About usWE WANT YOUR FRUIT
Are you tired of picking up fruit in the fall? All those apples or pears ending up in your green bin? We can help. We have a #fruitdonor program where we pay you in cider credits for all of your fruit!
We want your fruit and we are willing to pay you in cider! If you live in or around Calgary we are looking for apples, pears, berries, cherries, crabs or anything other fruit you may have. Do you have plums, grapes, or apricots? We will turn these into one of our small batch, cider club selections. SunnyCider’s goal is to let no piece of Calgary fruit go unused. Get your tree on our registry right away and we can make sure that we can use all this fruit is used in a timely manner, creating delicious, small batch cider.
We have two programs available for fruit donation:
- Dropping fruit off at our Cider house for cider credits. For every pound of apples and pears that you drop off we give you $.35 towards cider. For cherries and berries, we will give you $3 a pound There is no maximum. We will accept fruit Tuesday to Friday 12-4PM in the fall from August 15-Oct 30. Again, 1 pound of apples/pears = $.35 credit, 1 pound of cherries or berries = $3. Location is here.
- Have our picking team come out and pick your fruit. We only charge $30 per tree. This saves you having to clean up all of those windfall apples at the end of the year. All we require is the address of your tree and then you let us know when they are ready (see below for ripeness). Register your tree early so we can assign pickers in a timely fashion. We won’t pay you for your fruit but instead leave your yard in a clean state and remove all the old fruit.
Both programs will get you into our Donor program. Once you have a donor card it is good for 5% off of any purchase at the cidery including merchandise. This is an annual card and only good for one year.
Any posts online, please use the hashtag #fruitdonor so we can see what’s happening in the world of our fruit. Join our #fruitdonor community today! Take pictures of your picking party.
Fruit Donor FAQs
How do I know if my apples are ready to pick?
The best way to know if your apples are ready is to bite into it and look at the pips (seeds) inside. If they are starting to turn brown or have turned brown then they are ready to pick. They should come off the tree fairly easy. If your fruit is starting to fall off the tree, it’s probably time to pick.
Do you take windfall apples/pears?
Unfortunately we can’t. While we wash every piece of fruit that comes into our cidery, we can’t guarantee there aren’t any other pathogens that may be on the ground. Especially in the case of pet yards. This will save us having to go through every piece of fruit that we get as well for rotten or bruised apples. It’s true what they say, one bad apple can ruin the whole bunch!
What about bruised apples/pears?
We can’t take bruised fruit because as mentioned above, one bad apple spoils the bunch. There is no guarantee we can get to pressing the apples immediately so it could set the whole batch off. If you do have any questions, please email us at info@sunnycider.ca.
What about scabby apples?
These we will take. They do make amazing cider! As long as they haven’t already fallen are become bruised. They can’t be picked up from the ground though.
Do you take crab apples?
Yes please! While we don’t typically have good cider apples here in Alberta, crabs add the tannins and the sugar content we need in order to make our amazing Cider. We will take crabs of every colour, shape, and size.
What do I use to collect the apples?
Whatever you have. If you have a big rubbermaid tote, you can use that and when you drop it off we will transfer to one of our larger apple bins. If you have big bags like the Ikea blue ones, these will work. Just don’t fill them to the point of not being able to lift.
If you pick my fruit, do I get cider credits?
Unfortunately no. We have to pay labor in order to get your fruit picked. If you are really after cider credits, please pick the fruit yourself and deliver to our cidery. Will enrol you in our Donor Club in which you’ll receive a donor card which gives you 5% off of any purchase at the cidery.
How do the cider credits work?
It is exactly that. A credit towards cider. If you have $50 in cider credits, you may shop and take draught cider or bottled cider up to that value. If you would rather, you can use the credits towards merchandise like shirts, hats, or glassware. 1 pound of apples/pears = $.35 in cider credits. 1 pound of cherries/berries = $3 in credits. You don’t need to use the credit immediately, we will have an account with your information on it.
Will you prune my fruit tree?
This is something we’ve talked about within SunnyCider. We would love to be able to prune your tree but we don’t have the arborist expertise in order to do so. We are hoping to add an experienced arborist to our team and then be able to offer this service for a fee. As of right now, the answer is no.
If you are an arborist that would like to partner with us, please reach out at info@sunnycider.ca with your proposal.
What if my apples don’t taste very good?
Chances are you may have a heritage cider apple tree. True cider apples aren’t very tasty and probably don’t have much use other than juicing and fermenting. Please donate! These are a rarity in Calgary.
How do I renew my #fruitdonor membership?
Just make a commitment for another year. We need to know how many local trees we have from year to year. We will contact you and make sure that all the information is correct.
How do I know my fruit is ripe?
If you bite into it and see that the pips (seeds) are starting to turn brown. This is the best way to know if your fruit is ripe. If you wait too long, the fruit tends to get mealy and there isn’t much juice left in them. When the fruit gets to this state, we can’t offer credits.