3/12/08 | Fallen Fruit
[ Currently Eating: An Orange ]
So it’s time to switch into semi- boring mode again. Fast Food afficianados will just have to wait until the next time that [Insert Fast Food Chain here] offers free [Breakfast Item]. I’m almost embarrased to say I got pretty excited the first time I saw this story on the KCET website about sustainable lifestyles that some people are choosing to live or promote. In particular - the Fallen Fruit idea.
I mean, what could be cheaper eats (and somewhat fitting in conveniently with a Dharma Bums-ish lifestyle for those who swing that way) than living off the land by picking fruit. Getting back into your inner hunter-gatherer. Granted, it’s an idealistic notion - but at least they’re trying.
The Fallen Fruit group basically creates maps of all of the trees (in the Los Angeles area for now) that have fruit for the picking in public areas. They hold “Nocturnal Fruit Forages” every so often where a walking tour sets off to procure fruit ripe for the taking.
It’s pretty astonishing the different types of fruit that are available. It’s just not something you would think about. On just one map, I saw symbols for bananas, figs, grapefruit, grapes, lemons, loquats, olives, oranges, peaches and plums.
OK, thinking about it a little bit I have to admit I’m a tiny bit hesitant. I mean, it’s one thing to pick fruit from a park, but in these cases they’re talking about harvesting from actual neighborhoods. Besides the potential issues with hordes of fruit frenzied fanatics roaming around, I just dunno about picking fruit hanging over public space from a tree growing in someone else’s yard (I have to admit I’m actually unclear whether every single tree listed in the maps is a public tree or if they may be private trees where the fruit is overhanging into the street). Trick or Treat is only once a year for good reason - I could see some privacy issues or gray areas where homeowners might want that fruit for themselves. Um, and I’m not entirely sure it’s a good idea to creep around at night with a sack. Isn’t that what burglars do?
But, I’m going to leave the logistics and legal ramifications for others to decide. As an general concept, it’s a rather nice one. I mean, in most cases the fruit is just going to waste. People who live in the countryside may be laughing - but in the urban concrete jungle where I live, it’s a novel idea. I do have good memories of picking public produce (Blackberries by the road in Oregon, Pine Nuts in the Sierra Nevada, Mango and Passion Fruit off the trees in the front yard of the house we stayed at in Kauai). But I’m not sure if I’ll be heading out this friday night to pick avocados in Silverlake.
Fallen Fruit Website
KCET on Sustainable L.A.
March 12th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Here’s the other thing: most fruit that overhangs public spaces is too high to reach. Do you bring a ladder with you?
My neighborhood has a lot of fruit trees that overhang public spaces. Most of this fruit falls to the ground and goes to waste. I have no idea how to get it before it’s all fallen and smooshed, though.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
It’s an interesting idea, but I don’t know about the quality of the fruit in ultra urban areas. We’ve got some fruit trees in my area and they look ok, but I don’t know if I’d trust the fruit in a major city.
March 13th, 2008 at 6:56 am
When I was a kid, we did pick mango off neighbors’ trees to make mango chutney for the school carnival. But we knocked on the doors and asked for permission to pick them. Nicole makes a good point — most of the fruit was high, so we used long pruner-like devices. The real drawback from picking mangoes is the sap. If it hits your skin, you will develop a really gnarly mango rash (I had to get a shot and was given ointment). So, if anyone heads out with Fallen Fruit to pick mangoes, wear a long sleeve shirt and pants.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:24 am
nicole - my parents have avocado trees, and besides climbing them to get the fruit (which we enjoyed doing as kids) there’s pruning devices on poles that allow you to snip off branches - and then the fun part was that you try and catch the fruit! Or, I seem to recall my dad setting up a pole with a large canvas bag at the end. The bag had a rigid rim made out of stout wire so when you pulled against the fruit stem it would snap off into the bag.
jeff - I agree, this also crossed my mind. I’m just not sure about what kind of pesticides and other things they might be spraying on the plants.
nana - sounds like fun. I never knew that the mango sap would give a rash, that’s good to know. We only picked a few and they didn’t seem to have a lot of sap.
March 13th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Acording to what I know of the law, any portion of a fruit (or other) tree that overhans a property line onto PUBLIC space is legally the property of anyone who comes along…but that only refers to that portion of the tree that is on PUBLIC property.
March 17th, 2008 at 12:52 am
haha wow this is interesting. The guy behind this actually came to my class to talk about it. The class I was taking was called Visiting Artists, so each week someone new would come in and talk about their work, and this guy was one of them. I had to say it was really interesting, and from what I understand none of the people who caught them picking the fruit from the trees ever got mad or anything, in fact they encouraged them to take the fruit. Also, they would use something like what you said, a long pole with some sort of basket or something on the end of it to pick the fruits.
They’ve done other things too, though, like public jam sessions where people come and make jam with the fruit they picked for free. Pretty cool if you ask me.
April 25th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Hi Hi — Fallen Fruit is organizing this year’s Nocturnal Fruit Forage 2008 in honor of the Loquat. It would be great if you could post the information to help spread the word to Angelenos. We do a tour every year at this time. It would be great to have you come along. If you have any questions, email info@fallenfruit.org.
We love the Loquats!!
thanks,
david
PS.. Please let us know if you are planning to attend.
We started our nighttime fruit walks in collaboration with Temporary Services, who did a two week residency project in Echo Park, “Construction Site,” with the Outpost for Contemporary Art . In these events we tour through a specific neighborhood with a group of Angelenos to point out the varieties of public fruit growing there. Most people are amazed at what they find. We like to do these walks at night because it heightens people’s senses; most of us associate fruit with sunshine in the country, not urban darkness.
We meet a lot of residents when we stop in front of their houses with flashlights, shopping carts, bags and fruit pickers. They are usually happy to see us and offer to let us pick more fruit inside their properties. Its rare, at least in LA, to find people who actually use much or even any of the fruit growing on their properties. The mission of FallenFruit is to change that.
Date: Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Time: 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Location: Silver Lake, CA
Street: Edgecliffe and Sunset - triangle park
City/Town: Los Angeles, CA
December 24th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
this frustrates me because I have an orange tree, and I was just waiting for the oranges to ripen on the tree, they were still pale orange with green on the top around the stem, when someone came and picked all the ones within reach! Grrr. And none of that was overhanging public space. They actually had to go up my driveway to get to the tree.
The oranges that were out of reach are only just now ripe, and we will be picking a bunch of them. We eat them and juice them. They’re soo good.
I do understand that a lot of people don’t eat the fruit on their trees, but I grew up with a grandfather who had a farm, and I’m used to fresh grown fruits (I had a glorious apricot tree at my last house), but I’d prefer they ask me before just taking the fruit.