This morning, right before I spoke with a dear inspired woman in my life, I was waiting for my computer to charge so I could connect on Skype, and I stumbled onto the website for the Guerilla Grafters project. I got giddy. I signed up immediately. And posted it to my facebook page, and implored people: "Who wants to do this?! Let's do this!" so... Who wants to do this?! Let's do this! READ MORE...

To me this project ties in so sweetly with the Found Fruit groups happening throughout the Bay and beyond, where people organize a map (often times in their minds) of all the local trees (both public and private) that are either offered (in the case of private land) or left to rot (in the case of public land) and then groups of people who are wanting to forage and harvest fruit and other edible plants head out one or two times a week to the various spots that have been chosen and harvest together. Then the food is being put to use (canning/fermenting/baking) by people who are able and wanting to do it, and the people who have the food but either not the ability or the will to eat it all before it goes to waste, both come away benefiting from this communal food project.

Check out the Guerrila Crafters, and let's get to it. From their website:

The Guerrilla Grafters graft fruit bearing branches onto non-fruit bearing, ornamental fruit trees. Over time, delicious, nutritious fruit is made available to urban residents through these grafts. Our web application helps grafters to find graftable trees, to track how grafts are doing, and helps to facilitate gleaning of fruit. It is built by a laterally organized group using all open source code. We aim to prove that a culture of care can be cultivated from the ground up. We aim to turn city streets into food forests, and unravel civilization one branch at a time.

Because I am personally so excited and inspired by ideas like this and how to implement them starting from scratch, and in communities that might not be familiar with food foraging and/or swapping I am thinking about the presentation and wording that would most feel inviting and inspiring. What are your first thoughts when you hear about Guerilla Grafters or Fruit Harvesting groups?

The time is so ripe for this dusty outlet of mine to start shaping and taking a productive form. There have been so many pieces and ideas and creations fermenting and bubbling, waiting for just the right time to be sipped at, tasted, and served to my loved ones. And to myself. I am excited to finally feel ready to write, to put these feelings to paper, and remember the lost art of writing in full sentences (thanks a lot, dear iPhone). READ MORE...

After having recently (six weeks going on forever) moved home to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains where I grew up, I am finding that all these different angles and avenues and paths that my life has taken, are all merging together at my feet and howling loudly, finally ready to be truly integrated. I have lived so many stories and had such a vibrant and full life thus far, and as I prepare and welcome so many new pieces I find myself also reflecting on where I have been, who I have been, and how those fit and meld into who I am now and how they shape the path that I am beginning to walk here today, in this fermented and fresh articulation of myself.

And speaking of fermenting, I am so excited to be venturing down to Oakland tomorrow to finally be attending a fermenting workshop with the master himself, Sandor Katz. When the little one truly was a little one, so many years back, and I spent my days experimenting with water kefir grains and homemade sodas, Sandor Katz was the man on my brain as I always referred back to his book, Wild Fermentation. I have never been at the right place at the right time to be able to attend one of his workshops, and I am utterly thrilled to finally have this opportunity. To have some time with dear friends in the Bay AND a workshop with this deeply inspiring and knowledgeable man? Yes. Yes, please.