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Making use of urban bounty
A friend visited from California a few weeks ago. Sitting on the couch in my apartment, he noticed the pomegranate sitting in my fruit bowl and smiled.
"We've got more of those that we know what to do with," he told me. "My neighbor has a tree in her back yard, but she doesn't really want more than a few, so she's been letting us take them. I never knew there could be so many from one tree! We juiced a bunch, and froze some, but they just keep coming."
I blinked.
"Same for persimmons," he said, "There's a tree nearby that nobody harvests. We've been eating persimmon pudding every day for two weeks,"
Now now, Northeasterners, try to control yourselves. I understand that we all get a little agitated when our West-Coast friends talk about having free, abundant, in-season fruit -- and who can blame us? The idea of a pomegranate going to waste over there, while I pay $2.50 apiece over here, is almost enough to make you want to pick up and move house. EWG California office, here I come.
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, an enterprising team of environmentalists want to do something with all that food that would otherwise go to waste. By micro-harvesting from backyard fruit trees and berry bushes (with the home owner's permission, of course) and connecting that fruit to local markets, processors, and food banks, they would fill some of the need in a local market where fruit is often shipped thousands of miles to end up in a grocery store. The idea was selected as an IdeaBlob finalist in November (the winner hasn't been selected as of this posting), and a win would provide some of the startup cash needed to get the program moving.
It's like those endless baskets of zucchini from your Aunt Barbara's kitchen garden, or an old fashioned victory garden, but revamped for a new era. Kudos to the Urban Harvesting team, and good luck!
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