Jun 26, 2009 5:01 pm US/Pacific
Website Helps Spot Free Fresh Fruit In Bay Area
Website Maps Fruit Trees on Public Property
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
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Fresh Fruit
Stephen Chernin/Getty Images
Two bay area women are mapping fruit-bearing trees on public property. It's fruit that's free for the picking. But, you have to find the trees before they've been picked clean.
Take a careful look around San Francisco's Dolores Park this time of year and you may find something delicious. There are several plum and loquat trees in the Park, just steps from the MUNI stop.
Kaytea Petro and Oriana Sarac, the founders of the website
Neighborhoodfruit.com, come to the park to pick the trees, and are hoping others will do the same. Their website maps fruit-bearing trees on public property. Petro and Sarac said they have more than 5,000 trees in their database.
Finding a tree listed on the site can be a bit hit or miss. One Mission strawberry tree listed at an address in San Francisco was actually about 100 feet away. A fig tree listed as being on public property actually turned out to be on private property. Petro said the site's database is constantly being updated, and needed corrections are made quickly.
The site also arranges fruit picking on private property, so homeowners with too much of a good thing can share. There are estimates the average backyard fruit tree produces between 25 and 150 lbs. of fruit that goes to waste.
"That's basically fruit that they're going to throw in their trash or in their compost bin, so if they can find someone who wants to eat it that's all the better," Petro said.
Petro said fruit that hangs over public sidewalks is also free for the taking.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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