Introducing Fruitful Dunwoody

This is a pear. A single pear has about 85 calories, is very low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium, and is a good source of vitamin C and an especially good source of dietary fiber. It can fill hungry stomachs and help build strong bodies.

However, in the center of Dunwoody today, right in front of the farmhouse that our community worked so hard to save a number of years ago, it has tire tracks on it. That's because it (along with dozens of others like it) has fallen from a tree that no one is harvesting. Yet food costs are sky-high and many people, both in our community and beyond, are struggling.

Fruit trees and bushes are an amazing source of abundant food, and we are very fortunate to have a climate hospitable to so many different types. You may have been enjoying the fruits of a local fig tree this past month because they are absolutely all over Dunwoody. And, like the pear tree, much of their fruit is rotting because, one, there's only so much a family can eat, and two, there are high branches that are hard to reach.

A group in Portland, Oregon, reacting to the incredible waste that often accompanies private fruit trees, developed a database of 140 private fruit trees that volunteers descend upon at harvest time. They then donate thousands of pounds of fruit to food banks. Additionally, the group teaches homeowners how to prune so that fruit remains within reach, and how to preserve the food so that none goes to waste.

A citizen of Dunwoody has expressed interest in heading up a similar grassroots citizens initiative in the soon-to-be City of Dunwoody. Richard Luftig, a seasoned "urban gleaner," has volunteered to lead Fruitful Dunwoody.

* First, he has volunteered to develop a spreadsheet of private fruit trees that are identified to him by their owners.

* Then, next year during the appropriate harvest time (which would be July for blackberries, and then on to blueberries, figs, pears, apples, and muscadines--does anyone have pawpaws or know what do with those native persimmons?), after the homeowner is done with his or her own harvest, he would bring a truck and an orchard ladder and run a series of Harvest Happenings with the help of volunteers. The volunteers keep half the harvest (as they do in Portland) and the other half would be donated to food banks, perhaps those that are already supported by places of worship in our community.

Don't worry--we're talking with Portland to figure out the specifics of how something like this is done. I know the group has liability waivers that volunteers sign, and other safeguards like that. They also verify that the homeowner still wants them to pick, and if there are any time or other parameters on access to the tree, so the homeowner is always the one in control. Homeowners participate because having their tree more fully harvested reduces mess, the putrid smell of fermentation, and the bees that that decay attracts. Plus, it makes them feel good to know they are helping those in need with food that would have gone to waste.

If you would like to add your fruit tree or bush to the spreadsheet, please email Richard at rluftig@gmail.com. Send your name and the type of tree or bush you would like to include on the list. We will be developing a fruit tree/bush profile similar to the one used by Portland in the near future, and you can give more information at that time.

Email Richard as well if you would be interested in participating in Fruitful Dunwoody Harvest Happenings, or if you have any particular fruit tree/bush pruning expertise that you would be willing to share in workshops next year.

If you do not currently have a fruit tree or bush on your property, consider planting one when next you make landscaping decisions. A fruit tree is an important step toward sustainability, and a community full of them increases our food security greatly.

If you live in another community (a shout-out to our friends at Sustainable Peachtree Corners, Sustainable Alpharetta, and Sustainable Norcross, and a quick hello to those nice sisters I met under the fig tree at the Oakhurst Community Garden this weekend who said Decatur could do something like this as well!), consider launching your own Fruitful "branch."

I feel t-shirts coming.