Acquiring Fruit

[brazedowl]

I posted this in general chit-chat by accident and wondered why I didn't get any responses.

I'm making wine on a budget, which mostly amounts to $25 in concentrate and sugar. Every now and then someone with overgrown blueberries or grapes in their yard will let me come pick 'em clean.

I had thought to put up a thing on craigslist to see if there were other people out there with fruit essentially going to the birds. But I'm pretty sure I can't just offer wine for fruit legally. And I don't know who would respond to "hey, let me pick your fruit. Pretty please?"

Thoughts on how to word such a thing?

 

[Yooper]

I posted this in general chit-chat by accident and wondered why I didn't get any responses.

I'm making wine on a budget, which mostly amounts to $25 in concentrate and sugar. Every now and then someone with overgrown blueberries or grapes in their yard will let me come pick 'em clean.

I had thought to put up a thing on craigslist to see if there were other people out there with fruit essentially going to the birds. But I'm pretty sure I can't just offer wine for fruit legally. And I don't know who would respond to "hey, let me pick your fruit. Pretty please?"

Thoughts on how to word such a thing?

Well, you could always phrase it, "A winemaker who can utilize your fresh fruit is hoping...." and then you can't "pay" them with wine- but you can certainly offer then a bottle or two afterwards to thank them. It's just that you can't put it up on Craigslist as "Will trade fruit for wine!" because then you're bartering/trading/selling wine.

I think many people would rather see their fruit picked rather than fall on the ground and then have to be picked up (like apples).

It sure doesn't hurt to ask. And then once you bring them a bottle of wine to thank them, they'll always have fruit for you.

 

[Maverick22]

What was suggested above would be a great idea, how many people would you have to pick from though?

 

[littledrinky]

That's an interesting idea. I've got my fruit before from the farmers market 10-15 minutes before they close, they don't always want to take it all so I offer them a fair price. Pick your own farms and generally much cheaper too.

 

[brazedowl]

What was suggested above would be a great idea, how many people would you have to pick from though?

Oh I get a 5 gallon bucket full of blueberries or muscadines or even figs, and that's with leaving another 2 or three buckets worth on the plants. Just unreliable year to year.

That's an interesting idea. I've got my fruit before from the farmers market 10-15 minutes before they close, they don't always want to take it all so I offer them a fair price. Pick your own farms and generally much cheaper too.

True... but I totally get behind FREE

 

[liquiditynerd]

If you post in the Farm and Garden section, just simply state (pretty much as Yooper suggested without explanation) you are in search of ripening fruit that may otherwise go wasted. Call it pre lawn clean up or something and "offer" to do it for free so they dont have to pay a landscaper.

I keep a mental list of trees around town and knock on the door, ask if they have any plans, most of the time they look at me in utter confusion and ask if I eat those, I just reply I have a way to use them. Sometimes they just ask for a small amount of fruit before I take it away, sometimes they wink and say sure if you let me know how it turns out, most of the time they just say really, sure, you want to clean that for me?

And like littledrinky said, get to know your producers. I have biz cards and they have my number on speeddial, at the end of the day they know they can unload on me. Its good for them, good for me. My bee guy is the same way, he doesnt drink much,every now and then, so I kick him something from my reserve stock, he knows I'll take whatever he has, leftovers, combs, etc...

Yea, you could advertise but I personally have luck just offering free landscaping.

 

[liquiditynerd]

Any luck with this? I just picked a huge loquat yesterday, took abut four hours, got about 4 five gallon buckets full and they wanted one. I actually brought an extra fermenting bucket, stopper, airlock, yeast and what not and got them started. They called some friends and now I'm like a consultant, they call me the teacher,lol they're twice my age so it's a bit of a pun, that and they call me the albino squirrel but they're just happy to have someone climb up there, plus I leave the low hanging fruit for the kids. I only picked a fifth of this tree and I know of four others. Just wanted to let you know it can be done.

 

[WVMJ]

You want free fruit you have to learn to live off of the land, picking berries, elderberries, wild apples where you can find them, knowing they are not sprayed and now owing anyone for them, soon the elderberries should be blooming, mark where they bloom and come back later in the summer and start picking. You guys have persimmons down there, scout the parks and mountains, it always tastes better if you pick it yourself! WVMJ