Last fall, Eric Alperin, a San Francisco artist, heard about blackberries, plums and loquats growing on public property in his city and free for the picking.
“It was great,” he said. “We picked as much as we could carry and had beautiful, fresh, free city fruit,” Alperin said. “I’ll definitely go (picking) again.” Fruit-picking opportunities like that are becoming more common, as volunteers in cities including Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia and Madison, Wis., mobilize behind a goal of planting fruit trees on public land in city parks and neighborhoods.
(READ the inspiring story in USA Today)
We will be putting in a mini orchard in just a few weeks, and one of the things I was worried about was having too much for us, our friends and our neighbors, and having things go to waste. Now I don’t have to worry anymore! I just registered on the neighborhood fruit web site, so if we have excess, I know of a great way to share it now! Thanks, Geri. 🙂