Fruit For All

For those living in regions where fruit blossoms continually, or at least rather abundantly in season, I'd argue that nothing can sadden the heart more intensely than a pile of rotting, or branch-ripened but unharvested, edibles. The folks at Fallen Fruit have found the cure. This art collective, based in L.A., develops neighborhood maps of fruit available for public picking. They sponsor public fruit walks along with public jam-making workshops, using the bounty scored during their urban fruit hunts. 

This is such a fabulous idea, and one that couldn't be more timely, given the rising interest in local foods and food security. Do you know of any public fruit caches where you live? Around Asheville, swells of wild blueberries are available for the picking up on the Blue Ridge Parkway come late Summer. When August rolls around, I'll happily be the one with the violet stained fingers. 

*Small Measure: Wild forage! It's entirely possible to eat for free more often than you might think. Fruits that have fallen off the vine, berries growing determinedly in wild bramble, dandelion greens peeking through parking lot cracks, chickweed spreading itself along sidewalks-it's all there for the taking! 

*Image from ethicurean.com.