Photo by John Ivanko
Californian Anna Chan ( aka the “ Lemon Lady ” ) harvested more than 2,000 quid of yield in her first 30 days of neighborhood forage . After roll up unwanted yield and other produce from trees and farmer ’ markets , she donates her harvest to local food larder .
Talk about a low - hanging fruit opportunity . Looking for a way todecrease waste , connect sweet food for thought to those who need it most , stir up a horticulture revolution and energize conversation in her community of interests , Anna Chan had to look no further than her neighbor ’s unpicked yield tree . The Robin Hood of undesirable yield , Chan is known forpicking extra fruitfrom trees in her Concord , Calif. , neck of the woods in the Bay Area and delivering the fresh garden truck to area food banks strap by increasing demand . Unlike that guy in unripe tights , stealing fruit never cross Chan ’s thinker . All she needed to do was knock on the door and ask .
Californian Anna Chan (aka the “Lemon Lady”) harvested more than 2,000 pounds of fruit in her first 30 days of neighborhood foraging. After collecting unwanted fruit and other produce from trees and farmers’ markets, she donates her harvest to local food pantries.
Lemon Lady’s Launch
Technically , Chan ’s one - woman charge to connect local unpicked fruit with those in need erupted in early 2009 , thanks to her daughter Ava ’s petulance .
“ She only calmed down and fell at rest when I drive her around our neighborhood , ” call back Chan , a stay - at - home mummy . “ I saw all these lemon and oranges falling to the ground because the homeowner were n’t harvesting them . I could n’t stand pick up all that dissipation when I know there were masses right in our own community unable to yield fresh , nutritious yield . ”
Rather than just drive by and depend at chance through the windshield , Chan resolve to do something about it . Realizing the betting odds of catching someone at home were low , she created a simple , dear letter volunteering to pick their undesirable yield and personally deliver it to the local intellectual nourishment pantry . A ego - described shy person , Chan rally braveness and throw away off the letter at that first habitation .
“ I immediately received a positive response from that first letter , which quickly grow into a chain of homeowners I on a regular basis stopped at to reap and donate their fruit , ” Chan explains . “ The first 30 days , I harvested over 2,000 pound of fruit with hardly any try at all — yield that would have other- wise fallen to the ground and rot . ”
cursorily grew , indeed : In the first class alone , Chan gleaned more than $ 90,000 - Charles Frederick Worth of unwanted green groceries , sowing seeds of inspiration throughout her community .
“ It was n’t laborious to do , ” explains the lowly Chan with a smile . “ Where I live , you could take the air five minutes in any focusing and find a fruit Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . ”
Citrus work particularly well for Chan ’s foraging efforts , as it stores well for up to a week without additional refrigeration .
Expanding the Harvest
Chan quickly earned her local honorary deed of “ The Lemon Lady of Concord , ” often see harvesting area trees with Ava , now 3 eld erstwhile . Foraging fruit trees opened Chan ’s eye to other gleaning opportunity . She clear she could increase her harvest home by work with growers at areafarmers ’ markets , volunteer to pick up their excess produce at the end of market place and bring it to the area intellectual nourishment buttery .
“ All I did was postulate . The response from Farmer has been incredibly generous , ” she adds .
This initial contact lens quickly grew to anetwork of farmersChan connects with on a regular basis at the market , always personally asking them if they might have some excess and extravagantly give thanks them for their donation .
“ The farmers need to be treated with regard and gratitude at all times , ” Chan accent . “ We require to commend that without the Fannie Merritt Farmer , there would n’t be any food , period . ”
Chan exude this attitude of gratitude as she makes her round at the Tuesday farmers ’ market in Concord . She looks more like a woman attending a family reunion than the recipient of the Jefferson Award , a honored interior recognition honoring community and public service . She recognize each Fannie Farmer by name and gently asks if they want a loge in face they have supererogatory produce to donate at the end of the market . While Chan ’s efforts may cumulatively add up to gamy - harvest home totality , she clear make each individual grower a precedence , asking questions about how the recent rain are affecting his crops or how his family is doing .
Chan ’s “ Lemon Lady ” title is a scrap ironic , as she does n’t have a lemonlike bone in her body . People gravitate toward her sweet free energy likebeesto honey . As she walk down the farmers ’ market aisle , Chan get a tsunami of warm and welcome salutation from Farmer and other market growers . This pied piper of produce exemplifies how electrifying it can be to colligate with a personal , passionate commission . Folks ca n’t help but want to be around her and support her visual sense .
The donations from farmers help diversify her fruit gleanings with other seasonal items like apples andgreens . intellectual nourishment vendors at the market will also donate supererogatory fain nutrient , like noodles or bakery items .
Chan returns to the sodbuster at the end of the market to beak up the donation boxes , piling them eminent in the back of her fomite and extradite them as soon as she can to local nutrient larder .
“ multitude are sometimes surprised that an affluent suburban area like Concord even has a nutrient camber , ” Chan adds . “ But wherever you live , particularly in today ’s saving , there are people who ca n’t afford fresh , levelheaded green groceries . ”
Page 1 |2
