Airdronians will have plenty of opportunities to take advantage of nature’s bounty this summer and fall as the City is reporting good fruit crops throughout its four public orchards, and in its other fruit trees spread throughout public parks in the community.
“The sour cherries are out now,” confirmed City of Airdrie Parks team leader Phil McNeil in a recent interview with the Airdrie City View. “I just had some the other day, and they are quite good. The apples are coming along, and will be ready a little later in the season. Everything is looking good this year."
According to McNeil, Airdronians have a variety of fruits to choose from as they ripen throughout the season.
“We grow a lot of apple trees,” he explained. “We have some plum trees, some pears, and there are certainly some cherry trees. Those are good, hardy plants for this climate. (Our four community orchards) kind of hit all four quadrants of Airdrie, and we do anticipate adding more in future years.”
The City’s current four public orchards are the Monklands Community Gardens and Orchard, the Plainsmen Orchard, the Ravenswood Orchard, and the Windsong Orchard.
“Once the fruit is ripe, anyone is welcome to go down and harvest some,” confirmed McNeil. “At each of the locations there is signage to help educate the residents on what type of trees they are, and provide a little more information about when the fruit will be ready, and even some of the intended uses of the fruit. Some like Crabbe apples are good for baking, and others are simply just good to eat.”
Those four orchards may be a little easier to find, said McNeil, but actually the City of Airdrie has made an effort in recent years to plant more and more edible fruit trees throughout Airdrie’s green spaces to make enjoying locally grown fruit easier for all residents.
“Every year we plant a number of trees, and we try to include, where feasible, some of the trees that provide fruit,” McNeil confirmed.
To see a map of local public orchards and the different varieties of edible fruit trees available for harvesting visit the City of Airdrie website at airdrie.ca and search for “Community Orchards.” Beneath the Community Orchards map, viewers can also click on a link to another map listed under “Edible Trees and Orchards” to see where they can find local fruit to harvest in Airdrie.
