Fruit controversy

[petrea_mitchell]

Why Tho? is a local column a year or so old.

Actual headline: "It’s true, some people aren’t happy about strangers touching their fruit"

Dear Lizzy,

All over my neighborhood, berries and fruit trees are popping off. So much of this fruit ends up on the ground. Can I just pick it and eat it? What are the ethics here?

Hopeful Urban Forager

Dear Hopeful Urban Forger,

You have, it appears, stepped on something of thorny blackberry bush with your question. I personally think that it depends on the fruit and the location of the fruit – if you can grab a raspberry or blueberry as you’re walking by, especially if it’s on the parking strip, you should! It’s either you or the squirrels, man. And blackberries, a known weed, are pretty much always a yes. Just don’t take more than three.

But if you need to get a ladder, go onto someone’s property or if the fruit is covered, no way. This should never turn into a u-pick situation. Don’t bring a bucket.

Also, if there’s a person there, you should obviously ask first.

And you should always beware, because you never know what people are spraying their fruit with, or what animals have peed on said fruit.

However, I put this question to Twitter and it turns out some people vehemently disagree with me, comparing fruit to flowers, or even toys on someone’s lawn.

I think fruit is different. For one, it’s meant to be eaten. That’s where its value lies so it’s different than picking a flower that is meant to be shared by looking at it or smelling it.

And unlike toys, berries especially go bad very quickly. If you see a ripe one, you might be the only person who ever sees it! You aren’t really taking berries away from the owners of the bush if you take only a few.

Sharing fruit with your neighbors creates community! Don’t we love community?

But, since I am not an expert in the field of urban foraging, I asked one.

Heather Keisler Fornes is the executive director of the Portland Fruit Tree Project, which helps Portlanders share their excess produce.

Here’s what she said:

“Urban foraging is a little tricky! Plenty of homeowners are thrilled to share (if you’re one of them, we have a handy sign on our website you can print out!), but others aren’t happy about strangers touching their fruit. We always recommend talking to the homeowner where possible if there’s no clear invitation. If it’s a public tree, that’s another story, but do be cautious about trees in public parks since there are foraging rules depending on the jurisdiction. We host a Facebook group called Share in the Harvest where you can post excess fruit and get invited to do some harvesting, if you’re seeking out opportunities.

“As a rule, if it falls on the ground, there’s your standard 30-second rule – and even then, it needs solid washing. There’s a lot of bacteria on and in the soil that can get you sick, so we definitely don’t recommend eating windfall. That said, it’s also really important to clean up the fallen fruit, since it can increase the likelihood of pest and disease issues for next year’s crop.

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t also include that if people need help with excess fruit, our harvest season is open and we’re happy to help with any fruit or nut-producing plant/tree as our schedule allows!”

You can find out more at portlandfruit.org.

My advice? If you own fruit trees or bushes and you either want or don’t want people taking some of your bounty, put up a sign. It will make things easier for everyone.

Happy fruit season!

Lizzy

Comments

[castiron]

Every September there's a spate of posts on local groups complaining about people picking up pecans. I figure there's a continuum; if someone picks up a few from the ground next to the sidewalk as they walk by, that's reasonable, but if a group of harvesters goes into someone's back yard to take their pecans without permission, that's egregious trespassing at best.

[ashbet]

My thought is that “reachable from the sidewalk” is different from stepping onto someone’s property, and that I’d be a lot more relaxed about something like blackberries than an intentionally-planted fruit tree that isn’t surrounded by windfalls.

[lemonsharks]

Every September there's a spate of posts on local groups complaining about people picking up pecans.

When I was a kid people paid me to pick up their pecans, and I got to keep the pecans. Because the alternative was a bunch of baby pecan trees they didn't in their yard the following year.

[julian]

My logic is always, if it's on private property, unless there's signage saying it's OK, then don't.

Unless it fell onto a public street (eta) and/or was very reachable from the sidewalk</eta), then it's anyone's game.

[jadelennox]

yes, this. if it's fallen to the sidewalk, yes, sure. If it's planted in the curb hell strip opposite a house, absolutely.

although I actually disagree about "or was very reachable from the sidewalk". Plenty of people have apple or peach trees in their front yard that overhang the property line, but if the plant is clearly in the yard, then ask.

(I have some exceptions. I urban forage from the sour cherry trees planted in hell strip of the alley beside an apartment building in what is clearly not a cared for garden; the cherries, as far as I can tell, are picked by urban foragers and robins, and nobody else. But I don't pick from the cherry tree overhanging from a fenced yard a few doors down from that apartment. I'd say that fruit planted in semi-communal spaces (apartments, parks) that don't appear actively cared for are absolutely fair game. But in a smaller property (anything from a single-family home to a tripledecker, probably) if i saw peaches falling to the ground regularly and I wanted to pick them, I'd ring the doorbell and ask.)

(note to self: next time you pass by that duplex on broadway with the peach tree, ring the doorbell and ask!)

[conuly]

Plenty of people have apple or peach trees in their front yard that overhang the property line, but if the plant is clearly in the yard, then ask.

Legally, you may not need to ask at all if it's overhanging the property line.

[laurajv]

legally, maybe not (it varies by jurisdiction) but unless you want ticked-off neighbors, you should ask.

[conuly]

One of my neighbors screamed at me just before the pandemic because I walked by his house with my dogs. They didn't stop to poop or pee, but that was too much for him.

So fuck those assholes, y'know?

[lemonsharks]

Branches overhanging the street/sidewalk are also (usually) legally fair game, as branches hanging over into a neighbor's yard are fair game for that neighbor to harvest

[dine]

if it's in the parking strip, I believe technically that's not personal yard (though of course the homeowner is supposed to keep it up), at least where I grew up. so if you've stuff planted there, it's more fair game than a fruit tree actually in your yard. dad had a huge, very old walnut tree in the parking strip, and as he aged and wasn't so eager to rake up fallen nuts every day, he didn't mind too much the family who started coming by to harvest them every year. and stuff in actual public property (like blackberry canes) are totally free-for-all

[darchildre]

I think it helps to know your neighbor's habits as well. I have several neighbors with apple trees that reach out over their fence into the sidewalk/street. One of them is very careful with their apples and picks them all - I don't pick those as I go by, since I know my neighbor wants them. Another neighbor lets the apples fall into the street and rot every year - that's unsightly and it sucks and I will pick the fuck out of their apples.

[minoanmiss]

In My Childhood In A Different Country (R) the rule for picking fruit off trees seemed to be that if it was reachable from the sidewalk one could have some, and if it was on public land one could have a reasonable amount. However since fruiting trees were expected to provide a fair amount of the diet of the people who owned them, it wasn't done to strip someone else's tree.

Comparing fallen fruit to toys on a lawn seems odd, though. We didn't generally let the fruit get so overripe it fell -- we harvested it off the trees.

[cimorene]

I would say picking up fruit or nuts from the ground that are on or adjacent to the sidewalk would be fine. In my childhood, you could go for a walk around the neighborhood and gather baskets of pecans from the streets and gutters, which seems obvious to me - but equally obvious that you can't go into the yard to get more.

I would not even consider picking fruit from bushes or trees in someone else's yard, nor flowers for that matter, regardless of where they were reachable from, and the suggestion strikes me as bizarre and a bit shocking.

[ethelmay]

In my neighborhood, a lot of neighbors put up signs saying it's okay to take fruit, or post on the neighborhood Buy Nothing group. Sometimes they even pick a basket and put a sign out telling people to take some of that. Generally I leave stuff alone otherwise. Something that's actually a weed here, like fennel growing at random through someone's back fence, is different, though typically I just take a tiny snip to sniff, or a few seeds to chew on. My husband likes to pick cornelian cherries in certain public parks (he makes jelly out of them).

There are things I don't pick by public roads (especially stuff like berries) because they're too close to all the car exhaust and I figure the ground is somewhat polluted. I am always kind of surprised at people planting vegetables in their parking strips (though raised beds on a non-busy street are probably okay).

[tielan]

So, in Australia, the actual law is that the fruit belongs to the person on whose land the rootstock is growing. That said, it is also lawful for someone to collect fruit that is on public land (ie. on the council verge side of the property line) or on their own property (ie. on an overhanging tree). That said, it is also expected that if you have picked up fruit on public land/your own property from a tree that is on your neighbour's property and they ask for it back then it is their property and you should give it back to them.

I guess this is a case of "possession is nine-tenths of the law", where that last tenth is the property owner asking for their property back.

This is all entirely different to those people who walk into other people's property to pick fruit uninvited. (I have heard tell of people who bring buckets to strip entire trees. Thus far, I have not encountered anyone of that ilk in my neighbourhood.) And leaning into someone else's yard is also a no-no.

--

1. Ask first where possible, keeping in mind the answer may be 'no'. (Most people will be "oh, please, I have so much crop I don't know what to do with it" but there are always people who would rather their stuff rot than cede it to anyone else.)

2a. If asking is not possible (ie. council/government land and/or absent owners) then pick judiciously. Be willing to be challenged on it, and to offer explanation and - if the plant is on private land - recompense. (ie. "it was falling off and rotting, I was planning to make lemon curd, would you like a couple of jars?")

2b. If they say 'no', then ask if they'd be willing to enact a swap (or possibly a sale): it can be as basic as "I want some berries to make jam, would you like a jar or two?" As someone whose fruit trees go utterly BESERK in the space of a month right before Christmas, I will happily give someone bucketloads of peaches in exchange for a jar of jam or a bottle of preserves. If you have something else to swap, see if they're interested in that. (ie. "I have homemade dill pickles, would you like to swap for a few lemons?")

That said, my experience is very much in a comfortable urban/suburban context, and so fruit trees are a supplement not a staple. In a more rural context or food deserts, then people might be relying on those crops to get them through, so that might present a different set of behaviours.

[melannen]

My general rule is, if you'd have to trespass to get it, don't.

But also that if you're going to pick large quantities - enough that you'd have to be preserving it, or eating it as a major part of your diet - check with whoever cares for the plant, even if you don't have to trespass. I'm willing to risk a bit of dog pee or pesticide residue on a handful of raspberries or one plum, but in quantity you can easily end up concentrating that stuff to a dangerous level, so just, ask first.

But also also - if it's a large fruit tree and they're letting the stuff drop off and rot in piles, and it's close enough to your property/public property to be a nuisance (not just smell, but bugs and rats and so on) it is now everybody's problem and therefore anybody's to deal with, if they're willing. If they come out and yell at you probably leave, but you're still in the right.

[likeaduck]

I took a bowl and got enough cherries from the branches of the neighbour's tree that hang over the fence to make a pie, it was great. (They don't eat the cherries: they have a landscaping company come strip the tree.) And I snack on the mulberries down the block obviously, mulberries are just going to stain everyone's shoes if you leave them five more minutes.

For more intensive foraging, my city has an organization that matches volunteer pickers with fruit trees going unpicked and the volunteers split the harvest with the property owner and a local community organization.