It's harvest time at the Phillip Island Community Orchard and an open day will be held on Sunday April 6, 10am to 2pm.

The community is invited to help celebrate a productive year of growing fruit and vegetables, with activities for the family to enjoy. 

Teams can come and make a scarecrow between 10am and midday, with 10 full-size and five smaller scarecrow frames available to dress and decorate. 

All materials will be supplied, but participants are encouraged to bring their own recycled clothing to add an individual touch. Head to the PICO website for details and to register. 

Do you have an excess of fresh grown produce and don't know what to do with it? 

Orchard members, Anne and Peter Balfe, will be sharing information and tips on preserving, pickling and fermenting your fresh produce, and the rewards of having a well-stocked pantry year-round, with the talk starting at 10.30am.  

A display of weird and wonderful fruit and vegetables will also feature on the day. 

With so many unusual and rare heirloom vegetables and fruiting plants available, we invite people to bring along anything unusual they have grown to show. 

A vote will take place to decide on the most popular.

Animals of Oz, loved by people of all ages, will have their native animal interactive sessions operating from midday until 2pm. 

There will also be hot food and drinks available and a produce stall with fresh organic fruit and vegies, preserves, pickles, jams and potted plants for sale. 

PICO partners, Westernport Water, will have their hydration station set-up and live music will be performed by Travis and Noah Thompson from midday.

The event is an opportunity for the community to visit the orchard and see the work of PICO, which is a non-profit organisation established in 2013 that operates on membership. 

There are more than 90 members who volunteer their time to cultivate and maintain the half-hectare orchard on Westernport Water land. 

Members give time and effort to maintain the orchard and reap the benefits of the fruit and vegetables produced, with excess turned into preserves for fundraising, or donated to charity.

Aside from the open day, the orchard is only open for the general public to visit when there are working bees, held on the fourth Saturday of the month. 

So come along on April 6 to 18-40 Hallway Drive, Wimbledon Heights (behind the reserve). Parking will be in the street. 

Details on the Harvest Festival or the orchard: islandorchard.wordpress.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/islandorchard