Posted on 10/14/2012 9:00:22 AM PDT by Donkey Odious
Consider it a modern take on the legendary tale of Johnny Appleseed. Vancouver, B.C., has announced plans to plant 150,000 fruit and nut trees on city streets, in parks, and on city-owned lands in the next eight years, reports the Vancouver Sun.
At the moment, the city has about 600 fruit and nut trees on city streets, and another 425 can be found in the city's parks, community gardens, and pocket orchards.
"Street trees play an important role in helping Vancouver adapt to climate change, manage stormwater run-off, support biodiversity, and even provide food," Mayor Gregor Robertson said in a statement to the city's council last week.
(Excerpt) Read more at takepart.com ...
How long before the Police start issuing tickets for picking without a permit?
When the libs invest their personal time and money in the project, I will think it is a good idea.
Speaking of Asians... I did see one case where publicly planted fruit trees - female gingko trees- had become a nuisance as the fruit from gingko smells like vomit and the whole park would smell liked it had been discovered by a horde of drunks after a hotdog eating contest. But fortunately for the trees, some local Korean wandering the park one day discovered them before the orders came to cut the trees dwon, and called in his family and friends to harvest and clean the fruit for the tasty nuts inside, and ever since the park manager simply calls the Koreans at harvest time and they glean the trees, no one the wiser. Trees saved. Nostrils unoffended. Koreans happily muching on gourmet nuts. Win win.
Ever watch a city kid try to harvest fruit off a tree? They destroy the tree, pull all the wrong fruit, and then fall out of the tree. Instant lawsuit.
IF they ever get any fruit to grow (and the enviros will ensure they don't get to use effective fertilizer or pesticides on these trees), they will end up tearing them down because they are "attractive nuisances".
I think the cities will neglect the trees, just as they often neglect parks. I prefer neighborhoodfruit.com. It lists fruit trees and nut trees on public property, which the city can choose to expand. And it lists fruit from local private growers who can sell.
If the cities want to bring healthy food to the poor, they should either alter food stamp / SNAP benefits to deny unhealthy food purchases or require those on food stamp / SNAP who don’t have a job to work on a farm plot to help raise food. Make them earn the food or give them ultra-healthy stuff that makes them want to work to be able buy Hostess and Coke.
They assume that planting the trees in the socialist paradise will create an urban Eden?
A local college near us put in stands of trees to give it a less urban feel and provide homes for wildlife. One stand between two engineering buildings was so densely packed with birds, it sounded like a rainforest. And the bird poop was a thick white layer on the ground until winter. It took two years of complaints for the school to remove the trees.
Huge overlooked problem: concentration of airborne pollutants.
Think “concentrated smog alert” in a tasty package with a “I’m good for you” label.
Yep, when I lived out in California, at first I wondered why anybody wouldn't want a lemon or lime tree in their yard. And then I helped out a neighbor clean the crap up at the end of the season...
Yeah, some folks will know what to do (even with female Ginkos) but, on the whole, this fruit and nut deal is probably a bad idea for the numerous reasons cited above including spraying, pruning and the costs of maintaining the trees for the low and isolated yields only a few will enjoy.
Besides, don’t we already have plenty of fruits and nuts in this country as it is?
I once grew a green pepper plant in my front yard on a busy Madison street. It was such a beautiful green pepper until I tried to eat it and it tasted like car exhaust. I never tried growing veggies in my front yard again.
Hey Girl, wonderful it see ya.. I couldn’t agree more, and by extension, I am of the opinion that government should stay out of anything that engages in any competing commerce that the open market already exists..
A few blocks from me two apple trees grow on a green area dividing a street. They grow apples full of worms every year. If I did something to keep them from being so wormy I imagine that others would get to them before I got to harvest any of them, so it wouldn’t be worth while to bother to keep the worms from them. They grow many apples that are wasted and rot on the ground every year. I should probably try something natural to keep the worms at bay some year and see if I would actually get to harvest any for myself.
I like the idea. School kids can pick fruit on their way to school...
I’m told by people who’ve studied such things that one reason grass-fed beef often has less flavor or comes out tough is because they’re often butchered before they should be. There’s a spot where the neck meets the chest on a steer that will look nice and full when it’s ready to be butchered. If it looks loose and flappy it needs to fatten more.
2nd hand information, so take that for what it’s worth.
They’ll be singing a different tune when the rats show up.
I had thought of the idea to use urban community land (not private overhangs) for perennial food plantings also but not so much from the “poor” angle. My thoughts stemmed from a community preparedness concern. I knew there would be opposition fron the anti-front yard garden and messy tree brigade. When I realized that the only likely way around them was to get in bed with the smelly hippies the thought died.
The point is, this idea seems good to many across the political spectrum. Anytime the communists are in charge of something they always have to push the boundaries beyond what was intended. Get involved and do it correctly or the hippies will be midnight foraging in your overhang...and sometimes not just foraging....even where there is no overhang....
Ems good eatin, too...
Yes, all the time. Im guessing that for some reason there arent so many problems up here with the pests you are concerned with?
Also relatively unwormy apples, currants, elders, brambles, strawberries, plums, gooseberries, pears, hazels, walnuts (white and black, not english), plums and a few other things grow evrywhere, not to mention some vegetables, and there are no rat problems. Up here the cold winter, hawks, and foxes probably clean up most of those. Of course, you have more snakes and coyotes that could move in to take advantage of any free meat running around, then again, I would think an enterprising individual would know what to do with those, too.
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