Photo: Fallen Fruit.
Here's a great local food/art initiative, Fallen Fruit, a map project of neighborhoods where one can collect unwanted fruit in Los Angeles. Humans should be making use of these urban apples, avocados, pomegranates, etc. as much as possible, not raking them up into a garbage bag or compost pile. The folks at LocalEcology have started one for Berkeley, and folks with the Portland Fruit Tree Project collect fruit that grows on neighborhood trees for drop-off at local food banks (check out the links section of their site for other projects like it in Philadelphia, Vancouver, and more). Their harvesting parties look to be very fun and take place on Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., beginning August 2.
Is there free fruit by you?
The Informal Economy: Michael Jackson Edition
Food safety: How local can you go?
Fighting for the right to grow food in L.A.
Comments
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conuly Posted 3:37 am
16 Jul 2008
No subject
I just spent a good 15 minutes harvesting wild raspberries on Staten Island!
I find that usually when people see me eating mint (grows wild everywhere) or mulberries (ditto) or grapes or cherries or whatever else I find growing wild, they tell me it's not safe. They really think that food can only be trusted from the store!
I even find homeowners telling me that, and being startled when I knock on their doors to ask if they mind me taking their cherries or figs or whatnot that otherwise (I see year after year) they let drop all over the ground. They don't realize that in their own yard they have edibles.
Sad, really.
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PermieWriter Posted 5:03 am
16 Jul 2008
Fruity idea
Yeah! There are a few folks trying to get a similar plan going in SF and the East Bay. There is so much food going to waste. A lot of people don't even know that loquats are edible. They taste a little bit like mango and a bit like apricot, only more tart.
My kitchen has already been overflowing with gifted apricots and plums this summer. Time to pull out the pectin again.
Eat what you grow, grow what you eat
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ecology Posted 5:50 am
16 Jul 2008
Berkeley's fruits
Thanks for the link to local ecology! The map needs to be updated of which I am reminded every day I walk in Berkeley. So much fruit in the public right of way goes uneaten, whether by birds, squirrels, or people. There are a few organizations that harvest fruit from private trees but none to my knowledge that actively harvest street tree fruits. If anyone is interested in the latter, please email me at info_AT_localecology.org
For additional fruit posts, read here; here; and here.
local ecology | http://localecology.org
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wiscidea Posted 8:00 am
16 Jul 2008
Beware...
... of pesticides.
Find out what your state, county, or municipality might be spraying on roadside vegetation before you eat it.
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wiscidea Posted 8:04 am
16 Jul 2008
Encourage Planting of Edible Fruit
Sadly, new developments actually pass regulations to restrict the planting of "messy" trees... the sort that produce delicious fruit for wildlife or human beings. Is there a way to put a stop to this?
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PermieWriter Posted 11:13 am
16 Jul 2008
Re: banned fruit
Guerilla tactic: Graft fruiting varieties onto non-fruiting trees.
Some of the progressive members of the Sebastopol City Council had a fight with the public works department over fruit trees in public spaces. The mayor thought that apple trees would be great for the Gravenstein apple capital of the world. Sebastopol hosts two apple festivals, therefore should have some actual apple trees. The public works guys thought that the fruit would be a mess and high school kids would have fights with the fruit. They're both right, of course. It would be a struggle to teach kids to appreciate and eat the fruit, but I think it's a struggle worth engaging.
Eat what you grow, grow what you eat
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sindark Posted 2:37 am
17 Jul 2008
Scrumping
Collecting some apples as a community and then making cider would be both ecological and a lot of fun.
Does anyone know if it has been done by any community organizations recently?
a sibilant intake of breath
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2wheeler Posted 4:56 am
17 Jul 2008
good year for fruit
The mulberries have been great this year in my town along the alleys and bike trails in the greenbelt.
In my small urban yard in Ohio, I have growing: an italian plum tree (self-fertile), 2 kinds of local varieties of seedless grapes on a trellis by the patio, a 4-way apple tree and a 4-way cherry tree, a nectarine tree, and 3 tiny pawpaw tree seedlings. In addition we now have these native fruit bearing shrubs: 5 blueberry bushes, an Eastern Highbush Cranberry, a Winterberry and a Serviceberry bush. An herb garden and veggie garden round out the mix.
I grew up on a farm and am firm believer in cultivating an edible and mostly native landscape.
Moving toward sustainability with hopefulness, one revolution at a time.
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Erik Hoffner Posted 5:11 am
17 Jul 2008
cider
That sounds like something to do. Haven't heard of anyone trying that, but why not.
Someone emailed me suggesting that craigslist or another community listings service should list links to fruit maps/foraging events. I think that's a pretty good idea...idealist.org, too, might be a good place to spread the word about such things that are zip code dependent.
Erik
The Orion Grassroots Network: supporting grassroots groups working for conservation, justice, & more
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wiscidea Posted 8:54 am
18 Jul 2008
random thoughts
I'm worried about liability as well as chemicals. If folks go foraging all over, someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get sued. Sad state of affairs.
I'm worried about liability in another respect. The cider matter reminded me about this. I was tempted to contact a local home brewing organization to ask them what sort of apple trees their members might like to see planted. We could work out some sort of deal... split the cost of the trees, I get a bushel of apples and the habitat for wildlife, they get the rest of the apples for making cider. Then I worried someone might fall wall picking apples. Plan terminated.
It is awful that a person can't share produce without worrying about stuff like this.
There's probably a solution -- a realistic one -- out there. I'd love to plant trees for other people to come harvest food from. I want the trees as much as the fresh fruit. And I'm sure there would be plenty to share.
I was also thinking about medicinal plants. Or culinary herbs. Or just flowering plants for cutting. Medicinal plants are threatened. I'm working toward establishing fruit trees and native vegetation around my home. Someone could suggest useful native plants, perhaps provide the seed or even the plants. I'd take care of them and maintain wildlife habitat. The donors could harvest the plants for their own use. But what if they go poison themselves?!
Do I think too much? Worry too much?
I wish there was a way for someone with space and a desire to grow plants -- perennials... I'm not talking about vegetable gardens or setting up a community farm! -- to connect with people who don't have the space, but would like a source of fruit, herbs, or some other plant material.
Some way to integrate permaculture, native habitat restoration, conservation of rare medicinal plants or herbs, and being a good neighbor.... without some schmo suing a person?
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emmapb Posted 2:58 pm
18 Jul 2008
dreams
As a child, I used to always say I wanted to design a city where all the plants are edible and fruit bearing. I will admit that it is a bit utopic, but reading this gave me a mini-resurgence of faith.
It's true about the pesticides though. In my city there wouldn't be any pesticides.
Food. Culture. Food.
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wiscidea Posted 2:51 am
22 Jul 2008
relevant link
http://www.eattheview.org/
Who are they?
"Eat the View" is a project of Kitchen Gardeners International, a Maine-based 501c3 nonprofit network of 6000 gardeners from 100 countries who are inspiring and teaching more people to grow some of their own food.
Their mission?
"Eat the View" is a campaign to plant healthy, edible landscapes in high-impact, high visibility places, whether it's the "First Lawn" or the lawn in front of your child's school.
Use this site to connect with others, to share your ideas for edible landscapes you'd like to see planted and the people you'd like to see grazing on them.
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