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The Pacific Northwest’s climate usually nurtures nearly every kind of plant. But after years in a row of record-breaking summer heat, professional and hobbyist gardeners are growing out the roots of their social networks to strategize how to adapt. PDXFruitTreeTips—the advice text line opened by the Portland Fruit Tree Project (5431 NE 20th Ave., 503-284-6106, portlandfruit.org) on July 8—is one such idea born from this necessity.
Along with advice on where to scout for seasonal fruit, the text line offers tree care tips through the project’s website to ensure a healthier, more bountiful harvest next season, and recipes for your crop whether it is primo grade or not. There will even be recipes for what to do with produce byproducts, like fig leaves. Heather Keisler Fornes, the project’s executive director, says the tip line’s system buildout was completed in just two months, from its May start date to its July launch, and has already signed up more than 150 people.
“Two years ago, we basically had no harvest because the fruit didn’t set, and after the heat event of 2021 it stressed the trees, so they didn’t set flowers, and then we got snow, so the flowers that did set didn’t get pollinated, so we had almost no fruit,” she says. “We really have to get creative.”
Cameron Dunlap, chef of the forage-forward fine dining restaurant Morchella, will prepare a benefit dinner for PFTP at Sabin Community Orchard on Saturday, July 27. The project’s harvest will appear on the table as Renegade Opera entertains guests.
See the rest of Willamette Week’s Best of Portland 2024 here!