What to do in difficult situations?#

It may be that not everything goes exactly as planned (ex. stormy weather, grumpy volunteers, unhappy neighbours, flat tire, etc.). If you find yourself in a difficult situation, and you don’t know what to do, our recommendations are:

  • Consult the Pick-Leader Guides. If you are still not sure …

  • Look at the Annexes! If you are still not sure…

  • Use your problem-solving skills.

If you encounter a non-urgent issue that requires follow-up, please contact us at info@lesfruitsdefendus.org or leave a voice message at our phone number: 514-360-8566. Please understand that we will not be able to respond immediately. You may also try contacting your fruit buddy or another pick-leader for advice.

In case of emergency involving personal safety during a pick, call 911 immediately.

In case you must cancel or re-schedule a harvest#

If you need to cancel a harvest for any reason, you must advise the volunteer pickers, the owner of the tree and the beneficiary organization as soon as possible. You may consider re- scheduling the harvest rather than cancelling, if this is an option for you, keeping in mind that in this case, you will still need to follow up with the volunteer pickers, the owner of the tree and the beneficiary organization as soon as possible. Contact your fruit buddy if you need support re-scheduling a pick.

In case of lightning#

We do often pick fruit in the rain (although the rain can make the tree’s branches and ladders slippery), but we do not pick in thunderstorms. It’s important to remember that both trees and metal ladders can attract lightning.

For this reason, it’s very important that you remain aware of the weather forecast for your harvest date. That being said, since the weather forecasts in the Montreal area are often quite unpredictable, it can be difficult to judge in advance whether or not to proceed with a pick.

For this reason, unless the forecast calls for a very high probability of thunderstorms during your scheduled harvest time, it may be better just to proceed with the harvest. In this situation, we recommend advising the tree owner and volunteer pickers that you may have to cancel (or re-schedule) the harvest upon very short notice.

If, upon arrival at the site, you find that the pick cannot be conducted safely, you can choose to cancel the harvest immediately. However, we ask that you remain on site – under shelter of a building, if possible – until all of the volunteers have arrived or at least 15 minutes after the agreed upon time of harvest.

In case of disruption or damage to the tree or property#

Of course, we hope that this never happens, but should the tree or property be disrupted or damaged in some way, it is important that you let the tree owner and your fruit buddy know as soon as possible. We understand that unexpected accidents can occur, but please remember that tree owners put their trust in us, and therefore it’s important for us to communicate openly and help them understand the situation.

After having communicated the situation to the tree owner, you may direct him or her to contact the collective’s core (by email: info@lesfruitsdefendus.org), if any further discussion needs to take place. The core will follow up, if necessary.