Canyon Lake-grown produce swapped at Harvest Trade

The Canyon Lake Community Gardners held its first Canyon Lake Harvest Trade Saturday at Sierra Park to trade what members had grown in their Canyon Lake backyards.

A wide range of fruits, succulents and other produce were available for trade as 17 club members were on hand for the exchange.

“It was really fun to trade with other club members,” Kelly Lopez said. “It was also great to see community members come out to discover what we could grow in our own backyards.”

Some of the additional fruit was given to Helping Hands founder Robert Sasser to be distributed to those who receive the organization’s food distribution.

Ben Gits, 2, peels and eats one of the clementine oranges locally grown and traded at the Canyon Lake Harvest Trade Saturday. Photos by Dawn Rankins

“I want to let anyone in the community know, if you have extra citrus that you don’t know what to do with,” Kelly said, “you can drop it off at 29655 Chaparral Way, and I’ll take what you have to Helping Hands.”

The club was pleased with the turnout and are looking to hold future Harvest Trade events.

“I am so grateful for the support of the community who came out to our first harvest trade,” Jan Lowarance-Myer said.

“We had 17 participants and next time we’ll have even more.”

For more information on the Canyon Lake Community Gardeners, contact Kelly at 951-609-6723 or clcommunitygardeners@gmail.com.