Free Fruit

[Nyboy]

 

[journey11]

I like the idea. I found 5 or 6 edible crabapple trees at a historical park in OH this fall and took home a grocery bag full and made jam. The ground was absolutely covered with them.

Checked and found only one listing remotely near to me though, about 45 minutes away. I'm sure it will catch on and get bigger though! Then people will be clobbering each other to try to get the goodies first. LOL. j/k!

 

[Jared77]

I was thinking as a seller Id rather get full price as a tax write off than cash at a slashed price.

It's a good concept, why can't we take it a step further? Let's put people on community service to pick fruit AND pick trash. Seriously it's a work detail, put them to use and let's capitalize on free help. Make them tend the community gardens.

That and I think we need to put more thought into public planting designs. Instead of planting a row of Cleveland pear, why not a row of Bartlett pear? Or instead of prairie fire crab why not Granny Smith?

Many areas around here have been talks of doing a deer cull. The Sheriff's Dept SWAT team with night vision/thermal imaging would go out and thin the deer herds in suburban areas or area of high traffic. Absolutely no reason to believe that someone wouldn't step up and process it for a tax write off. Gut it, debone it, grind it all into burger and distribute it. Easy as that.

How is it in a country as economically and agriculturally rich as the United States has 1 in 6 of it's citizens struggle to get enough to eat?

Sorry to go off like that but this is a topic that really fires me up.

 

[thistlebloom]

Frankly Jared I don't believe those numbers. I don't know how they arrive at them, but it seems very inflated. With all of the dozens and dozens of programs out there?

 

[Carol Dee]

@Jared77 I have heard that food banks here where not taking ground venison. Because the people coming in for food did not want Venison as soon as they know it was not Beef or Pork!

 

[Jared77]

I have heard that food banks here where not taking ground venison. Because the people coming in for food did not want Venison as soon as they know it was not Beef or Pork!

Then those folks are not really in need. With beef prices what they are I wouldn't expect to see it at a food bank.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I volunteer at a place that also functions as a food bank for people in need. You should see some of the people that come through. I don't work in the food bank portion but I do give free eggs and veggies. You might get some people that don't eat certain things but I assure you many people will be grateful for whatever they can get. Frankly food banks not taking venison because the people would not want it sounds a lot more like an urban legend than anything else. As the guy running the food bank said, they will take anything because someone will eat it. I've given them some weird things I've had to tell them how to cook like Tromboncini squash and they always give it away.

It is possible state, city, or county health department rules don't allow them to take venison, especially road kill. In some places by law road kill goes to orphanages or some similar place. Maybe by law it has to be processed a certain way before they can accept it. I can easily see food banks not able to accept whole carcasses or unprocessed meat, but processed meat, especially if it is individually wrapped! Not for that reason.

Some places, like Goodwill, have rules about what they will accept and what they will not. I've been surprised by some of those. Some food banks have rules about what they will not accept, like canned goods out of date or with labels ripped off. Maybe they don't have refrigerated storage facilities. I used to take Boy Scouts to one of those so they could sort food and get their service hours.

There are many possible reasons a food bank might not accept certain things and you may have some people with certain beliefs running them that impose their ideas, but a food bank not accepting food because no one would want that just does not sound true from what I have seen. It is going to be a law, some logistics reason, or the ideosyncracy of the person running it.

It takes someone to set it up and the law has to allow it, but harvested venison can go to schools, prisons, food banks, orphanages, or other legitimate places if someone will sort it out. That meat has to be handled right and butchered, but it can be used by someone.

 

[Jared77]

That's what I thought. When I worked in Detroit I treated many people that wouldn't turn down anything edible.

As an Eagle Scout I was part of MANY canned food drives and spent many hours serving hot meals.

Instead of throwing more money at the problem let's utilize the resources we have available.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

"Instead of throwing more money at the problem let's utilize the resources we have available."

That Would be the logical way of going about things, but unfortunately I don't see it happening in many cases. You never know though.

Another option for those of you that might have a surplus - there are small operations looking for excess/on the verge of spoiling produce for livestock fodder. I've seen adds for that on Craigslist and Ebay, although they don't pop up often. It could be an indirect way to help those in need. Food for thought.

 

[AMKuska]

I put out an ISO (In Search Of) for unwanted fruit on my sale/trade forums. She was taking the tree down and totally okay with me grabbing everything I could first. I now have a lifetime supply of applesauce, apple butter, apple preserves, and apple pie filling. Sheesh!