Sunday, July 8, 2007

Local Bounty, Forgotten Harvest


Earlier today I went for a walk into the hills south of my house. In addition to my comfortable walking shoes I was armed with one of my cameras and a sharp eye, intent on capturing some images for my daily photo blog. With my senses tuned to notice some of the details that I ordinarily filter out, I wanted to see and document my surroundings. What I saw, over and over again, was an incredible bounty. Beautiful, ripened fruit hung from trees all around me. More than half of the properties I passed had trees bearing some kind of orchard fruits, many of them cherry and apple, some of them pear. With so much fruit ready to be picked and enjoyed I wondered for a moment why nobody seemed to be harvesting from their own trees. Why would a person waste what's free and easily accessible? Then I remembered that as a group, humans-- particularly those in "developed" countries--choose what must be purchased over what is plentiful, and they do it frequently. We squander. Why?

Is it that we're used to the presence of bounty and so it has long since failed to merit our attentiveness? I believe this is part of the reason. I can't imagine that humans living through subsistence in a less forgiving climate would allow ripe, edible and delicious food to go to waste. But in this country, where the majority of us buy our food from grocery stores--buildings that house and categorize a remarkable number of ostensibly "edible" options from around the globe--we fail to see the local bounty all around us.

I believe, too, that we've become so pressed for time that we prioritize exchanging hard-earned currency for cherries picked, washed and packaged by the hands of another over spending a couple of hours twice a week for a month or so to pick the cherries growing in our yards. It's much more expedient, after all. I know this is how it is for many of us. I see this as a problem. And not just because it wastes food. But I'm only covering the scope of things related to our forgotten harvest today, so I will let the time issue lie for now.

Additionally, there is the problem of harvesting equipment. Most of us with orchard fruit trees of any maturity are going to need ladders in order to harvest the fruit. Do you have a ladder? I'm a renter and not a homeowner, and I don't have a ladder. I know a few homeowners in the area who are also without ladders. We're all hard-pressed to gather the fruit without a little something to stand on. But how many of us know our neighbors or someone who would lend us a ladder? Do you see where I'm going with this? The logistics of harvesting fruit from trees becomes complicated rather quickly. I think that we've witnessed some fundamental cultural shifts in the last several decades that have put us into this predicament. I have to imagine that the original property owners who planted all of these trees did so for more than ornamental purposes. They must have done so with the realization that they would need ladders. And while ladders are commonly owned by homeowners, I imagine that a few decades back more people knew their neighbors and could depend on them for the use of equipment from time to time.

I also assume that earlier generations of folks were much more accustomed to the physical labor required to pick. There is ample evidence that as we continue to invent and acquire labor-saving devices, as more and more of our paid work takes place from a seated position or within a narrow range of motion, we're all becoming more physically dysfunctional. Muscles and joints that, in our grandmothers and grandfathers, were sufficiently developed through a wide range of physical activities, are, in us, losing functionality and leaving us very susceptible to chronic pain and injury. A dear friend of mine recently spent about 3 hours picking berries in her yard and her back bothered her for almost a week afterwards. I should also point out that this friend would be widely regarded as "fit" and "active.

It's this person's opinion that we've misplaced an awful lot of priorities in recent decades. In this state, where hunger coexists with ridiculous excess, we're wasting what I would estimate to be tens of thousands of pounds of fresh, edible, and in many cases organic food, growing in people's yards. And those of us that would like to change this find no shortage of obstacles in our paths. I recently moved into a rental house that has two giant cherry trees, now burdened with lots of ripe fruit. Because I can't find a ladder to use I am left to watch, helplessly, as the fruit drops to the ground and rots. We need neighborhood equipment exchanges. We need willing and healthy bodies. We need to care about and invest in our local food security. We need to find the time to feed our neighbors and ourselves. Anybody got any bright ideas?

6 comments:

ze bulette said...

Yeah, I'm a little guilty. I have some kind of plum tree in the front and another in the back. The dog is quite fond of the plums that drop from them, which we've actually got to check as it does wonders for her digestive tract. The fruit themselves are a bit short on meat and long on tart, but they are edible. We were discussing whether we should try to make a pie the other day!

On dog walks, we often see fruit falling from trees into the neighborhood's lawns (or onto the street), so I know what you mean.

Our neighbor just cut down all their blackberry bushes. I can't blame them, and am somewhat relieved that they did as they were encroaching ... still, I was hoping to beat them by a week or so, put up the ladder, and lean over our fence to harvest as much as we could! I'm not even a huge blackberry fan, but a patch of 'em 10' in diameter or so just over the fence was too tempting. You can always borrow our ladder btw, but may I suggest making your own? It's not that hard, in fact ladder making I suspect is one of the easiest home carpentry projects you could come up with that would pay off a lot in terms of effort. You might even make one from found wood (palettes?)... that being said, a regular inspection and rebuild/repair is in order with wooden ladders, and a spotter is recommended!

And what about all those dandelions! Time to make some wine I say...

From the Canadian Homestead Book by Jeanne Scargall:

MAKES: 7 or 8 bottles

1 gallon dandelion flowers
1 gallon boiling water
3 oranges, chopped finely
3 lemons, chopped finely
3 lbs sugar
1 oz. yeast

*Pick flowers in the morning when fully open
*wash and discard bitter stems
*place in large pot or crock and cover with boiling water
*cover pot with cheesecloth and let stand 3 days, stirring twice a day
*remove flowers, squeezing the liquid from them into the pot.
*pour liquid into a large saucepan and add remaing 3 ingredients, one at a time in order given, ie. oranges, lemons and sugar.
*stir mixture
*boil 30 minutes, cool.
*spread yeast on toast and float on liquid(yeast side down, I assume)
*let ferment for 6 days.
*when bottling, strain liquid through cheesecloth.
*cork loosely until fermenation ceases.

gardngrl said...

Thanks for your terrific comment. I am actually very interested in learning to make a ladder. Not sure I could have one finished before the last of the cherries have fallen, but it sounds like a good project and a useful skill to have. Are there books on the subject? Seriously, I'm geometrically impaired, so I'll need some guidance.

Thanks for the dandelion wine recipe. Sweet! I save the greens for the rabbit, but have no practical use for the flowers...until now.

ze bulette said...

Here's your "Make Your Own Ladder" link at <$10...

Build it!

You can do it! I have the tools you can borrow if need be. Good times... :-)

gardngrl said...

Thanks! And thanks for the encouragement.

Tom Bigbee said...

Great observation. As soon as you make something free, people don't want it anymore. That's late capitalism for you.

gardngrl said...

I don't want to agree with you (I don't want to give my inner cynic anymore room to branch out), but I think I'll have to. Make it free and abundant and most people cease to notice it at all.