September 12, 2006

Foraging for Fruit

The jam making workshop left me wishing I had a garden or a fruit tree of my very own to harvest fruit from. Some friends of ours in Berkeley have noticed a couple fig trees in their neighborhood that are ripe for the picking, and we have been picking Strawberry Fruits off the trees in here in San Francisco ever since we found out that they are indeed safe to eat! Foraging for fruit in the city is an interesting concept, and of course there is a website (fallenfruit.org) dedicated to it, complete with a manifesto and a map of the public fruit trees in Los Angeles. They have even started concentrating their efforts on the creation of public parks that are filled with fruit trees. So great! I am now on the lookout for a Bay Area map- in the meantime, keep your eyes peeled and let me know if you find any public fruit trees in your neighborhood!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

tooo exciting! I need to go find some figs in the neighborhood, have noted where good trees are...

baffle said...

Public fruit picking! What a concept!
Great idea, especially for those who don't have access to their own fruit trees (you) or no longer have access to fruit trees (me).
Even our wild blackberry bushes get harvested by the deer, bear and birds before we can get to the berries.

For the last few years, I've been known to 'beg off' fruit from friends who cultivate their own.

So today I hang my shingle: WILL TRADE ENDLESS SUPPLY OF PINE NEEDLES FOR FRESHLY PICKED FRUIT

Anonymous said...

hello to L & D!

On hot summer mornings, the little kids would walk with the grown-up teenagers to the corner crossroad of our funky little beach town. With our tin buckets, half rusty from digging in the sand, we'd spend a few hours picking in acres of rambling, overgrown blackberry bushes, then head back to the house carrying loads of dark berries. With our arms scratched and sunburned, our mouths and fingers stained purple, and our stomachs sweetly full, we thought longingly of pie for dessert.

We pulled on our suits and flipper floppers, grabbed a towel and headed to the beach, cliffs soaring behind us, glittering salty ocean waves crashing at our feet and tide pools waiting for our prying eyes.

Thanks for the fruit memories!

Anonymous said...

There is a blackberry bush on Richland Ave (btwn Mission and Murray) as well as a few on the top of Bernal Hill (on the north side of Bernal Hill Park).
-Adam

Lauren said...

Hey, thanks! I'll check out those blackberry bushes immediately!