On my way to the pub I noticed a lady picking fruit from a tree in the local playground. I stopped to chat. She was eating cherries, which seem to have arrived at a perfect state of ripeness today. They tasted lovely - sweet, yet slightly tart and smaller than the supermarket offerings
Returning home later, I noticed another tree heavy with fruit where some of the local kids were handing out scrumped cherries from a Tesco bag. Everyone seemed happy and relaxed at this shared bounty. It reminded me of the time I discovered some edible chestnut trees in Victoria Park. I was running along the canal side one evening and spotted a Chinese lady filling bags with something. The next day I revisited the spot with my son and we were given a bag of chessies by a fellow forager.
I had great plans for them - some sort of cake - but unfortunately I left them sitting in a bag in the lobby and they went mouldy.
It's nice to know that even in the heart of London, you can still get a bit Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. I'm going back for more tomorrow. They'll be gone by the weekend.
2 comments:
Great news! There are lots of fruit trees out there around Hackney.
You might be interested to know that a new project has just been launched which will map the fruit trees of Hackney (focusing on Stokey frst) and harvest any excess so that the best use is made of it:
http://hackneyharvest.com
If you know of any fruit trees out there please drop us a line (there's a tree submission form on the website) and we'll add them to the map - tell your friends and neighbours too!
All the best
Jamie
Hi Jamie,
What a great idea. The trees I spotted are in the playground on London Fields at the Richmond Road end, and next to the flats at the top of Eleanor Road. I'll certainly study the map and fill in the tree submission form.
Good work!
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