If you read my post Apple Antics I confessed to embracing my inner locavore in a whole new and somewhat uncomfortable way. After driving by a neglected apple tree full of ripe apples in an condominium complex green space I summoned the nerve to phone and ask if I could pick some of the apples (this is the very condensed much more brave sounding rendition). They said yes, I’ve been twice and have a full drawer of apples in an auxiliary refrigerator now. I found it very gratifying and as though it worked both for me and the grounds manager after stepping between many decomposing apples on the perfect lawn below.
Now my attention has been primed to begin noticing such apple trees all over town. At the University, in many residential settings, at parks. I went so far as to look up the cost of apple pickers on Amazon.com, internally considering the rationale of knocking on doors and asking to pick wasted apples. There is even such a case in my neighborhood but I could not summon the nerve imagining what thoughts of my sanity might be shared at the next cocktail soiree.
What’s up with that? IS it weird to consider urban foraging? I took a jamming class (as in ‘making jam’, not learning how to be an adult rock star) at ‘our’, (Cure) Farm and was paired in a smaller jam group with a delightful chef from a local gourmet take out food place. Somewhere between watching the boiling point of our raspberries and stirring furiously with no talking aloud we began to talk about picking urban fruit. She said she has an apple tree in her front yard, people knock on her door all the time asking to pick and she always lets them. Maybe this dialog germinated the seeds of courage I needed to call the condo complex I did, to wonderful and valued results.
I scan the international papers online in the wee hours of the early morning feeding my fix for food practices of all sorts and ran across a very validating article about the urban harvest in London and people picking from urban apple trees to for sale or to be juiced, to promote local food as well. I frankly think it’s a very practical solution to a more depressed economic condition and shared use of natural resources.
Something about wasting food really bugs me (maybe a throw back to being told as a child that there were starving Armenians who’d love my vegetables then being left alone in the curtain-less kitchen to suffer the vegetable challenge along with the strain of thinking these people, whatever an Armenian might be, were lurking in the dark backyard ready to pounce with my mother out of the room). And yet there is something that feels intrusive to be so bold to ask a stranger to pick fruit from their trees, even to share it with them. Somehow the rationale of ‘the worst that can happen is they will say no’ doesn’t seem to fully cover it. Maybe it would be a favor for them to avoid the cleanup of rotting fruit littering their lawn? Who knows. And why grow a fruit tree if not to eat from it?
What are your thoughts? Is urban foraging an en vogue aspect of the current food movement or a symptom of something else? Is it a forward thinking concept or déclassé?
Please comment. I’d love to hear your views.
Jen says
Loved your blog. Urban foraging- YES! I hate to see food get wasted too. We have a huge organic garden full of fruit trees; fortunately my husband and I also run a little cafe (The New Deli). So I bring the extra fruit in and we have “free sample” days… That’s one way to share the wealth 🙂
Jen
Boulder Locavore says
Thank you for your thought provoking comments as well as taking time to read, reflect and comment on this post!
PlayFightRepeat says
For the past two years, we've borrowed an apple picker, those tall medieval looking instruments, from a neighbor. Then we've used it on our apple tree and asked other people if we can use it on theirs. I agree, it's hard to ask. But I wanted to show my kids that it's okay to at least ask (so I always drag them with me when making a request). Everyone has said yes so far.
This year we made applesauce and made sure to share it with at least some of our neighbors. I found it takes a lot of apples to make a medium amount of sauce so we couldn't give to everyone. But I figure it all kind of works out in the end.
Thanks for the post,
Suzita
alison stern says
Consider this: Perhaps it's not about feeling brave enough to knock on a neighbor's door, but for me, it's more about not seeing the “trees through the forest”, as it were.
Honestly, I've never considered urban foraging, for the simple reason that I am so caught up in the mundane tasks of the day, that I don't often notice the over-ripe apples on the ground, much less the perfect ones waiting to be picked.
Of course I see the first crocuses peaking out in early Spring, and the shock of yellow and amber leaves as Fall sets in. These are easy observations. But stopping and smelling the flowers and considering how these very reliable cycles of nature relate to my little world and the community around me is an entirely other level.
Here's my entry-level plan into Locavorness: Today I will choose one snapshot: In keeping with the theme, let's say it's an apple tree. I will note it's changes and give a moment to consider how the apples falling from the trees relates to my community: Is there an apple-pie eating contest going on at a farmers' market?: Was it a bumper crop for our farmers this season? Which orchard has the best Honeycrisps?
This is a far cry from urban foraging — The Masters level of Locavoreness — but it is a very manageable way to ease into the Practice and today I will take my first baby step.
Connie Findley says
Isn't it funny that we feel so trepidatious about talking to people in our own community about urban foraging. You are braver than I am. I've been eyeing a neighbor's apples for years, but even feel funny about picking up ripe ones that have fallen onto the sidewalk. I have friends in Santa Fe that urban forage apricots every season, to wonderful results. I think urban foraging is a beautiful part of eating locally, and a wonderful way to connect us with our community.