
The Lost Art of Stealing Fruit - samclemens
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/onward-and-upward-in-the-garden/the-lost-art-of-stealing-fruit
======
joehewitt
The article tiptoes around the issue of "stealing" referenced by the headline,
as if the "stolen" fruit is only taken from public property. As you will learn
if you plant fruit trees in your front yard, there are quite a lot of people
who think nothing of trespassing on private property and stripping your trees.
In Hawaii it's become an epidemic - most of the stolen fruit is not consumed
by famished thieves, it is sold at farmers' markets. Penalties are so minimal
for this crime that the same thieves return over and over with no fear of
being caught.

Thi issue has many of my fruit-growing friends ripping their hair out. Believe
it or not, not all residential fruit trees are neglected afterthoughts - many
of us put blood and sweat into these trees and live for the day we can harvest
them.

~~~
dejv
Great point. I, as a farmer, do own quite a lot of wallnut trees that could be
mistaken for public property. I am ok with random people picking random
wallnuts, but most of the theft is done by organized groups that resell my
fruit on farmers market. Each year I do think about reporting them to police
(as amount of fruit stolen is higher then treshold of breaking law), but then
I realise that amount of trouble I will get them into and probable damage to
their life is higher than some wallnuts I just let it go. Now I just hope that
the area will get rich enough that they will just don't care about picking my
fruit and I will finally get something more then just few lefovers.

~~~
fencepost
Are they aware that it's private property and your maintained trees? If so,
and if you don't want to involve the police you might also consider a "name
and shame" approach at the market itself by simply asking (loudly) "Why do you
keep stealing the nuts from my trees and selling them?"

Edit: at the least they could provide you with some of the gathered /picked
nuts.

~~~
OtterCoder
Now that's a good suggestion. Social pressure is a perfectly valid means of
retribution that doesn't require the overwhelming threat of the law.

------
Dowwie
I've got two fully mature plum trees on my property that are fruiting so well
this Summer. In Spring, I released 9000 lady bugs to ward off another aphid
infestation, which ruined the trees last Summer. I tend to the trees daily,
removing rotting and diseased plums so to give other plums a fighting chance
to ripen.

The neighborhood is home to a fairly large quaker parrot population, whom I
allow to eat from the top of the trees. The bottom half of the trees is netted
so that the parrots won't clear out the entire crop.

When I first bought the property, two years ago, I was shocked to find an
entire neighborhood accustomed to helping itself to the plums-- without
permission and without any kind of exchange from their own gardens. They had a
prior relationship with the prior owners and expected grandfathered rights of
some kind.

Most of the plums I pick I end up giving to neighbors, friends, family, co-
workers. It's a lovely time of year.

If anyone is in the NYC area and would like some, drop me a message :)

~~~
jacobr
> I was shocked to find an entire neighborhood accustomed to helping itself to
> the plums-- without permission and without any kind of exchange from their
> own gardens

Several of my neighbours tell us and others when their raspberries and
currants are ripe, there's simply too much for them to eat. I wouldn't
continue without invitation from a new owner, but why would you _not_ invite
others if you have more than enough for yourself?

~~~
Dowwie
Every neighbor who I speak with gets an invitation. There was a population,
though, that felt it unnecessary to establish even the most basic personal
connection before helping itself.

------
narrator
The practice of the poor being able to take unharvested crops for themselves
goes back to the old testament. It was an early form of social weldare.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleaning](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleaning)

~~~
tedajax
Oddly The Book of Ruth and the word "gleaning" are some of my most vivid
memories from high school English.

~~~
samstave
"gleaning" information from something is basically "to take a richer
understanding from something where the information comes to one freely, based
on observance"

Meaning - freely available fruits of knowledge can be derived from that which
- its basically a pun.

The fact that we lost the meta-knowledge around etymology is a sad thing...

There is a podcast by an etymology guy that has amazing insights to words -
but, in my limited experience listening to him, lacks some meta meaning -- in
that glean means to to take free fruit, glean means to see deeper info, glean
means to harvest deeper info from the free info given, knowledge is thought of
as fruit...

I was wrong -- it is known:

>>> __ _glean (v.) Look up glean at Dictionary.com early 14c., "to gather by
acquisition, scrape together," especially grains left in the field after
harvesting, but the earliest use in English is figurative, from Old French
glener "to glean" (14c., Modern French glaner) "to glean," from Late Latin
glennare "make a collection," of unknown origin. Perhaps from Gaulish (compare
Old Irish do-glinn "he collects, gathers," Celtic glan "clean, pure").
Figurative sense was earlier in English than the literal one of "gather grain
left by the reapers" (late 14c.). Related: Gleaned; gleaning._ __

so.... to collect (information) from....

~~~
posterboy
> There is a podcast by an etymology guy that has amazing insights to words

I do not google and go directly over to complain about lack of the relevant
hyperlink.

Now, to my surprise there are quite a few linguistic podcasts.

------
SubiculumCode
My town in years past, as part of a tradition, planted fruit trees throughout
the parkways. Cherry, plum, apple, etc. They are left mostly unpicked today. I
believe they were planted to be picked, by visitors to the parkways, to be
able to grab down a plum for your daughter on her tricycle. And I do.
Especially the cherries.

~~~
Symbiote
I was picking some mirabelle plums from the tree in my garden in West London
(this is a few years ago).

Some passing teenagers asked what I was doing, so I offered them some plums,
straight from the tree. "No way! My mum only buys fruit from Waitrose!"

A much younger girl and her granddad took a few, although in this case it was
grandad that was reluctant.

It's a shame. Neighbours complained about the fruit making a mess on the
pavement; if it wasn't that that particular neighbourhood was _special_ and
had a requirement for the trees to be maintained, I'm sure they'd have been
replaced with something more friendly to Lexus paintwork.

~~~
SubiculumCode
We have been collectively programmed to trust the grocery store product over
what we can reach out and grab.

------
SwellJoe
I love the idea of food forests and the work of groups like Food Is Free
([http://foodisfreeproject.org/](http://foodisfreeproject.org/)).

I don't currently have land, as I live in an RV and travel kinda full-time,
but when I buy another house and settle down somewhere, I've sort of made some
promises to myself:

1\. I will not mow a lawn.

2\. Any plant that requires maintenance has to provide food.

So, I'm looking forward to having neighbors steal fruit from my yard. I want
pecan trees, and fruit trees, and blackberry vines, and prickly pears, and
whatever else grows well where I'm living. I'm gonna rip up the lawn and
replace it with edible plants and gardens.

Any one fruit tree makes more fruit than one person, or even family, can eat
in a season...sure, you can can it, or freeze it, but I like the idea of
grazing through the seasons, rather than hoarding.

~~~
mholmes680
I don't want to discourage you, because i had the same dream 5 years ago. But
what you are saying has gotten VERY expensive. As an initial investment (at
least for me, I have very few to share plants/seeds with) its pretty high.
Then you have some deer take out a tree and all the berries, so you need to
invest in deer block (chemical or physical), then you have the fricken EAB
borer killing your 30 year old Ash Tree, and the black fungus that's taking
out the pear and cherries, and then you forget to close the fence one day so
most of the cucumbers and beans go missing and the rest get taken out by the
cucumber beetles and/or the wilt they carry with them. Oh, and i invested
about $200 on some "deer resistant, rabbit resistant" flowers (useful flowers
like sage and lavender) which slowly disappear each season.

In other words, start saving now :). Though I haven't checked your link yet,
so maybe the solution is in there!

~~~
SwellJoe
Yeah, I've had a house and gardens in the past. I know it's a pain in the ass
and doesn't always pay for itself. But, it's also possible to pick things that
are naturally hardy and suited to the climate and soil. Some things Just Work.

And, if you have enough of those that are very expensive at the grocery (fresh
herbs like basil and parsley, tree nuts, avocados, come to mind, though the
latter two take years to start producing) you can still come out ahead. And,
food picked ripe is delicious and rare in grocery stores.

~~~
mholmes680
On the other hand, my neighbors drive me completely nuts. Each on the cul-de-
sac has an acre or so, and i'm the only home-farmer. The rest barely go
outside let alone grow some veggies...

Its bizarre and a little infuriating.

~~~
SwellJoe
Yeah, the folks with soulless lawns and no food growing are a mystery to me.
Why have land, at all, if you aren't going to grow something on it?

------
mturmon
A trio of artists in LA started a project called "Fallen Fruit" centered on
appropriation of public fruit:

[http://fallenfruit.org/about/](http://fallenfruit.org/about/)

SF people may have seen them last month at:

[http://fallenfruit.org/fallen-fruit-magazine-san-
francisco/](http://fallenfruit.org/fallen-fruit-magazine-san-francisco/)

They have mapped out fruit trees that extend into public right of way (there
are a lot), hosted Fruit Jams where you could bring your own backyard fruit
and herbs and collaboratively make jam, and guided nocturnal forages to
harvest public fruit. It has been a delightful way to look again at the food
that is around us.

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
This one's global:

[https://fallingfruit.org/](https://fallingfruit.org/)

~~~
taejo
The German-language equivalent is [https://mundraub.org](https://mundraub.org)
\-- also global, but most useful in German-speaking areas.

------
JofArnold
Walking around London yesterday morning for an hour (with a step ladder!) we
managed two carrier bags of tasty ripe plums. I also ate some orange things
that I have no idea what they were but they tasted fantastic. There's
raspberries, blackcurrents, blackberries and even (in an abandoned lot)
tomatoes which my friend ate. I missed the mulberries this year but in a
couple of weeks I'll also have some apples and avocados to add to that and
maybe some persimmon. And this is all stuff that'd be on the floor and/or
rotting later without people blinking an eye. So many fruit trees in London!
And that's not even mentioning the mint, huge basil tree-bushes, rosemary,
lime trees and countless other herb lying in clear sight.

~~~
whiskers
Possibly kumquats?

Edit: which reminds me of a local restaurant which has possibly the best play
on words name out there: Kumquat Mae

~~~
Symbiote
Those are unlikely to grow in Southern England, it's not warm enough.

Mirabelle plums? [1]

Try taking a photo and asking iNaturalist [2]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabelle_plum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabelle_plum)

[2]
[https://www.inaturalist.org/computer_vision_demo](https://www.inaturalist.org/computer_vision_demo)

------
keithpeter
_"...or the vast banks of blackberries that litter Britain’s parks and heaths,
largely overlooked except by the occasional elderly Pole or Czech..."_

Not so Up North.

I have had convivial blackberry picking sessions with many people from all
walks of life as a native Brit. A good wash and pick over, then a crumble and
for the last box boiling with sugar and straining to make a compote served
with yoghurt and those rusk cakes. I hit the canal towpaths and nature parks
in preference to road side plants.

I will be researching this mulberry gin...

~~~
twic
Or in East Anglia.

One thing i've noticed on my walks in the country is that there are a lot of
apple trees growing along the Iron-age tracks like the Ridgeway, Icknield Way,
etc. I suppose once one traveller has thrown away an apple core, and a tree
has grown from a seed, there are plenty more apples with which subsequent
travellers can repeat the process. Iterate that over a thousand years and
there's quite a collection.

~~~
fencepost
Apples may not be such a great choice for that - they don't reproduce to the
same type from seed, many of the resulting fruits won't be much good (if you
get any), and you need at least one other compatible apple tree in close
proximity for pollination.

Basically the fruit is based on the tree you have, but the seeds in that fruit
are a combination of the trees.

------
d215
Having juat learned that half of my prine tree was emptied out I have I a hard
time right now enjoying this article.

O well, I was somewhat consoled by my neighbour how pointed me to 'Les
glaneurs et la glaneuse', a documentary by Agnes Varda about people who try to
live on waste fruit and vegetables in Paris.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gleaners_and_I](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gleaners_and_I)

~~~
sp332
A what tree?

~~~
mulmen
I think that's a typo and it should say prune.

~~~
soperj
Prunes are dried plums... you don't pick them from a tree.

~~~
joehewitt
French Prune and Italian Prune are the names of some European plum cultivars
typically grown for the purpose of being dried, however they are also quite
good eaten fresh.

~~~
paganel
In Romanian we still call plums as "prune", directly from Latin. My brother
has lots of plum trees on his property (at the foot of the Carpathians) and
most of the plums are used for making an excellent țuica
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%9Auic%C4%83](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%9Auic%C4%83)),
while the rest is dried up in order to be eaten during the long winter months
(my grandma makes an excellent dried-plums soup).

------
anfractuosity
There's an interesting story about mulberry trees in the UK:

"Elizabeth I, sent some mulberry trees to Reading to encourage a silk industry
there - the leaves are the sole food of silk worms - but it was James I who
got serious and ordered them by the thousand because he wanted to take control
of the silk-making business the from French.

Unfortunately, the scheme failed because the gardener planted the wrong sort.
Silk worms eat the soft leaves of Morus alba but had no appetite for the
leathery leaves of Morus nigra, the tree that produces such delicious fruit."

From [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3311801/The-fruit-of-
qu...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3311801/The-fruit-of-queens.html)

I'd love to try making mulberry gin like they mention. We make damson gin each
year in Autumn which tastes awesome.

------
mynegation
My big incentive for picking the fruit is because it is not available in
stores: mulberry and crab apples are featured in the article but my favourite
one is amelanchier (known by many other names [1]). Also, Bunias [2] which I -
unfortunately - cannot find in North America, but can be approximated by a mix
of broccoli and arugula.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelanchier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelanchier)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunias_orientalis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunias_orientalis)

~~~
anfractuosity
Wow I never knew before the berries on an amelanchier are edible.

------
KittiHawk
Some of my fondest neighborhood memories are of neighbors inviting each other
over to pick their fruit trees. My family had some apple and black cherry
(this was in Canada) trees; other neighbors had plums or blackberry patches.
Sometimes people would even put out a board at the end of the driveway
inviting others to come take some fruit so it wouldn't go to waste.

Edit: I think a lot of people have ambitions of canning or some such when they
plant their fruit trees, but it's a bit of a lost art now. I don't know anyone
who isn't a grandparent that actually knows how to preserve fruit.

~~~
pchristensen
I taught myself canning this summer. I was surprised how cheap and easy it is
to get started.

Basic primer: \- you preserve foods by heating them to drive out air, kill
bacteria, and activate the adhesive on the lids to seal the jar \- high acid
foods (salsa, pickles, citrus, many fruits and jams, etc) can be preserved by
submerging in boiling water for 10 minutes (or more, based on altitude). This
is called "water bath canning" \- Low acid foods (meats, veggies, etc) need to
be heated to a higher temperature (~245 F) so you need a pressure canner. I
have not tried this yet.

Equipment: \- a pot, rack (makes dunking/lifting easier), funnel (makes
filling jars so much easier), jar lifter (for lifting hot jars out of boiling
water). There's a kit here:
[https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002KHN602/](https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002KHN602/)
\- wide mouth mason jars (about $1/each at Amazon or Wal-Mart)

I did typical nerd internet research, but it all coalesced to
[http://www.simplycanning.com](http://www.simplycanning.com). Good material,
clear instructions, good recipes. She sells a book and ebook, but there's
plenty of material on the site to get started.

I've had so much fun doing it that I've made way more than I can use and
opened an Etsy store -
[https://www.etsy.com/shop/seattlesweetness](https://www.etsy.com/shop/seattlesweetness).
It's a really satisfying break from all the mental work programming.

------
kbutler
We have many fruit trees (Several peach, couple of apple, pear, a nectarine,
and an apricot).

When harvest time comes, we pick what we need and want to use or process, then
advertise to the neighborhood that they are welcome to come and pick.

Often, no one wants to invest more labor than to pick up a box off the porch.

~~~
spaceflunky
My parents have a guava and sour orange tree that grow along a very busy
street in southern california.

The oranges look delicious, but are sour as hell. They are mostly used for
marinades. I feel bad for the people that have been burnt on them.

The guavas are fantastic, but almost nobody in socal knows what a guava looks
like. Once in a while someone will recognize the guava tree and gorge
themselves. Considering good fresh guava is not only hard to come by, but
around $8/lb if you can find it.

~~~
nwatson
$8/pound for guava sounds real expensive. I can get real good Mexican guava
for around $3/pound at this grocery store in North Carolina:
[https://www.facebook.com/Compare-Foods-Winston-Salem-
NC-1196...](https://www.facebook.com/Compare-Foods-Winston-Salem-
NC-119656968200283/) (I suppose this varies according to season).

Side note: I was born and spent a lot of time growing up in Brazil and like
Guaraná in soda/soft drink form (Antarctica brand). I didn't think I'd find it
when I moved here, but this store had four pallets of the stuff on display on
one of my first visits.

~~~
spaceflunky
Probably more of a regional thing. Lots of Guava is grown and sold in Florida
because of the demand. I suppose that makes it easy to get up the east coast
at a lower cost.

Guava doesnt grow well on west coast (at least on the commercial scale) and
there is much less demand, so that's why prices are so high.

------
mc32
I'll assure you it's not a lost art where food is relatively expensive/people
can't afford it. It's a good sign when people spend so little of their income
on food that the temptation to steal is severely depressed.

~~~
nagVenkat
As a counter point, I grew up in India where there is still some malnutrition
and I stole mangoes. I was definitely not poor and my family could afford
mangoes and they did buy mangoes. I stole with a bunch of friends and it was
the thrill of the act rather (getting chased by the owner) than the fruit
which made us stole the mangoes.

~~~
mc32
My guess is that the childish prankish appeal will fade as the the need to
steal for sustenance fades in the distance from social memory. I think, though
certainly could be wrong in my guess, is that this behavior is just a vestige
of the primordial reason for stealing.

~~~
tyingq
At least in the US, it can be complicated, many reasons drive theft. I
remember lots of kids shoplifting candy, none of them poor, when I was a kid.

Interesting NPR article on it. _" People with an income of $70,000 or more are
30 percent more likely to shoplift than those earning less"_
[http://www.npr.org/2011/07/14/137627302/sticky-fingers-
hidde...](http://www.npr.org/2011/07/14/137627302/sticky-fingers-hidden-hams-
a-shoplifting-history)

Of course, that covers items beyond food, so perhaps not a direct comparison.

~~~
goialoq
"earning less" than _what_

Unsuprisingly, NPR is misleading to create a more salacious read, and they
failed to cover their tracks:

[https://books.google.com/books?id=EchKhEduEBwC&pg=PT50&dq=Pe...](https://books.google.com/books?id=EchKhEduEBwC&pg=PT50&dq=People+with+an+income+of+$70,000+or+more+are+30+percent+more+likely+to+shoplift)

The research found that people who are in stores more, shoplift more.

------
decafb
Also have a small garden with lots of fruit. Plenty to go around so I don't
mind other people picking as well. Though we have safety concerns - people
climbing trees and so on. We like to be in hearing distance in case something
happens, also we have some ladders and other tools harvesters can use and
point out good spots.

Anyway my point is - just let the owner know. Most will welcome you and even
assist. And make sure you are safe - no-one wants to come home and find a
badly hurt stranger in his backyard. Also take care to not damage the plants.

The article generally leaves me with mixed feelings. Less about the stealing.
More about common sense - there are many places where I just wouldn't pick
fruits - like along polluted roads, heck in public parks there is even risk
there are feces on the fruit. In the countryside there are snakes living in
bushes making unpleasant encounters when unprepared. I see how the author
paints it as romantic, but I feel she is more painting herself as "rebel" or
"original" than actually giving advise.

------
lappet
I grew up stealing mangoes in India as a kid. There is something about raw
mangoes that makes you want to pluck them immediately.

------
markdown
Anyone who loves fruit should watch The Fruit Hunters:

[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2182169/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2182169/)

------
dharma1
Ideas for fruit to grow in UK/London climate? Are mulberries worth it?

Currently growing:

Apples

Cherries

Figs

Grapes

Blueberries

Raspberries

Tayberries

Lime and lemon (partly indoors)

Siberian kiwi (no fruit yet)

Goji berry (no fruit yet)

Honeyberry (no fruit yet)

And appropriating the neighbours' plums, pear and wild blackberries.

~~~
joehewitt
Yes, mulberries are worth it. They would be a very popular fruit if they could
handle the rigors of transport.

If you can track on down in the UK I'd feverishly recommend Pawpaw (Asimina
triloba), a custardy fruit with such tropical flavor you'd be shocked it is
native to North America.

~~~
dharma1
Thanks! Bought a new breed of mulberry for next year -
[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/feb/19/remarka...](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/feb/19/remarkable-
easy-to-grow-new-varities-of-delicious-mulberries)

I managed to find a supplier for pawpaw but not sure it will fruit in this
climate

------
snambi
Stealing is an Art?

------
whipoodle
Lots of wonderful things grow where I live! I'm particularly fond of the
blackberries, lavender, and cherries. For berries and cherries I only take one
or two very occasionally, and I never cut lavender, only rub my hand on it for
the scent.

------
21
So in Turkey you can see orange trees on streets:
[https://i.imgur.com/MJck2yU.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/MJck2yU.jpg)

When I saw such pictures on Instagram I wondered what happens with the fruit,
or if you are allowed to pick one (looks rather high though)

