Monday, June 29, 2009

foraging.

most of my days are spent looking at plants/vegetables so i'm just in the habit of noticing what is around me when we are out and about. this came in handy yesterday while benny was digging through records at some yard sale and i noticed the fruit on the mulberry tree above me was ripe! so i got motivated and convinced benny to walk down to another mulberry closer to our house and it turned out that one had just ripened too! we harvested a few heaping handfulls which i am hoping to bake with today.

there's a really wonderful project hosted by a local organization where fruit trees are planted on urban sites and then cared for by community members. access to the fruit is open to everyone! which is pretty incredible. the intention being that the community connects both with each other and with fresh produce grown in their neighborhood. well, there are a bunch of sites around jamaica plain and i'm really, really excited about it.

we found some sour cherries last night that we turned into a syrup and ate over ice cream. so good! hopefully the rain will stop next weekend so we can attempt to find more of this delicious urban fruit.

7 comments:

Marisa said...

That project is such a wonderful idea. I am a forager of note and I love love love mulberries, so finding one in fruit is just my idea of heaven. I don't think I've ever seen them for sale at a grocer. I have fond memories of purple stains on fingers and white school socks. It's been ages since I saw a mulberry tree...

Elizabeth said...

This sounds amazing. I'm going to do some research and see if we have a similar program in the Providence area.

Vicki's Bit-o-earth said...

They look delicious, and foraging is wonderful. Its to use the bounty around us. (:

amy merrick said...

Last week i managed to gorge myself in front of a ripe mulberry bush in Jamaica Bay, Brooklyn.... like stained purple face and fingers pig out... amazing!

sfadmin said...

hey alice,

this post reminds me of:
http://urbanedibles.org/

paul

samy said...

beautiful red tones :)

Knotted Nest said...

I'm glad to see others as excited about stumbling upon urban fruit trees as I am! I volunteer with a group called Not Far From the Tree (based in Toronto ON). I wish every community had something like this. Keep on picking!