Help us rescue the unused fruit in your community through the Backyard Harvest!
There is an abundance of fruit in our city that goes to waste every year.
This is where Prairie North Cider Co. comes in.
We have teamed up with other community organizations to ensure the fruit in Edmonton reaches it full potential.
Fruit into Funds: YEGCIDER in Support of Edmonton’s Food Bank
We are collecting donations of unused fruit to make a craft cider called “YEGCIDER” from all local apples! $1 per litre sold will be donated to Edmonton’s Food Bank.
Community Cider Charity Program & the Backyard Harvest Club
Through our Community Cider Charity Program, any extra fruit will be put towards making other ciders throughout the year that will also be paired with a local non-profit. All fruit donors will be entered into our Backyard Harvest Club.
Backyard Harvest Donation Details
We are accepting donations from August 15th to October 31
Location: 10556 115 St NW (the old Salz location downtown)
Dates & Times: Most Tuesday, Thursday and Sundays from 5pm to 8pm, or by appointment. We will also be hosting several drop off events around the city. Check our calendar for exact days and times.
Exceptions:
September 15th drop off is at Lendrum Community League.
Drop Off Instructions: Donations can be made at the alleyway delivery entrance. Ring the doorbell for Prairie North Cider or text 780-937-3059.
Drop Off Form: Please make sure you fill out our Backyard Harvest Donor Form to help us track our impact on food waste and be entered to win prizes and discounts!
Legally, we can’t. To give back to the community for their generous donations, we have created two programs:
- Community Charity Cider Program where $1 per litre sold goes to a local non-profit.
- Backyard Harvest Club where donors receive perks and discounts as well as the chance to win some major prizes!
We are pairing each of our ciders with a local non-profit – that means we will need quite a few partners! If you think your favourite charity would be a good partner for us, let us know!
- Apples
- Crab apples
- Pears
- Plums
- Cherries
- Currants
- Saskatoons
- Raspberries
- Strawberries
- Seabuckthorn
- Rhubarb
- Hops
This list doesn’t include all possibilities. If you happen to come across something else growing in the prairies that you think might be good in cider, let us know!
If you need help in picking, we have partnered with Operation Fruit Rescue who has volunteers that may be able to harvest.
Because of high demand, Operation Fruit Rescue volunteers will not be able to get to every house. If you are able to, we encourage you to pick your fruit or see if a neighbour or family member can help! Next year we are hoping to hire someone who can help homeowners who need assistance picking.
Bring your fruit in whatever container you’d like. We have bins that you can empty it into when you drop it off.
We accept fruit that is ugly, imperfect, or too tart to eat. See our infographic below for a visual guide:
YES! Many of the non-profits in the city have told us that they don’t want crab apples as they often become a burden. Cider is one of the best ways to use up the abundance of hard to process and often sour or tart crab apples.
Load More
A portion of profits from all our ciders are donated to non-profit organizations through our Community Cider Charity Program.
Here are the other ways we are working hard to impact our community:
Help us tackle food waste and support our local food systems and community organizations!
Remember to sign up for Backyard Harvest reminders through our Fresh From the Press emails.
