June 18, 2013

"We want the Beacon Food Forest to serve as a model for cultural equality... and food justice."



Free food, for foraging, in Seattle.

... Glenn Herlihy... hopes visitors will practice "ethical harvesting"--taking what they need, or what they can eat right away. But for those feeling greedy, there will be a "thieves garden" containing lower-grade stuff. "We also plan to have a lot of people around, so you’re not going to feel comfortable taking a lot of stuff," he adds....

Falling Fruit’s founders, Caleb Phillips and Ethan Welty, see foraging as more than just another source of food. "Foraging in the 21st century is an opportunity for urban exploration, to fight the scourge of stained sidewalks, and to reconnect with the botanical origins of food," they say, at their website.

38 comments:

gerry said...

to fight the scourge of stained sidewalks

Allrighty, then.

KCFleming said...

"Herlihy hopes visitors will practice "ethical harvesting"--taking what they need, or what they can eat right away"

Herlihy is about to learn why the Tragedy of the Commons is a basic economic principle.

Those who cannot learn from the economic past are doomed to make stupid progressive cities repeat them.

KCFleming said...

Progressives are often atheists, but they sure do believe in the garden of Eden.

"And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden."

pm317 said...

Can't they just do it for the fun of it without all that gobbledegook?

pm317 said...

These days when I hear things like these my "Pathological Altruism" sensor goes off.

Tank said...

Most of the locations on Falling Fruit’s map are single trees (including some on private property, where asking the owner is advised)

Asking the owner ????

Yiiiii !!!!!

Where the hell is my shotgun.

Rusty said...

Nothing is more boring than a self righteous lefty.


Prediction; All that wonderful "free" food will be sold for a high price at the local asian market.

KCFleming said...

I wonder if any of the fruit or nuts on private property are in a Whole Foods store?

Because that would be great.

Tibore said...

Wow... someone found a way to be condescending through gardening. Will the wonders of superiority complexes never cease?

KCFleming said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
KCFleming said...

The Ant and the Grasshopper
by Aesop Jr.

Once there lived an ant and a grasshopper in a big city.

All day long the ant would work hard at a job every day, saving her money and being thrifty.

The grasshopper would look at her and laugh. 'Why do you work so hard, dear ant?' he would say. 'Come, rest awhile, listen to my song. Summer is here, the days are long and bright. Why waste the sunshine in labor and toil?'

The ant would ignore him, and head bent, hurried to the office a little faster.

This would make the grasshopper laugh even louder. 'What a silly little ant you are! I will tax you so you can pay for my free food, apartment, phone, booze, and quality of life stuff like a Food Justice Forest so I can have more free stuff.'

The ant realized he was quite right.

traditionalguy said...

They are still selling the vision. An their vision is warped. It takes humans working diligently to grow food. That just will not happen if the food they are expected to work so hard on every day is free to be taken by any passerby.

These folks a ignorant of the basics of human life.

Scott M said...

In their hearts, they would like to see serfs out their window every day.

Anonymous said...

Like all children, after hours of monotonous labor, they will move on to something else.

Icepick said...

Whenever I hear phrases like "cultural equality" or "food justice" I reach for my pistol.

Icepick said...

"Ethical harvesting" is another pistol grabber.

Clyde said...

It worked so well in Jamestown.

"Cultural equality"?! "Food justice"?! Guffaw! All cultures are NOT created equal. And I think what they want is "food mercy," not "food justice," because the latter would go something along the lines of "by the sweat of your brow shall you eat your bread." Giving people something they haven't earned and don't deserve is not justice, it's mercy.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

You can purchase a box of Grape-Nuts at the supermarket.

edutcher said...

Food justice?

That's a cute one.

Fernandinande said...

"so you’re not going to feel comfortable taking a lot of stuff"

Prepare to be shocked, shocked I tell you, by the comfort of the takers.

TosaGuy said...

I do credit them for not using the word "amazing".

TosaGuy said...

"Can't they just do it for the fun of it without all that gobbledegook?"

The gobbledegook is the most important part. Otherwise, it's just manual labor.

ricpic said...

Kill the scolds!

Insufficiently Sensitive said...

The forest will be an excellent illustration about the commons. What belongs to everyone belongs to no one, and she who gets there firstest gets the mostest.

TosaGuy said...

"The forest will be an excellent illustration about the commons. What belongs to everyone belongs to no one, and she who gets there firstest gets the mostest."

These people have probably never witnessed people at the Old Country Buffet filling diaper bags full of food to be smuggled out.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

hopes visitors will practice "ethical harvesting"--taking what they need, or what they can eat right away.

Good luck with that.

William said...

How many semi literates wander into the Beacon Food Forest expecting bacon and discover, to their horror, nothing but broccoli.......It would be possible to equitably distribute the food of this world if all the food of this world tasted like broccoli.

William said...

I would recommend a non-speciesist Beacon Forest. The forest should be open to ravenous wolves so that they too can engage in ethical harvesting.

Marty Keller said...

Boy, you just can't make this s**t up these days.

Icepick said...

How many semi literates wander into the Beacon Food Forest expecting bacon and discover, to their horror, nothing but broccoli......

Now that should be something for the genetic engineers to get working on: A tree that produces bacon.

Boy, you just can't make this s**t up these days.

Not just the government, but the whole fucking country is beyond parody these days.

Anonymous said...

Idealistically sad.

Unknown said...

But, the food thieves can steal from the special low grade thieves garden. Because thieves are ethical that way and they only want the least desirable things they can get for free.

cold pizza said...

I expect the word we'll hear many times before this experiment in folly is put to bed is "unexpectedly!"

They should just call the place "Acme Forest."

Acme! Products that WORK!*
(*in theory)

(Just ask Wiley how that all worked out. Unexpectedly!)

-CP

MadisonMan said...

Can't they just do it for the fun of it without all that gobbledegook?

Amen. Why have a highfalutin' reason? Just plant stuff in your back yard. Have a sign out front that says Help yourself.

I am surprised they were able to get land from the city to do this. Maybe that's a plus? The city is flexible for a silly reason?

Levi Starks said...

Bacon food forest? I'm in....

Anonymous said...

Please don't remind me that I live in Seattle.

cold pizza said...

Can one make bacon from long pig? Seems to be plenty roaming the forest. Just askin'. -CP

Fabi said...

What about the vegetables? Vegephobia?

No justice, no peas!