Keep Victoria Beautiful Award
18/10/2017
It was with great excitement that volunteers from DIVRS’s Urban Food Program who volunteer for the Darebin Fruit Squad attended Sustainable Cities, Keep Victoria Beautiful, awards night at the Collingwood Town Hall last month.
‘Each year the Sustainable Cities program encourages and celebrates the achievements of metropolitan communities across the state who develop and run programs that contribute to a cleaner, more liveable state.’ Dick Gross AO, Chair, Keep Victoria Beautiful.
This year the Urban Food Program’s, “Harvesting the Urban Orchard’’, was nominated as a finalist in the Environmental Sustainability section in which we were given a Highly Commended award.
If you have excess fruit in your back yard and want to donate fruit to DIVRS’s Emergency Relief program get in touch with Martin O’Callaghan at DIVRS by emailing urbanfood@divrs.org.au or phone 94808207 and some friendly volunteers will be only too happy to come around to harvest it. Or you may like to pick it yourself and drop it into us at 285 High St Preston between 10.30 and 2.30pm.
News Story here
Grafting the Urban Orchard
12/09/2017
Its that time of year when we graft our apple and plum trees in the back yard at DIVRS.Volunteers gathered and studiously worked away at the 300 root stock warmed by the fire followed by hearty winter stews.Hopefully the grafts will take and the buds will be sprouting as the warm spring air coaxes them into life.
Darebin Homemade Food and Wine Festival 2017
22nd June 2017
DFS volunteers and workshop participants enjoying a glass of home made grape cordial while sampling the vast array of preserved olives at this years workshop, held in the Darebin Intercultural Centre. Another sell out with punters taking home a jar of olives to sample.
Seedlings, Apple Trees and Succulents for sale!
20th June 2017
DIVRS Urban Food Social Enterprise is up and running with its third farmer’s market stall this Saturday 24th June. We will be selling our raised heritage varieties of this season’s seedlings; broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce and kale, as well as apple trees and succulents. Come along to Coburg North Primary School, 180 O’Hea Street, and say hi!
DIVRS Urban Food Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop
10th June 2017
Tickets for this fantastic workshop are on sale now! Support social enterprise and learn how to care for your own fruit trees!
https://divrsfruittreeworkshop.eventbrite.com.au
Only 10 days to go!
25th May 2017
Have you bougt tickets to the Olive Preserving Workshop yet? Hurry now beofre they sell out!
Tickets available here…
www.darebinarts.com.au/whats-on/olive-preserving-mediterranean-style/
Darebin Homemeade Food & Wine Festival 2017
02/05/2017
It’s on again! The sumptuous Darebin Homemade Food & Wine Festival, 2017. Back by popular demand, presented by Darebin Fruit Squad and DIVRS Urban Food Program, Sam Ferraro (Mediterranean master of home-grown produce) and Jessica Ridout (winner of Darebin Homemade Food & Wine Festival’s 2015 best preserved olives) will show you how to preserve your home-grown olives in a fun and easy workshop. You will also take home a jar of olives that you will preserve on the day.
Saturday 3 June, 2pm (120 minutes)
Darebin Intercultural Centre (Kitchen) 59a Roseberry Ave, Preston
Tickets $30
DON’T MISS OUT – BOOK NOW at
http://www.darebinarts.com.au/whats-on/olive-preserving-mediterranean-style/
https://www.facebook.com/darebinfoodandwine/
Fruit Harvest Tally
6/4/2017
6462.33kg
Harvesting the Urban Orchard eBook Launch
21/02/2017
On the 9th February DIVRS and the Darebin Fruit Squad launched the new eBook ‘Harevsting the Urban Orchard – Increasing Food Security in Your Community’. This fanstastic resource will assist other community groups and municipilaities in establishing their own fruit harvesting projects.
We gathered with council and community representatives, stakeholders and DFS volunteers, in the DIVRS garden and toasted the completion of the eBook, which is now available for download here
DIVRS eBook Launch
14/02/2017
Last Thursday, DIVRS launched the eBook, ‘Harvesting the Urban Orchard’, to guide communities with practical information, tools and tips in establishing their own fruit-harvesting project. It is now live from the DIVRS website.
DIVRS and Darebin Fruit Squad give advice in creating more food secure community by re-localising food distribution and production in the City of Darebin.
The eBook has been generously funded by a R E Ross Trust’s grant and supported by the City of Darebin in the ongoing work with the Darebin Fruit Squad.
DOWNLOAD TODAY!
Fruit Harvest Tally 6142.84kg!
08/12/2016
Fruit Harvest Tally hits 6 tonne!
22/11/2016
Fabulous Fruit Squad Volunteers picked 162kg of grapefruit last week! This generous donation from local tree owner William, took the harvest tally to new heights and contributed fresh fruit to almost 200 people who accessed the DIVRS Emergency Relief food store this month.
Fruit Harvest Tally 5942.64 kg!
3/11/2016
(photo courtesy of Roberta Sorge at Unsplash.com)
Fruit Harvest Tally 5585.3kg
04/08/2016
This week we received two drop in donations, one anonymous it seems. Thank you so much to everyone who shares their fruit with our visitors in need!
Grafting Session in the Garden
04/08/2016
A sunny winter’s day – the fire is lit, the stew is warming, the lads are gathered and there’s some grafting going on!
Harvest tally hits 5 tonne – 5025.2 kg !
16/06/2016
Thank you to our dear householders, and volunteers out harvesting fruit in the winter chill. Our food store is full of delicious oranges!
JOIN US!
14/06/2016
The Darebin Information Volunteer Resource Service (DIVRS) are looking for passionate, innovative and dedicated individuals interested in joining the Committee of Management.
Expressions of Interest are invited from the community and corporate arena for individuals with experience on committees or with an interest on bringing their skills to the table to assist us to develop the organisation.
For full position description visit our website:
www.divrs.org.au
Harvest Tally
31/05/2016
4910 kg!
Fruit Squad at Darebin Handmade Food and Wine Festival
14/05/2016
Once again the Fruit Squad present their Olive Preserving Workshop at this weekend’s upcoming Darebin Handmade Food and Wine Festival.
Following the success of last year’s workshop, Ilias Papadopoulos (Greece) and Sam Ferraro (Italy) return with their favourite recipes and tips for preserving home grown olives.
Tickets are sold out to this year’s event – apologies to those who missed out. Olive preserving recipes will be posted here following the workshop!
Fruit Harvest Tally
12/04/2016
Thanks to the quince pickers below, and to the steady flow of donated autumn citrus, the Harvest tally is now pushing 5 tonne!
4811.82 kg!
Photo courtesy of Israel Egio https://unsplash.com
Quince Harvest at Farm Vigano
03/05/2016
The Darebin Fruit Squad were invited to beautiful Farm Vigano on Tuesday, to harvest quinces.
Six volunteers picked from the 20 quince trees in the farm orchard and came away with 123 kg of fruit! This golden harvest was shared between the DIVRS Food Store, Secondbite and will also contribute to the Quince Preserving Workshop at the Darebin Handmade Food and Wine Festival on Saturday May 14th.
Thank you to Farm Vigano for the donation and for a lovely day!
2016 Darebin Handmade Food and Wine Festival
9th – 15th May 2016
It’s on again! And Darebin Fruit Squad will be presenting another fabulous Olive Preserving Workshop on Saturday 14th May from 2 – 3.30pm. We had a great time in 2015 so don’t miss out this year! Tickets can be purchased here.
Go to https://www.facebook.com/darebinfoodandwine for more information on the Festival.
See you there!
Fruit Harvest Tally
15/03/2016
4428.11 kg!
Grapes, Citrus, Pomegranates and Persimmons are rolling in!
Fruit Harvest Tally 2016 – 4152.74kg!
19/01/2016
Happy New Year everyone! The Fruit Squad is back in action on the 1st February so let us know if you have fruit to share or time to harvest. Every little bit helps and is greatly appreciated!
Getting ‘fresh’ with our visitors.
15/12/2015
‘Tis a beautiful sight to behold – the DIVRS Food Store fridge packed to the brim with food that has come solely from our own back garden and the immediate neighbourhood!
Our magnificent volunteers have been out in the sunshine harvesting, bundling and bagging lettuce, kale, spinach and silver beet and while the greens keep on giving; tomatoes, beans and cucumbers promise the same.
Meanwhile the Fruit Squad brought in over 50 kilos of plums and oranges, donated by our generous householders, bumping up the harvest tally now to 4126kg (2678.9kg since its auspice by DIVRS in September 2014).
It was all gone by the end of the day, to DIVRS visitors; over $500 worth of food straight from the gardens to their kitchens. That’s fresh!
We just hit the 4 Tonne mark!!
27/10/2015
Fruit Harvest Tally
06/10/2015
3963.9 kg!!
Fruit Harvest Tally
24/09/2015
3887.1kg
Fruit Squad on a jar this month!
01/09/2015
The Darebin Fruit Squad has been selected to participate in Local Matters at Grill’d Northland this September!
Local Matters is the Grill’d community donation program that sees each Grill’d restaurant donate $500 back into the community every month. The donation is split between 3 local community groups $300/ $100/ $100.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
We’d love your support in receiving the highest $300 donation! Simply head to Grill’d Northland during September, for a burger and pop your Local Matters token in our jar. The group with the most tokens at the end of the month receives the largest donation.
It’s a simple (and delicious) way to show your support!
You’ll find Darebin Fruit Squad on a jar at Grill’d Northland, Northland Shopping Centre Restaurant Precinct, Preston.
Three and a half tonnes
4th August 2015
2105kg of fruit have been collected by the DFS since September last year – that’s 3 and a half tonnes in total, benefiting the 1077 poeple who came through the DIVRS Emergnecy Relief Service. Thank you again to all our wonderful volunteers and householders!
Fruit Harvest Tally currently at 3366kg!
14th July 2015
DFS Goes International!
14th July 2015
If you can read Italian you will enjoy the recent article about the Darebin Fruit Squad, in Italian editorial ‘Il Globo’. Better still, bake your Italian neighbours a cake/ plate of biscuits, knock on their door and ask them to share a pot of tea and translate it for you, Click here to read the article. in Italian, and here for the English translation.
Pruning and Maintenance Workshop
27th June 2015
Darebin Fruit Squad and Darebin Health ran a fantastic Pruning Workshop in the Darebin Health orchard on Saturday. It was a great success with requests for further workshops, including disease and pest control. Thank you to the facilitators and attendees all – may your fruit trees be trim and abundant forever more!
3 tonne mark reached- 3070.336kg!
9th June 2015
Kay and Russell picked 72 kg of oranges today, tipping the fruit harvest tally over the 3 tonne mark!
DFS Olives make it onto the Shelves!
2nd June 2015
Preserved olives on display in the DIVRS Food Bank.
Fruit Harvest Tally at 2978.8 kg!
19 May 2015
Martin rejoices (can he really juggle three at a time?) as the citrus rolls in and the harvest tally climbs toward the 3 tonne mark! Thank you again dear householders and volunteers for your time and your fruit!
Olive Preserving workshop a great success!
19 May 2015
The Fruit Squad, with Masters of home produce Sam Ferrero (Italy) and Ilias Papadopolous (Greece), gave a wonderful workshop on Saturday morning 16 May, to participants of the Darebin Home made Food and Wine Festival. Around 20 people watched, took notes and asked questions, as the lads demonstrated their family secrets and offered samples of their delicious produce.
Olive Preserving Workshop at Darebin Handmade Food and Wine Festival, 2015
28th April 2015
Volunteers from DIVRS and the Darebin Fruit Squad, under the guidance of Mediterranean masters of home grown produce, Ilias Papadopoulos (Greece)
and Sam Ferraro (Italy), will present a fun and practical workshop in home-grown olive preservation; Saturday May 16th,10am at the Darebin Shire Hall.
Kew Gardening Club to set up their own Fruit Squad!
28th April 2015
Darebin Fruit Squad is mentoring Kew Gardening Club as they begin to establish their own Fruit Squad! Darebin Fruit Squad Volunteer Rachel Carlisle, gave a presentation to the Club this month. Interest has been growing in other municipialities, including Cities of Whittlesea and Yarra (Holden Street Neighbourhood House, North Fitzroy), to follow Darebin’s example!
Fruit Tally as of March 3rd 2015
As the grapes, apples and figs ‘roll’ in (thanks to our wonderful ‘rollers’!) the grand total to date is 2601.9kg – that’s 1055kg since September!
Welcome to our new Volunteers – Kate, Simon and Neil – out on their first picks today with Kay and Russell – thank you fabulous Volunteers and householders!
Darebin Fruit Squad hits the Two Tonne mark! Article in The Leader Newspaper.
27/01/2015
We have crossed the two tonne mark with the fruit harvest tally now at 2082.54kg.
Photo by Angie Basdekis. PRESTON LEADER 27 January 2015
Summer fruit is coming in!
18/12/2014
Fruit Harvest tally as of 18th December 2014 = 1833.15kg Woohoo! Summer fruit in abundance! Happy New Year and thank you to all the fabulous householders and volunteers who keep the fruit coming in. You are sensational!
Darebin Sustainability Awards 2014
30th October, 2014
Wonderful news! Darebin Fruit Squad won an award at the 2014 Darebin and Banyule Sustainability Awards as the best Community Group Winner Darebin. Volunteers representing DFS were Rick Edwards, Rachel Carlisle, Justine McDonough and Kay Morrison. It was great to see what other people and groups are doing in the two councils. It was also very pleasing to have DFS’s work recognised for the great contribution to community that it makes .We have the certificate here at DIVRS as well as a $200 voucher to spend on the program.
Rachel Carlisle, Volunteer for the Darebin Fruit Squad, and Martin O’Callaghan, Urban Food Program leader at DIVRS, were presented the award by Costa Georgiadis, in the presence of City of Darebin’s Mayor, Gaetano Greco (all pictured above).
