The magic of gleaning
Jun 17th, 2010 by Laura Reinsborough
The fruit picks that Not Far From The Tree organizes have many magical qualities, but there’s nothing quite like the happenstance of gleaning from trees and shrubs on public land. The picking is determined by the watchful eye of the passerby, lending a spontaneity to the act.
And you never know who else might also be keeping a watchful eye for the perfect moment of picking. The fun is in convening at the same time as your mysterious colleagues – or at least arriving before the bounty has already been harvested.
Suzanne Long, a friend who I’ve met through her volunteer work with Not Far From The Tree’s program at Spadina Museum, has been one of those careful watchers over a City-planted serviceberry patch along the Dupont railway. Earlier this evening, she wrote to tell me that the time was ripe. She descended upon the site at the same magical moment as many others:
“was one of the those nights with heavy winds then pockets of sunny warm. weird but nice. mostly sunny by the end too.
“anyhow. magda and andrea showed up because they’d seen my last minute twitter invite. the neighbours and locals were out in full force. it was incredible. impromptu. laid back. two sets of parents w/ kids. a couple out for a stroll stopped to ask, and picked a few.
“one woman was there before we showed up, a local. she actually picked the lion’s share. but there was enough to go around, just not the big cupfulls we had last year.
“and, this master gleaner dude showed up at the tail end. he had tupperware containers of sweet cherries and mulberries from elsewhere in the annex. and he was totally cool with sharing, sort of proud of his haul, almost forced them on us in a gentle way. magda, andrea and this father/daughter combo were enchanted. so was i.”
I am now taking the vow of capitalization ;)
I’ve been diving into this patch all week. They’re very flavourful. Except where I come from we call them saskatoon berries. There’s another patch of them, albeit smaller, up in Wychwood Park.
I think Suzanne knows where she’s going next. Maybe I’ll take a wander tomorrow.
are there any maps or location lists available for fruit growing on public property?
i would love some wild mulberry!