Abundance
Sharing Chesterfield’s Harvest
Every year, tonnes of delicious fruit in Chesterfield’s gardens and orchards fall to the ground uneaten. Abundance rescues this produce, cuts food waste and provides fresh, local food for the community.
What We Do
Pick & Share – volunteers harvest surplus fruit and veg from allotments, gardens and orchards across Chesterfield and North Derbyshire.
Store for Winter – we keep apples in cool, dry spaces so food banks and community cafés have a steady supply through the colder months.
Press & Preserve – our mobile apple press turns rescued apples into juice at community events; workshops teach simple ways to store, dry and ferment produce at home.
Sharing Care for Trees – hands‑on pruning skill-share sessions help residents look after their fruit trees and boost future harvests.
How to get involved
Join a picking team
Come and help pick the excess fruit around your area for an hour or two. Email the Abundance team or follow us on Facebook for upcoming events in season.
Volunteer on Apple-Pressing Day
Chop, press, bottle and share the juice. You’re welcome to help out just for an hour or two.
Have you got spare fruit?
Contact Abundance with information regarding excess fruit and we’ll try to collect it.
Spread the word
Let neighbours with laden trees know that Abundance may be able to help.
Lend storage space
If you have some room in a cool shed or garage, then you can help to store apples for our Apple Pressing Days.
Make the most of your own harvest
If you have spare fruit, you can make the most of your harvest using our free recipe book (PDF), full of ideas tried and tested by local residents.
“We love taking part in Abundance. For us it is about making the most of the harvest and bounty with others, along with all the other positive aspects”
Recent successes
300 kg of fruit rescued from going to waste last season.
Hundreds of bottles of juice pressed and distributed, raising valuable funds for Transition Chesterfield.
Various free workshops every year, teaching pruning, grafting, cooking and preserving.
Countless connections – friendships form as neighbours work side‑by‑side for a tastier, greener town.
Get in touch
Contact Alison and Katy at:
abundance@transitionchesterfield.org.uk