General Discussion
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(4,243 posts)HappyMe
(20,277 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Fruit trees are great, but attract bees and wasps. Having them in a park increases the risk to persons who are allergic to bee and wasp stings.
MineralMan
(146,336 posts)in most parks. Bees like them, too. Lousy excuse, I think. People with bee and wasp allergies are generally aware of them and take precautions.
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)Kind of like how people who can't swim probably shouldn't jump into the community pool.
Also, in a world in which bees are dying rapidly, then giving them a safe place with food and pollen is probably a good thing for the planet in addition to humans.
corkhead
(6,119 posts)I can't stand the sound of wheezing kids.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)4_TN_TITANS
(2,977 posts)Bees working the flowers are so busy I can even pet their backs. They have no interest in us when there's pollen to collect.
SamKnause
(13,110 posts)Love it !!!!!
ruffburr
(1,190 posts)MineralMan
(146,336 posts)back in the early 1980s. The response of the Board of Supervisors was: "Too much liability." Phooey!
Owl
(3,644 posts)MineralMan
(146,336 posts)I think it was just an excuse not to do anything.
SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)or maybe people picking them for resale
Mosby
(16,377 posts)But how are they going to stop people from cleaning out trees and selling the fruit?
siligut
(12,272 posts)This will be interesting.
felix_numinous
(5,198 posts)Every vacantly should be a garden-- why not??
intheflow
(28,505 posts)All around us, even in cities, there are natural processes at work that we depend on. Although largely overlooked, these ecosystem services are critical to the survival of our species.
Pollination is one such service. The transformation from flower to fruit does not happen in a vacuum. Plant sex requires an intermediary, in this case, wild bees. They do the work of spreading pollen from flower to flower a sperm delivery service. (Though European honeybees were imported to pollinate our crops, our native wild bumblebees and other insects pollinate a significant portion, and may be more productive.)
...
A farm-filled landscape would undermine this critical ecological process. Bumblebees rely on wildflowers for a steady supply of pollen and nectar. But fruit trees bloom for only a few weeks a year. When forests and meadows are lost (to development or farming), places for bees to eat also disappear. These wild bees feed us, but we are not feeding them.
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)But many times as I walk around my neighborhood, I think about how because of California's temperate climate, there should be no hungry people here. It seems like there should be no empty lots either, but meadows of wildflowers. Or both. Groves of fruit trees or plots of land to grow vegetables such as the community gardens I've seen in Britain. There is so much land, no one should be hungry.
There is a house the bank foreclosed on and had a guard there for over a year. It's still boarded up but the guard is gone. An elderly man from the apartment complex next door has planted a garden in the front yard to which he brings over buckets of water as presumably the water is turned off. I am so jealous of his lovely tomato and squash plants, already loaded with fruit. His friends all come around and talk and help weed. It makes that boarded up reminder of greed and cruelty just a little softer and more beautiful.
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)them over to neighborhoods for gardening.
Thee are several restaurants that pride themselves as serving Cleveland Grown products.
There is even a friend of mine who is about to make his first vintage with grapes grown were race riots burst out back in the late sixties.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)cities have budgets for that in their parks departments.
i like the idea, but... where i live there are fruit trees on vacant lots, on the curb area of streets (plum apple and cherry mainly) 7 the fruit so far as i can see just goes to waste, falls on the ground, kids throw it at each other, it rots -- but people don't collect it. berry picking -- lots of wild blackberry around here but few people picking it.
Half-Century Man
(5,279 posts)for school credits
as misdemeanor punishments
as a way for the homeless or destitute to earn money that day
citizens groups or clubs working on their community image
school groups trying to earn extra money
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)Half-Century Man
(5,279 posts)operative words "throwing up", mental regurgitation.
If there was a strong enough will. there might be a way.
Half-Century Man
(5,279 posts)I desperately hope I'll be wrong, I really do.
The reasons will be given as protections from the few negatives. Not actual issues, just potential worse case scenarios.
The potential for fantasy problems will be judged to be more valuable than the real world benefits.
When that happens, follow the money. It will lead to vested interests in the food industry.
But you are right. This is a great idea that could be a trial of a possible national effort.