Learn more about our current food system with this video.
Pete Kanaris Youtube channel: Watch this Before Planting a Fruit Tree, You Can Plant Fruit Trees like a Pro, What We Use to Feed Our Fruit Trees
Community Fruit Trees We’ve Planted!
