Just as the leaves are changing, so is our web site. The WCFS has updated its web site with a new, interactive and dynamic design. Add your comments to articles and information, download the newsletters in PDF format, find new resources, keep current on upcoming events with the new calendar, contribute information and photos and much more! You can even set up an RSS subscription feed to keep abreast of the latest postings automatically.
Welcome to the South Sound Fruit Society. Our chapter is based in Olympia but our membership is from the surrounding towns, villages and counties. If you are enjoying growing fruit, berries and nuts or if you have an interest in learning about these foods we have much to share.
As a non-profit organization we are one chapter of the Western Cascade Fruit Society (WCFS) that promotes education through meetings, tours, workshops, and publications. WCFS supports research both financially and by trials. All members of the South Sound Fruit Society will receive “The Bee Line“, a quarterly publication that is filled with interesting articles and useful information for people living in this region.
In the warm months we enjoy going on field trips to a variety of home orchards and nurseries. Please check the Recent Entries section for our Summer Calendar. All these events give the members a chance to socialize, explore each others successes and learn from the field.
Meetings are held on the 1st Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm the Organic Farmhouse at Evergreen State College. Please check Recent Entries section for any changes. Directions:
Take HWY 101 to the Evergreen College Exit. First Left on 17th Ave. Right on Simmons Rd. Right on Lewis Rd. Right at mailbox (2712 Lewis Rd.). House is up little hill behind the farm buildings.
All are welcome to the general meetings. We have Monthly speakers, field trips, and garden and orchard tours.
The STFS is composed of home orchard enthusiasts from the greater Seattle region (& surrounding areas) who share a strong interest in growing, maintaining, and eating fruits and berries and nuts. We specialize in growing tree fruit but also grow a wide variety of other bush and vine fruits. A recent survey of STFS members indicates that apples are the most popular fruit grown, followed by pears, plums, raspberries, and blueberries. Most of our members have a strong desire to share their knowledge of fruit horticulture with other members, and to learn from experts who share their knowledge with us. Guests share their expertise in the form of demonstrations, hands-on guidance, and low-key lectures to our group.
If you enjoy growing fruits and berries, and want to learn more from our group of experienced fruit growers, then you would be making a wise choice joining our non-profit organization. Our name says “Seattle” but our members live throughout greater Western Washington. Membership includes the monthly STFS newsletter “The Urban Scion Post” in addition to the Western Cascade Fruit Society quarterly paper ”The Bee Line”. Most STFS monthly meetings are held at 9:30 am on the 2nd or 3rd Saturday from September through May; schedule changes and locations are published in the monthly newsletter and on our website calendar.
In the warmer months, we enjoy getting outside (in lieu of indoor meetings) for field trips to various orchards, farms, and nurseries. Our field trips are a great opportunity to socialize with fellow STFS members. If you have a field trip destination in mind let our president know. For instance, if you have a home orchard that you’d like us to visit, let us know. Annually, we set up and maintain a booth at such interesting locations as the Northwest Flower and Garden Show at the Convention Center in Seattle. Our event’s schedule varies from year to year, a Spring Fruit Show and a Fall Fruit Show are our major events. Members who volunteer to work at our booths receive free admission on the days that they work.
We want to help you grow quality tree, bush, and vine fruit. If you have any questions, please email us and we will try to get you the best answers to your questions that we can. A STFS membership application is available for you to print by clicking on STFS Membership Application
Peninsula Fruit Club has been a chapter of Western Cascade Fruit Society for twenty-one years. Our Club was formed to bring together people who will promote the science, cultivation and pleasure of growing fruit bearing trees, shrubs, vines and berry plants in the landscape. We provide the public with knowledge and the ability to cultivate their own fruit. We do this through fruit shows, orchard tours, workshops, publications and other forms of media.
Club activities consist of, a spring grafting workshop, a high school grafting program, September Potluck/Orchard Tour, our booth at the Kitsap County Fair and a Fall Fruit Show. Guest speakers are scheduled for November, January and February.
We have hands-on grafting during meetings and at our annual grafting workshop. The workshop this year will be March 3rd, at the Bremerton Central Library in East Bremerton. Skilled grafters from our club give hands-on demonstrations with apple, pear and plum trees. We also make scion wood and rootstocks available.
We gather up rootstocks and scion wood after our workshop and teach the process in the neighboring high school horticultural classes. Our school grafting program is now in its 10th year.
Every club has an end of the season get together and ours is a great big potluck dinner, usually at a member’s house. There’s usually an orchard tour afterward. Everyone has their own way of growing fruit and we’ve been learning one another’s various tricks.
Our club has a booth at the Kitsap County Fair, which is located in the Pavilion. We handed out lots of information. Many questions were asked about tree fruit problems. We hope we were able to help folks with their fruit problems. We expect they’ll invite us back to the fair for the foreseeable future because not only did we provide a service, but the members had a ball.
Everyone gets a chance to show what they’ve been growing during the year at our Fall Fruit Show held in mid-October. The public is invited to view the fruit displays and ask questions.
Our club meets at the Bremerton Parks and Recreation Center, 680 Lebo Blvd, at 7:30 PM on the second Thursday of the month. Meetings and workshops dates are listed in the local newspapers. Our meetings are open to the public.
