Plant fruit trees for the homeless or the hungry.
Posted by One_Recover_673@reddit | CrazyIdeas | View on Reddit | 194 comments
Instead of decorative trees and plants, cities should plant fruit trees and bushes. If you are in say Greece you see fruit trees everywhere and you can just pull from them. Figs for example are so robust and the zilch maintenance. So climate pending, why not?
Jelopuddinpop@reddit
As someone with an orchard of 60 fruit trees, the answer is Yellowjackets. Millions and millions of Yellowjackets.
Once the fruit falls, the yellowjackets come in for their share, and they're always fucking angry. You might think that the trick is just to make sure you harvest early, but then a nasty dry spell happens, and all of your trees drop half their fruit. I had to pick my orchard last year in a beekeepers suit.
Grathmaul@reddit
Except one or two random asshats would probably steal all the fruit and try to sell them.
The reason we can't have nice things is because the majority of people are selfish entitled twats.
jerrythecactus@reddit
One of the main reasons fruit trees aren't planted all over the place is that they produce vastly more fruit than gets eaten. All of that fruit falls and begins to rot which becomes a hazard especially in urban environments. To avoid this you'd need to have regular maintenance on city streets to remove fallen rotting fruit.
At that point it's probably just better to fund and operate soup kitchens.
Dry_System9339@reddit
Why do you think fruit trees are zero maintenance? If they don't get sprayed with neem oil every year you get bugs in all the fruit and most of them need regular pruning.
VeeKam@reddit
Some are so maintenance-free that any effort is spent reducing natural fruit or seed production. We do nothing to our mango tree aside from trimming it when it gets too big, yet it produces more mangoes per season than several people would possibly want. Same goes for our lychee nut tree.
False-Elk-1917@reddit
Both of those only grow in tropical climates
VeeKam@reddit
Thank you, professor.
Piggybear87@reddit
Try citrus. We had oranges, tangerines, lemons, and loquats in my old yard and no one cared for them and they produced so much excess that we hucked them at each other for fun and STILL couldn't get rid of it all. We also had a food garden that we just planted and left alone and there was so much we gave 80% of it away because we just couldn't eat it all. Things will grow without intervention, you just have to find the right things for the right areas.
False-Elk-1917@reddit
Citrus will only grow in tropical areas
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Pm_me_clown_pics3@reddit
I had a plum tree and a cherry tree in my yard at a place I lived years ago. I never lifted a finger to take care of them and every year I was flooded with so much cherries and plums I had to start making wine and pies and letting the neighborhood kids take as much as they want and I still had too much left over.
Dry_System9339@reddit
Those don't grow very well in most of Canada. And fruit trees attract bears.
Electrical-Profit367@reddit
I’m in a big city — here they attract rats.
I hate rats.
Kurwabled666LOL@reddit
There are no bears where I live so no problem there lol
peachesfordinner@reddit
Give global warming a few more years :(
Odd_Interview_2005@reddit
I have a half a dozen fruit trees about 75 yards from my deer stand. It makes for good deer hunting
SubBass49Tees@reddit
Yuummmmm...loquats...
Piggybear87@reddit
They're delicious! Honestly one of my favorite fruits.
One_Recover_673@reddit (OP)
I had two loquat trees. Huge. So much fruit. Are them raw, made jam, even made moonshine by soaking the seeds in gin and vodka.
Recycled_Decade@reddit
That is not how you make moonshine. That's how you infuse gin and vodka.
One_Recover_673@reddit (OP)
It was moonshine in my head
Recycled_Decade@reddit
Cool. Moonshine is hard to make and easy if that makes sense. You can blow your ass up or make a bunch of dough. Bet you gin tasted good though.
Scuttling-Claws@reddit
Nespolino is delicious. I made about a gallon every year and give it away as gifts
SubBass49Tees@reddit
Same. Just wish I had access to them consistently.
dirtmother@reddit
Im from Florida and grew up with a number of loquats and oranges in my yard.
The squirrels eat all of them.
If you're willing to hunt squirrels, they're great bait.
But I wouldn't count on them to be self-cultivating in any way.
Piggybear87@reddit
I've lived here all my life (38 years) and sure, the squirrels, rats, fruit bats, etc. all eat them, but they produce so much that it's not noticeable. Even with the loss from nature, eating a ton of it, and throwing them at each other, there were still constantly full trees.
As for being self cultivating, all the ones that drop have a chance to sprout. Also, OP specifically said to plant them. And it's a good idea. Eating an orange or some loquats for dinner might suck, but it's better than no food at all.
dirtmother@reddit
May I ask where I Florida you are? Because I'm in the Ocala National Forest area and I don't think the sand here is really made for citrus. Even with all the huge 20+ years old orange and loquat trees, I've never seen a new one coming out of the ground.
I've even tried to cultivate then personally with different kinds of soil, and it always failed damn near immediately.
Piggybear87@reddit
West-central is all I'm willing to say. We're all sand as well and in my old yard I was constantly mowing down baby trees, especially the lemons. All of the trees on the property were natural. So they were all self cultivated. Animal droppings is what I would assume, but I don't know for sure. Oh, and in my list I forgot to say I had a grapefruit tree as well because we cut that down early because we needed room for a shed and no one ate it in my house.
greengrayclouds@reddit
This is a massive exaggeration
HR_King@reddit
Need is oddly specific and wildly inaccurate. But,yes, in many places, on many kinds of trees, some insect treatment is needed.
False-Elk-1917@reddit
Any tree where it’s hot and humid is going to need treatment for bugs and fungus i promise
HR_King@reddit
Weird how I don't have to treat my pear trees.
A7MOSPH3RIC@reddit
You're not wrong but there are those who say fuck this, lets have a little fruit here or there. These people will clandestinely graft a fruit tree branch to a city ornamental street or park tree. The result a non fruiting tree with a single branch of fruit. Imagine just walking along and there be a single branch with apples on it.
First link in search:
https://grist.org/food/graft-punk-breaking-the-law-to-help-urban-trees-bear-fruit/
Also Seattle made a public fruit orchard:
https://grist.org/urban-agriculture/into-the-woods-seattle-plants-a-public-food-forest/
One_Recover_673@reddit (OP)
In some places in the right climate and right conditions stuff just grows, year over year. It seems easy to produce. Just popped into my head bc everytime I’m in Greece I just see blackberry and fig and plum trees that are overgrown, nobody harvesting and it’s so accessible
babywhiz@reddit
We used to have a ton of blackberry bushes and the city yanked them all up. So sad.
Ironicbanana14@reddit
Ugh its a toss up for them. I've seen folks get absolutely shredded after accidentally tripping on a vine, they tear up sidewalks too. And they grow so fast. They pop bike tires.
But they are really tasty so its like idk if they should just keep them away from paths, lol.
poisonedkiwi@reddit
They are extremely high maintenance in order to keep them under control. Unfortunately a decent amount of people who grow them on a whim don't know this, and they will easily overtake your yard and become a problem.
One_Recover_673@reddit (OP)
The blackberries by our place are out of control. It’s like a tree not a bush. Just huge
Ironicbanana14@reddit
Yes especially if you're in a wetter area or a watershed. The bushes i pick from easily grow up to 3 feet in length on their vines per summer lol.
Time-Mode-9@reddit
Last year in my area on the outskirts of London I collected about 5kg of blackberries.
Still have a few jars of ham left.
TheAnomalousPseudo@reddit
Cities could employ people to take care of them
blastmanager@reddit
All trees planted in public areas need maintenance of sorts, but an apple tree provides more sustenance than a birch. Unfortunately, providing for the homeless and maintaining parks are two different budgets, so any surplus in one will not benefit the other.
Also, those fruit trees would most likely be plucked clean by those who don't need it.
TheGoosiestGal@reddit
Cities already pay for gardening work. We have a few fruit trees in a local park and they do great.
nolan1971@reddit
Well, there's another good reason to do it then! The insect population is cratering, maybe planting a bunch of fruit trees will help them come back! lol
MCnoCOMPLY@reddit
Fun fact, urban planning calls for all trees in cities to be male so we don't have to deal with the fruit and seeds. This leads to huge increases in pollen and excessive hay fever episodes.
Supplemental fun fact. All the allergy medication companies support tree reforestation projects for this reason. Seems like boring old PR moves but they're actually lining their pockets.
mediocrelpn@reddit
trees produce seasonally and require a lot of maintenance.
clce@reddit
You ever try to give fruit to homeless people? You ever see a homeless person wandering around looking for fruit trees? You ever seen how much fruit gets donated to food banks and ends up going rotten when people's household fruit trees are in season? It's a lot. Fruit May offer some calories and sustenance, and certainly a lot of nutrition in terms of vitamins and nutrients whatever those May be, but they are not a particularly useful item when it comes to strictly feeding the poor and homeless.
storywardenattack@reddit
Because most homeless people aren’t going to go around picking fruit. If they would, they wouldn’t be homeless
Nice idea though. I think a series of communal orchards might work better.
rhythmrice@reddit
My dad started a "food forest" in our town, 2 half blocks worth of land right near a school and all the tress we planted give fruit, and they're all native species to where we live so they shouldnt need much care.
I just googled it and haha my dads in the first picture that comes up and wow it was over 10 years ago we started it wow time flies
http://homegrowniowan.com/community-food-forest-taking-root-in-the-quad-cities/
euph_22@reddit
From a public policy standpoint, the solution to homeless people being hungry is to give them food. The solution to homeless people lacking shelter is to provide them some form of stable housing. The solution to poor people dealing with illness is to provide medical care. It's not even a "we don't have money for this" thing, because doing these things would save tax money overall since the effects of people not having food, shelter or health care is more costly on a societal level.
fermented_mushroom@reddit
RFK Jr. wants to set up farms that house people who are struggling and let them work to grow their own food. A beautiful idea. We will see if it happens.
euph_22@reddit
Arbeit mach gesund
Dry_System9339@reddit
They are definitely not concentration camps...
fermented_mushroom@reddit
You don’t like gardening?
NetWorried9750@reddit
I don't like slavery, once you take people's freedom away it stops being gardening
fermented_mushroom@reddit
Cold take. What makes it slavery. You are jumping to conclusions
NetWorried9750@reddit
The forced labor is what makes it slavery
fermented_mushroom@reddit
It’s not compulsory
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Dry_System9339@reddit
The "farms" are for people that take psych meds.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aktion_T4
CallMeNiel@reddit
To help them concentrate.
GreenRider7@reddit
This doesnt seem like a share cropper at all!
fermented_mushroom@reddit
I guess make of it what you will. I’d love to go work on a farm for a while for my mental health
NoStandard7259@reddit
People say this but you don’t realize how brutal true farm work can be. It’s not just fun planting tomato plants and watering some flowers
fermented_mushroom@reddit
I’ve worked on a farm.
GreenRider7@reddit
You can check in any time you'd like.... but you can never leave!
Infamous-Arm3955@reddit
It is a great idea. Here's what happens in my city. We home the homeless but they must maintain a planter where they can grow vegetables. On weekends it's open to the public to buy veg. It's been a good way so far for them to raise money for drugs. A cop I talked to said the police attended the "building+garden area" 50 times in one month.
Ds1018@reddit
I have lots of fruit trees. I think 60.
They are an absolute pain in the ass to manage. They’re finicky as hell, die randomly, require constant pruning, requires lots of water and fertilizer, and then squirrels and birds tend to find the ripe fruit first. Some years I get lots of fruit. Some years I get almost none. All years they’re a lot of work.
Marbas_u@reddit
It seems like a good idea to me, I am a supporter of sustainable urbanization
slimzimm@reddit
Some asshole will come and pick them all and sell them at the farmers market for profit. People don’t have respect. And whatever falls on the ground will just make the area really nasty, full of flies and sticky, and smell gross.
Ive always wanted to graft fruit onto decorative city trees, but it would definitely cause more problems.
MarkHaversham@reddit
I refuse to believe it's easier to transport a missile from the US to at a wedding in Pakistan than it is to solve the problem of urban fruit attracting flies.
slimzimm@reddit
Bombing people is easy, there’s a will to do it and the funding is very accessible. Helping people is not easy, there’s not enough of a desire for the city to want to achieve that with all the nimby’s that live in cities.
MarkHaversham@reddit
"there's not enough desire" i.e. "we can't do it because we don't want to"
Scuttling-Claws@reddit
Isn't that just the market at work? And providing income for someone who needs it?
slimzimm@reddit
I suppose. If you’re happy spending money and resources doing something meant for everyone that only a few will benefit from.
Scuttling-Claws@reddit
That's how public services work. Not every single person has to use a park,or a library.
And you know what, if someone comes into a library every single day to use the computer, that's success. Even if it means no one else got to use that computer.
And if there's a line that just means it's a useful social good, and we should spend more money on it
Title26@reddit
Well its more like if someone came into the library and took all the books to sell on amazon
Scuttling-Claws@reddit
The tree grows more fruit. Pretty much for free.
Title26@reddit
Yeah, a year later, at which point the guy will be back.
Im not saying fruit trees are a bad idea, but letting people take all the fruit to sell is not.
Scuttling-Claws@reddit
That's not usually how fruit trees work. They tend to not all ripen at the same time, instead there's a period of about a month, with new fruit ripening each day
slimzimm@reddit
Not exactly because you’re just subsidizing one person’s benefit vs more than one person.
michiplace@reddit
Your farmers market scenario is a potential solution to the waste and mess scenario, though. If someone wants to do the work of harvesting the fruit and making it available to people, I'm all for that. It's no different than people who forage for morels or ramps or huckleberries or whatever on the forest and sell them.
McArse4@reddit
Not if I beat them to it so I can turn them into cider
As I did in a village where they just let the apples drop and rot
lamppb13@reddit
I live somewhere that does this, and you know what? This doesn't happen.
slimzimm@reddit
I live in Hawaii, and this is exactly what happens.
Excidiar@reddit
I live in a city in which about various trees give fruit. And when they do, people harvest them as they pass. Yes, some of it falls. But that's why we have public street cleaning services.
Marbas_u@reddit
I guess you're right, the cleanup factor and resource hoarding are issues to consider. But you must admit that utopias are good fuel for the imagination
PlayPretend-8675309@reddit
What's more sustainable is simply spending the money on food. Fun fact, you can turn cash into food 24/7/365, Not just a one month stretch per year. 99% of the food you buy is edible and not insect infested. Money doesn't require land, tending, fertilizer.
It's a classic bad urbanism idea: looks cool in a photograph but expensive and inefficient. This is the La Sombrita of food ideas.
Bluegrass6@reddit
If nobody eats the apples they fall on the ground, rot and stink. No doubt people would be okay about the mess and smell. I'd bet you most people wouldn't feel comfortable eating apples off a random tree on the side of a road. They'd rather get them from the grocery store
turnsout_im_a_potato@reddit
I have pondered why this isn't the norm and a friend of mine advised me that the mess, the bugs, the cleanup would be a constant nuisance.
Ironicbanana14@reddit
Eating the fruit from the side of the road is also advised against because pollution settles on it
draco16@reddit
Because fruit trees tend to be much harder to grow and maintain. Most of the ones I've worked around also take a LOT more water. When they're full grown, you get a lot of critters and bugs, introducing new problems. You also get hundreds of half-eaten fruits that a squirrel took one bite out of then threw it on the ground to rot. In addition to all this, you're just going to get one greedy person going around taking all the fruits and selling them, or you get one sick person who ate a parasite and now you've got lawsuits.
It would be more efficient to just make normal orchards, where everything is far more controlled and just add the results to whatever homeless program the city runs.
rogerec@reddit
Barcelona does that! There are orange trees in the city, and each year about 5000kg are harvested to make orange jam for the poor. They don't need that much maintenance honestly. Picking the fruit is more labor intensive though, they rely on volunteers for that
gunsforevery1@reddit
Fruit trees are not zero maintenance.
sniperman357@reddit
Anyone suggesting this has no idea what causes food insecurity or how to manage an orchard lol
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HatOfFlavour@reddit
Bad bot
NordicNugz@reddit
The solution is not making life better for the homeless. Your suggestion only helps the homeless continue to be homeless.
The solution is to help the homeless get off the streets and stop being homeless.
I was watching a protest a while ago. The police were coming in to push homeless people out of a public park they had set up camp in. The protesters were there trying to get the police to leave the homeless alone.
I realized that the police wanted the homeless to be homeless somewhere else, and the protesters wanted the homeless to be homeless right where they were. It didn't matter who won. They were still homeless.
One_Recover_673@reddit (OP)
Gotcha. But they do have to eat.
DiceNinja@reddit
This is America. Someone would poison the fruit because deliberately starving the homeless is taking a really long time.
arjim@reddit
All these comments.... not one mention of rodents.
ceilingscorpion@reddit
Most fruit trees produce a lot of fruit. Do you like sticky sidewalks, aggressive birds, lots of bugs? They are a ton of maintenance
the_darkener@reddit
I would think maintenance of fruit trees would be a minimal cost compared to the benefits of literally feeding the hungry.
Jeez.
PlayPretend-8675309@reddit
It's all cash. The money spent on maintenance would buy more food than the fruit tree could functionally grow in the first place. Farming is already an extremely low margin business, you think the city is going to do it more efficiently on a smaller scale than farms are?
the_darkener@reddit
I think that a city can simultaneously pay farmers for food AND provide some fruit trees. Not that hard, cities are used to doing more than one thing at a time.
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Detson101@reddit
Sure, but you could buy so much food from farmers for the amount you spend on maintaining the trees. We don't sew our own shirts anymore because a factory can do it much cheaper and better. Crops are the same. A farmer has the capital and experience (and the economy of scale) to produce food better and cheaper. Do what I do and donate (financially) to your local food bank.
the_darkener@reddit
Does it really have to be one or the other, though? Think of the very primal nature of picking your own fruit off of a tree. It's so much more than nutrition, it brings our ties to nature into the forefront of our minds. I wouldn't be surprised if doing things like this would even reduce crime.
Detson101@reddit
Maybe! It would certainly beautify the city if well maintained.
the_darkener@reddit
:)
ceilingscorpion@reddit
OP mentioned zilch maintenance in their post. I was just trying to say that it’s definitely not zilch maintenance not that that’s not where tax dollars should go. I’m all for it
lady-earendil@reddit
Because most cities do everything they can to make life harder for the homeless, not easier
Nago31@reddit
I used to be an EMT in Los Angeles and would chat with them during transports, most were transplants from places with harsher weather and lacked other services. It’s a sad truth that easier living for homeless people attracts more homeless people, which cities do not want.
lady-earendil@reddit
Yeah, there's a reason there's so many homeless people on the West Coast. Part of it is obviously that the high cost of living leads to more homelessness, but a lot of them have moved from other areas to escape harsh weather
stoned_switch@reddit
Homeless people die in Utah all the time from the cold, I can't blame them one bit.
If I became homeless I'd start walking that way lol.
Chargin_Arjuna@reddit
Yes and they plant male trees which produce pollen, which makes our allergies crazy.
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PerryAwesome@reddit
I suggest anti-homeless fruit trees
lamppb13@reddit
Look at that. More jobs were just created.
PlayPretend-8675309@reddit
If fruit trees can grow in your climate then they are already growing in your city. The amount of discarded apple seeds, orange seeds, etc?
The being said, unmanaged fruit trees aren't very productive. We have a pear tree in my back yard and we get maybe 20 vaguely edible fruits a year from it, and even then it's for jams and pies, not eating off the branch.
In short, it's massively more efficient to spend the money directly on food.
Detson101@reddit
It's a well-meaning idea and a nice gesture, but a better idea would be to take the money you would have spent on the trees and just buy food. Farmers are going to be loads more efficient at producing crops, dollar for dollar. The homeless also aren't necessarily starving- countries differ, but here at least they mostly need money for things like train fare or incidentals.
LairdPeon@reddit
Fruit trees typically have short lives and high maintenance. There also aren't that many starving people in the US, and a couple figs a year isn't saving the few people that are.
I like the idea because it'd be cool to see fruit trees in cities, but it's not really fixing any problems.
The fruit would also be heavily contaminated by roadside pollution.
nomappingfound@reddit
When I moved into my house one of my goals was to plant a fruit tree.
Then I did the research on fruit trees. They can be a nightmare to maintain.
One they attract birds that may end up eating all of the fruit. Two, when fruit falls on the ground they attract rats that eat all the fruit. Three You have to deal with bugs, potentially spray pesticides or have nets. Otherwise all the fruit will be inedible.
Fruit trees are a lot of work if you want them to be productive (at least where I live).
Probably not a viable option. Things like blackberries might be a better option, although those are technically an invasive species where I'm at, so we're actively trying to get rid of them.
Goose2theMax@reddit
The people in charge would have to care about homeless and hungry people. Not to mention people can’t be trusted and would probably poison or damage the trees
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I-eat-jam@reddit
Most edible fruit trees are a clone/cutting taken from a known variety that tastes good and is grafted onto a rootstock that is known to grow well.
When people have babies, the only thing you can predict is that they won't be the same as either parent. The same goes for trees. Often, the fruit isn't tasty.
So fruit tree reproduction takes work/money if the goal is edible fruit, and then you have to maintain the things.
One_Recover_673@reddit (OP)
That’s the going assumption. But then just walk down the street at my mother in laws place in Greece. Figs, peaches, blackberries…overgrown, zero maintenance…thriving. And of course they produce so much there’s fruit rotting in the ground.
I have neighbors that have lemon trees. Zero maintenance and trees falling over from weight of fruit. My Meyer lemon died and never produced much ever.
So I dunno. I’m not talking maintained orchards to produce grocery store quality but making use of what seems to be waste
Sloppyjoemess@reddit
Raspberries and wineberries!
Ryoga_reddit@reddit
There are plenty of resources for the homeless.
I was homeless and used those resources to get off the streets fast.
The problem is that a lot of homeless take those resources and sell them or trade them.
Want to get a bus pass cheap in a big city? Find the homeless shelters.
They used to have actual food stamps but people would trade them for a percentage of the value almost right out the door. Now they give ebt cards which make it harder but im sure they find ways.
You want to get off the streets, you'll get off the streets.
You want to be a screwup and get high all the time well the streets can keep you on them too.
Thick_Description982@reddit
I like the idea but dropped fruit will bring animals and bugs
freakytapir@reddit
And then you have greedy fucks just taking all the fruit and selling it.
Happened when my town put up some nice hazel trees. Some people just came by with a load of plastic bags, collected all the nuts and just took them home.
JKilla1288@reddit
Can't buy crack with fruit.
PublicCampaign5054@reddit
In Venezuela there are Mangoes everywhere across the whole country.
Illustrious-Meet3822@reddit
There is going to be one guy stealing all the frukt to sell Them
Opposite_Unlucky@reddit
That is how you get ants.
classisttrash@reddit
The homeless near me don’t want food. I’ve tried to feed them and they just get mad I don’t give them cash for…other things.
KnoWanUKnow2@reddit
1) You don't want fruit trees or bushes near your driveway. They make a mess.
Other than that, have at her.
Alos, there are tons of things in an urban landscape that people just don't know are edible. Rose hips and dandelions for example.
One_Recover_673@reddit (OP)
The two loquat trees I had were just gross. Driveway was sticky. The blackberry bush/tree down the street has fruit all over the road. But, hol smoke it’s awesome to just grab and eat. Their are huge and juicy and sweet.
NekoMao92@reddit
Fruit trees make a huge mess. After doing delivery for 4 years, I've come to hate fruit trees planted along sidewalks and streets. No one cleans up the fallen fruit.
wolfhybred1994@reddit
I love the idea, but someone would go through and pick all the fruit to try to sell it to the hungry, smash it out of boredom or to keep other people from benefiting from it or someone would eat the free food of their own free will and get sick and try to sue the town, city or what not for “getting them sick”. Despite it being their choice to eat the fruit or what not when it was clearly gone spoiled or them having a sensitivity to they specific fruit.
Otherwise it sounds amazing. The notion of everyone working together to help keep the trees healthy and everyone getting some fruits and groups coming together to process large batches into spreads and other long term storage through donated jars and such to distribute to people to help get them through the months outside of fruit bearing seasons.
1happynudist@reddit
That is a good point , you could also grow vegetables and stuff along road side too . This use to be done but now people are to lazy to to go harvest for themselves.
Rand_alThor4747@reddit
some parts of my area, they planted a bunch of plum trees on the street, all that happens is every year there are a bunch of rotten plums all over the footpath and the road. Some are collected, but most go to waste.
Animaequitas@reddit
I heard from a homeless man some years ago that there's a notorious learning curve where newly homeless people have to learn from experience not to eat much from the city orange trees, especially if they're very hungry and have had nothing else, because they get diarrhea and are worse off.
throwawaydragon99999@reddit
Fruit trees wouldn’t be a very good food source for the homeless — most fruits in most climates only grow for a few weeks every year. Also fruits aren’t very nutrient dense, it would be a nice treat but it wouldn’t be enough to sustain starving people.
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Spackleberry@reddit
Good idea. Unfortunately, what would happen is people will strip the trees bare and sell the fruit themselves. Or kids will take the fruit and throw them at houses, cars, and other people.
lamppb13@reddit
This just simply doesn't happen on the scale that counteracts the benefits.
zeptillian@reddit
The benefit of a homeless person or two being able to eat a few pieces of fruit when they happen to be in season and are ripe enough to eat, but not already eaten by animals?
The supermarket is throwing away boxes of edible food daily year round.
lamppb13@reddit
This is an entirely separate issue, and it doesn't have any impact on the benefits of OPs idea.
OutOfTheBunker@reddit
But it shows that the need for food isn't a big issue (in whatever place this is).
lamppb13@reddit
Not necessarily. Could be an access issue. Or a price issue. Or it could be nefarious (some businesses intentionally damage or discard goods to keep prices high.
LCJonSnow@reddit
Alternatively, no one picks anything and then you have a bunch of rotten fruit that has to be cleaned up on the sidewalks.
echtemendel@reddit
or, hear me out, make sure there are no homeless nor hungry people, because we enough social resources and abilities to make sure of both?
CodesJones@reddit
That is an interesting idea. It would get a lot more people eating healthier, not just the homeless. The excess that doesn't get eaten can go to homeless shelters too. The downsides is you would need to give someone a job to clean all of the droppings around the trees, the fruit trees dont grow as tall as wind breaker trees, people are sue happy so they may sue if they get sick, and you would probably have to post signs saying people should eat the fruits.
SphericalOrb@reddit
A friend of mine did partly live off of what was available from fruit trees when her and her mom were homeless.
Some people are going to say, "the mess!" But male trees produce about the same mass of pollen as female trees produce fruit. Both make a mess, but the former make allergies bad for some people. I'd rather step in fruit than have the air burn me thanks.
I just wish more substantial fruit like breadfruit could grow everywhere. Most fruit has a lot of sugar and will give you intestinal distress if you eat too much at once.
dirtmother@reddit
Fruit trees are insanely high maintenance in most latitudes and soils. My parents grow avocados to supplement their greenhouse, but you wouldn't believe the absolute headache.
I'm native to Florida and have absolutely THE WORST sandy soil to work with, but after a few years of hit-and-miss experimentation with growing things from seed; here are the ones that can actually work with barely shit:
OKRAH (this is a big one because it grows like a weed; but it also disintegrates the second something like winter happens)
Basil (this is what I will be growing in the event of an apocalypse; it grows like a damn weed)
Mint and/or sage.
Peppers can do really well with a minimum of care.
Honestly mushrooms are a great protein supplement if you're willing to put in the work to keep the mold off.
Tomatoes are great if you're ready to watch them die after giving you like three tomatoes and then starting all over again.
Toal_ngCe@reddit
Why do you think they don't plant them? Can't have those homeless getting free food
the_darkener@reddit
You forgot to put the /s, right?
....right?
Toal_ngCe@reddit
yeah ofc lmao i do think that homeless people deserve food
the_darkener@reddit
Oh I know YOU do, I meant coming from the cities perspective lol
Toal_ngCe@reddit
Ohh yeah lol my bad
the_darkener@reddit
You're all good friend =)
JimDa5is@reddit
This is a country where they put "features" on walls and benches to prevent the homeless from sleeping on them. Do you really think they're going to start feeding them? If things don't change I can definitely see them being rounded up and shipped off to camps.
the_darkener@reddit
Not the whole country is like this. Some cities (many progressive) do a lot of good to help reduce homelessness!
Seaguard5@reddit
Birds get to them first
thebipeds@reddit
In lemon grove California they actually have lemon trees at the bus stop and Main Street.
My friend moved from there to New York City and was appalled at paying for lemons for the first time in life.
Suzina@reddit
So there's free land available for fruit trees to live on, but not me?
lesbianspider69@reddit
I think they mean replacing weird decorative trees with fruit trees
myseaentsthrowaway@reddit
Google Seattle food forest
NetWorried9750@reddit
This already exists https://www.beaconfoodforest.org
quiksilver10152@reddit
Met some duders in West Africa who spend their lives and incomes doing that for oasis towns so they don't get pressured economically to change. Grow trees, shrug off monetary offers! *We got food, we don't need to offer our resources! "
One_Recover_673@reddit (OP)
I was working in a project with the world bank to teach farmers how to handle locust season in Africa. Must be tough there for those guys. What saw was brutal
quiksilver10152@reddit
Dessert life be like that. I've seen nomads have taken a liking to solar panels and radios. Life has improved tremendously for them in recent years. The last step is to make their stomachs impervious to bribery!
BenPsittacorum85@reddit
Yeah, would be good if there were food bearing plants everywhere rather than mostly decorative fluff and infinite rules.
LordBaal19@reddit
The place I live have mango trees everywhere, people sometimes cut them down to avoid having to clean up all the mess.
pragmojo@reddit
Idk sounds pretty far-fetched
Why not something realistic like a pasta-based solution?
Riccma02@reddit
This was a thing in the Middle Ages along pilgrimage routes. The trees still need to be tended to though, and fruit rotting on and around the trees makes an awful mess. That is actually why we have such a tree pollen problem; 19th century horticulturalist were afraid to use female trees because the fruit would make a mess, so they planted mostly male trees that now erupt with pollen every spring.
canned_spaghetti85@reddit
Despite your good intentions :
Many fruits cannot be consumed safely, if under-ripe, not mature enough.
Also, some fruits hanging too long may be over-ripe, suffer oxidation spoilage, and [again] unsafe to consume.
Knowing when to eat them, versus when they are too far gone, is different for all produce, and a skill not everybody possesses.
Unfortunately, this could lead to many incidents of homeless people being admitted to hospital for digestive ailments, gastro bacterial disease, etc.
I love your idea ; but sadly I fear the foreseeable consequences MAY LIKELY outweigh the initial benefits.
Silence_1999@reddit
I’m ok with this one
Significant-Task1453@reddit
Fruit trees are a lot of work. Whos going to prune them? Whos going to fertilize them and water them? Who's going to clean up all the rotting fruit?
ctgrell@reddit
We have 2 fruit trees next to the house. It attracts so many animals. And no the kinds I would like to see in the city. The only good thing was that when we had chickens we got the fallen fruits for them. But hey, at least thanks to global warmint, now these trees are dying, no more fruits 💀
PerryAwesome@reddit
In medieval times we even had a shared fields and gardens where everyone could contribute and take a share
somecow@reddit
We do. Entire garden. It’s awesome. Limited on the amount of food we can give, but the veggies and fruit are on a “take it, we don’t ask” basis.
jckipps@reddit
My family has an overblown hobby orchard and vineyard that my grandfather started. Getting a crop isn't a guarantee at all, but the chances are almost zero without various insecticide and fungicide sprays. Cedar Apple Rust, Spotted Lantern Fly, Black Rot, etc, etc.
I expect that every city could find a specie or two that would grow and produce in their area with no spray. But just eating Mulberries is going to be boring as hell, and extremely messy on the pavement around the tree. Same goes for paw-paws, crab-apples, and other hardy fruits.
VStarlingBooks@reddit
They would rather have pollen everywhere instead of "rotting" fruit.
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