I was first made aware of this initiative this past summer when I was still living in York. Basically, people explore a city and its surrounding areas to find edible plants (most usually fruit bushes and trees) that are either uncultivated on public land, or is on private land (but the owner has given permission to harvest it since they have no use for it). They then spread the word so that others can share in the bounty of these plants that would otherwise sit uncultivated with their fruit rotting. Adrienne and I took a long walk along the footpaths surrounding York and came back with two grocery bags full of blackberries and a handful of damson plums (with plenty left behind for others). We were greatly interested in spreading the word about this, but unfortunately no formal network of this kind had been established for York. So we had to content ourselves with telling all of our friends about it and encouraging them to do the same if they so chose.
Seeing this challenge inspired me to do a bit of digging to see if there was any similar program going on in Leeds. Lo and behold, there is the Leeds Urban Harvest (
http://www.leedsurbanharvest.org.uk). This group maps out trees and bushes throughout the city, and then makes organized trips out to care for and harvest them. The food harvested is either distributed throughout the volunteers and local community or turned into juices and preserves. All money goes straight back into the running costs of the group. So I decided to volunteer my services as a picker and tree spotter (there's a form you can fill out on the website to volunteer).
As the growing season hasn't begun yet here, I don't imagine they'll be a huge amount going on in the near future. However, I look forward to hearing of future events where I can lend a hand. Sound like a lot of fun. So if you're in the Leeds area, sign up. Otherwise, I heartily recommend you look into whether or not there's a similar project in your area.
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