Jason heard about not far from the tree at a Green Neighbours 21 meeting. Then he showed up at yesterday’s market with wonderful tales to tell. He explained that this project has changed the way he views the city, that now he sees fruit trees wherever he goes! This is exactly the kind of effect we’re hoping to have. It’s like the practice of psychogeography, altering the way you pay attention to and experience your surroundings as you meander familiar routes. It’s environmental education in action.

As we were chatting, he spotted a cherry tree down the road. It was just a young tree, planted at the edge of a public parking lot, ripe with sour cherries just waiting to be picked. Without anybody there to harvest them in an official capacity, he took charge of the situation.

Soon Jason returned with sour cherries to share, so we offered them as samples alongside our serviceberries. The tartness of the one complemented the sweetness of the other.

While not far from the tree hasn’t yet harvested from public trees, many other fruit tree projects have mapped public fruit trees and advocated for municipal governments to plant more of them. For now, we are focusing on residential fruit trees and the trees at Spadina Museum, although the possibilities are endless!