Gleaning our Urban Orchards

The city landscape is abundant with food and food growing opportunities.  Generations of residents in our neighborhood have planted  fruit and nut trees, some of which are now over 100 years old and still tremendously productive! Waves of immigrants have brought their favorite cultivars with them, many of which are heritage varieties that are difficult to find in nurseries. We can literally read the layers of cultural history of our neighborhood in the landscape!

Wine Making: A great preserving option that requires no energy

Our neighborhood is particularly plentiful with stately English Walnuts and Chestnuts that rain calories and protein down upon us each fall.  Yet, much of this abundance is left unharvested. This year, we made a concerted effort to map and harvest the fruit in our neighborhood.  We amassed hundreds of pounds of fruit, much of which we preserved or fermented.

Ginko Fruit - To be harvested for the nuts.

Some common fruit tree are less commonly known for the food they produce. These fruits from the Ginko tree that we found on Craigslist will be processed for their nuts, some of which we will eat and others of which we will plant.  Most Ginkos that are planted in the city are males because the males do not produce fruit which are thought to make a mess and smell bad.

Persimmon: A great winter fruit source in Oregon. We harvested these Fuyu persimmons in December - they're delicious!

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