Fruit Frenzy

Craving fresh squeezed O.J.? If you're in Los Angeles, there's no need to hit the local supermarket -why not just pop over to that lush tree growing across the street?

An art project ended up inspiring people to search high and low for publicly grown fruit.

Say hello to Fallen Fruit, a helpful guide to navigating fruit bearing trees located in public spaces in LA. It was launched last year by Dave Burns, Austin Young and Matias Viegener, a trio of local artists who started out with the idea of creating an art project for The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest. The site quickly blossomed, and soon people all around the city were hunting for free fruit in public parks-passion fruit on Delmar Avenue, avocados in Silver Lake, etc.-and posting information about fruit-bearing trees.

"The maps point out the amazing amount of fruit trees that are in public spaces," Viegener says.

Can't get to Orange Country every time you want some juice? Well, you can always mail order some. For non-Californians looking for great fruit, there are some other options -for instance, you can just get some West Coast goodness shipped to your door. Currently, the Fallen Fruit site only covers LA neighborhoods, but in every corner of the country, people can be found finding new ways to enjoy fruit trees and bushes, whether it means picking fresh blueberries at a local farm or looking for produce growing in public. In Urbana, OH, the Johnny Appleseed Museum offers programs that encourage learning about apple trees, while The Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center offers special maps for bicyclers who want to explore local cranberry marshes.

But these organizations aren't just about consumption-they're also encouraging people to plant trees in public areas -after all, if you're going to take the fruit of the earth, it's a nice idea to give back, too.

Posted on January 23, 2006