I Wonder What the Poor Folks Are Having Tonight?: Other Sources of fruit, nuts, and edibles are citrus trees, persimmons, grapes, asparagus, gooseberries, currants, hickory nuts, pecans, pawpaws, blackberries, blueberries, black raspberries
When life hands you lemons, it’s time to start noticing the fruit trees where you live
It’s a truism that we never know what’s coming. Unless you think there’s an unstoppable supply of bunnies and rainbows in your future, there are some options and opportunities to consider. We could all stand to sharpen our powers of observation.
In the past, it was a common practice to plant fruit trees and berry bushes for home use. During World War II, for example, anything grown at home in Victory Gardens was exempt from the rules and regulations of rationing. To help with food production in the war effort, homeowners planted gardens and grew vegetables and fruit. Home food production was popular long before the war, and it was popular afterward, too. The results of these efforts can still be found in cities and towns and across the countryside. My impression is that today most of this fruit is left unused on trees. This may present opportunities in your area.
Remember that fruit trees do not necessarily bear fruit each year
The best time to begin finding these often neglected sources of interest and nutrition is in the Spring. Most trees bloom, but fruit trees tend to be shorter and have very noticeable blooms, often white or pink. Look for the blooms of fruit trees within 20 feet of the ground, not up in the tall tops of ornamental trees.
The time to start looking is before the last frost in your area. Freezing temperatures damage blooms in the Spring. If a tree blooms before the last freeze, there will be damage resulting in reduction of the crop. The colder the temperature and more advanced the bloom stage, the more damage there will be. Find the average last frost date in your area by zip code at this chart. Like weather forecasts, this site will give you the odds for a last frost date, but not an absolute answer. Put in the zip code for your location and follow the last 32 degree line across toward the right. When you reach the 80% column, it’s very likely the last frost in your area will arrive by that day. Start looking for fruit tree blooms in your area about two weeks before that date. Once you begin to notice them, you’ll often see there are more than you expected.
Carry a notebook in your car or on walks in your area to note these locations. The notebook will list places to watch and check for fruit later in the season.
Remember that fruit trees do not necessarily bear fruit each year, even when the weather is favorable. From year to year there are more trees to discover. Some trees bear reliably nearly every year. A web search for "images apple trees blooming" may help prepare you for what to see. With some experience, apple trees are easy to spot, just from their bark and habit. Not all produce edible apples, however. There are lots of flowering crabapples planted in parks and in yards for their ornamental blooms. Millions of Bradford pear trees have been planted in the last 30 years, but they do not produce edible fruit, either. Learn to recognize these two decoys. Neither produces blooms quite like the fruiting varieties. Weeping trees tend to be decorative also. There are many beautiful weeping cherry trees, but few will produce fruit.
There are useful crabapple varieties and useful pear varieties. In years past, crabapples were often used for hard cider but were never as widespread as other apple varieties. Pears were a popular tree fruit because many varieties canned well, but in the old days much of the pear crop went into pear cider or ‘perry.’ Pears were never as common as apples. Apples tended to be eaten fresh, stored, or dried.
So most of the fruit trees you will hope to find will be apples, pears, peaches, plums, and tart cherries. If your life is truly charmed, you might find an apricot tree heavy with ripe fruit. With luck, there may be a neglected home orchard or even a commercial orchard in your area. These are potential sources of bounty come harvest season. Find these and note them well.
It will be several weeks after bloom before the fruit becomes noticeable on the trees, and a few more before ripening begins. Rainy years may cause apple trees to bend and break under their fruit load. This bending is another way to spot fruit trees.
A few apples can be picked and used for pies before they mature. Pie apples should be tart and firm. Nearly all apples are tart and firm before they ripen fully. Varieties like transparent and Lodi are early apples which make excellent pies just before ripening. After they ripen they will dry well and can be used for applesauce. Other varieties follow in a predictable sequence for your area.
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Always seek permission first, before walking onto the property
Neglected trees are rarely sprayed. This means that the fruit will not carry the pesticide burden of commercial fruit, but it also means that insects and fungal and bacterial diseases will have little to stop them, and the fruit will not have the outward appearance of perfection. I like to think that a live worm proves that something ate part of the apple and lived to tell the tale, or at least to have me tell it. That bodes well for me so long as I cut out the wormy parts. Many pesticides are applied for cosmetic reasons. We peel apples for a pie, so if the outside is imperfect, who cares, so long as the inside is good?
Once located and noted, it may be possible to approach tree owners as the harvest season approaches. When you go back, always seek permission first, before walking onto the property. If there’s no one to ask, come back another time. Ask if there are plans for the fruit, or if you could have some. Offer to pay for the fruit.
Never climb in a fruit tree, especially one that belongs to someone else. For that matter, never climb in your own, either. Most fruit harvesting is done from the ground. Do not take risks and do not try to harvest fruit that is out of reach. Here are some fruit pickers that will give better results with less damage to fruit and with no need to climb a tree or ladder. Sometimes these can be found or ordered at local hardware stores.
Orchards are always planted for the future
Other sources of fruit, nuts, and edibles are citrus trees, persimmons, grapes, asparagus, gooseberries, currants, hickory nuts, pecans, pawpaws, blackberries, blueberries, and the greatest berry of all, the black raspberry.
Best of all, order and plant fruit trees, vines, and berries adapted to your area. Orchards are always planted for the future. Now is the time to order trees. Nurseries will ship them when the time is right to plant.
Learn from the mistakes of others. From the time of Adam and Eve, fruit trees have been a source of food and mischief. And just like in their day, it has been important to get permission before eating of the tree. If it’s forbidden, just grabbing one and taking a bite anyway can result in some serious karma issues. Also, avoid talking serpents, especially the beguiling ones! There’s a book about all that.
Dr. Bruce Smith (Inkwell, Hearth and Plow) is a retired professor of history and a lifelong observer of politics and world events. He holds degrees from Indiana University and the University of Notre Dame. In addition to writing, he works as a caretaker and handyman. His non-fiction book The War Comes to Plum Street, about daily life in the 1930s and during World War II, may be ordered from Indiana University Press.
It’s a truism that we never know what’s coming. Unless you think there’s an unstoppable supply of bunnies and rainbows in your future, there are some options and opportunities to consider. We could all stand to sharpen our powers of observation.
In the past, it was a common practice to plant fruit trees and berry bushes for home use. During World War II, for example, anything grown at home in Victory Gardens was exempt from the rules and regulations of rationing. To help with food production in the war effort, homeowners planted gardens and grew vegetables and fruit. Home food production was popular long before the war, and it was popular afterward, too. The results of these efforts can still be found in cities and towns and across the countryside. My impression is that today most of this fruit is left unused on trees. This may present opportunities in your area.
