Ok, need to work out the glitches of my technical ability here--the picture of the apples was sent from my phone with the intention to add text later. That is not proving to work out well, so here we are!
I had never considered the role that foraging might play in my urban homesteading adventures--to be honest, it sounds a little like dumpster-diving to me, and I am not ready to go there. I appreciate the ethic, and I know first hand how much completely pristine stuff gets tossed from grocery stores daily or weekly, but I am just not ready to start pulling food out of dumpsters. --and my family & friends give a huge, collective sigh of relief-- The chickens are already giving me a reputation. To my possible future offspring: sorry, kids, I am going to be an embarrassment when you are in middle school.
And then I walked by an apple tree with a friend the other day. Said apple tree is right around the corner from our old place, on the route to a nearby walking trail, gym I used to frequent, local foods produce stand, and several good diners--I've been by this apple tree a lot. And every Fall, the apples all rot on the ground and generally get waspy and nasty. All of this info, of course, is one big excuse for picking a few even though no one was home. (Ahem.) Not sure if this counts as theft, and from now on I will make greater efforts to ask first, but I am not feeling much guilt. It doesn't help that I've recently read how many old, ignored apple trees are dotting the country, still faithfully producing from a generation ago when people were more interested in growing their own foods. Just waiting to be discovered. By me. Around the block from my old place....
Now here's the strange part: these apples had quite a renegade aura to them. When was the last time that you ate free food? Food that no one paid for. Not a gift, not something made from scratch out of purchased ingredients, not a potluck dinner paid for by a church or group--not even a homegrown head of lettuce from a purchased packet of seeds. This was anarchy in a small, shiny red globe. It felt like arriving at college and not having a curfew--washing and admiring and biting into that apple, breaking the rules. I expected it to be wormy, for there to be a nasty surprise with that first bite...and no, just pure white flesh, red skin, the usual. But with the added flavor of flipping off the Corporate-Food Man. Wow, delish.
So, I looked up urban food foraging. Found a great online map locating different accessible fruit trees, berry patches, nut trees, etc on a website--for the Portland area. *sigh* Why does the Pacific Northwest get this stuff so many light years ahead of the Midwest?? Huh?? So, I will be making my own personal map, or at least making a mental note when I see a sidewalk covered in walnuts, or another fruit tree that is so obviously neglected. I might throw out to the craigslist/freecycle world an offer of cleaning up the fallen mess under the tree in your front yard in exchange for whatever usable produce I can lug away. I know that you can make cider and vinegar out of apples you wouldn't want to eat...hmmmm....
In other quick news: the chickens are the size of small pigeons now, and they are a handful. They have officially grown big enough to love food scraps, particularly the remains of tomatoes and leftover cooked spaghetti. The spaghetti looks enough like worms to create an enormous amount of peeping and begging--and the one that gets the first "worm" immediately is chased all around the pen by the rest. I am still working on balancing free time with hawk-protection, but I have to say that there is nothing quite like gardening with the girls. They are hilarious, and while I'm harvesting beans above, they are happy to scoop up any bugs living below. Good times, good times.
Craigslist and freecycle have yielded more fantastic finds--we went this morning and picked up five 2yr old blueberry plants, two blackberry plants, and a grapevine--for $34. The guy also gave me some organic fertilizer and an old chicken waterer for no charge. The plants are big and extremely healthy--this is, by far, the deal of the garden so far! We also picked up some free wood from another person this morning, managing to contort everything into fitting in the Honda. Productive morning, for $34 and a bit of gas money!
And now, to get outside and enjoy this gorgeous day. Happy Sunday to everyone!
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