Thank you for attending the Oakland Museum Harvesting Tour!

Photo by Shaun Roberts, courtesy of the Oakland Museum of California.

Photo by Shaun Roberts, courtesy of the Oakland Museum of California.

 Photo by Toni Gauthier, courtesy of the Oakland Museum of California.

Thanks to all who joined us on Sunday, July 10, for a meandering bike ride from the Oakland Museum to Temescal. Despite the time constraints, we were able to harvest plums on 41st St. (thanks to Viva and Jonathan's generosity), as well as make an impromptu stop along Lakeshore for a blackberry harvest. With a critical mass of approximately 50 people, we were a sizeable crowd, taking the scenic route down Oak St.; around Lake Merritt; and along Webster until we reached our destination.

Some have requested a route map, which I'll post soon.

If you were able to capture any photos during the tour or subsequent panel discussion, please email me at forageoakland@gmail.com

Thanks for attending this event, and though Forage Oakland won't be directly involved in upcoming Seed Circus events, I encourage you to attend.

Sincerely,
Asiya

The Future of Apps In The Hands of Today’s Teens (Re-post from MacArthur Foundation's Digital Media and Learning Blog)

If you'd like to learn a bit more about Forage Oakland's involvement with the MacArthur Foundation sponsored Mobile Action Lab, follow this link. The new urban harvesting mobile application will allow users to locate fruit trees within a specified geographic area and to be notified as the fruit is ripening (and thus ready for harvest) and contact Oakland-ers (and eventually users in other cities, but Oakland will serve as the pilot city) who are available to assist with harvesting in exchange for a certain quantity of excess backyard fruit. In addition, the application will allow fruit tree owners to donate (or barter, if they choose) their glut to a local non-profit that is in need of a regular supply of fruit.

This application will essentially crowd-source the labor- staying abreast of a fruit tree's ripening schedule; contacting fruit tree owners; arranging for harvesting and redistribution- that results in a successful urban fruit redistribution program. It has the potential to increase the amount of excess fruit that is equitably redistributed to individuals, households, and community organizations in Oakland, as it will increase the efficiency by which residents can contact willing harvesters, and harvesters can- in turn- redistribute said fruit. I look forward to the application's launch later this summer, and please check the Mobile Action Lab or the Forage Oakland blog for updates about this exciting collaboration.

Forage Oakland + Oakland Museum Harvesting Tour

Please help spread the word about this tour, and also, email forageoakland@gmail.com if you have fruit trees in need of harvest, and would be amenable to the Museum tour making a stop at your home. The tour will take place on Sunday, July 10, 1:00 pm. Visit this link, or view Sunday's schedule below.

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FORAGE

Sunday July 10th, 2011
1:00 pm

Foraging has provided sustenance to all kinds of communities of all kinds since the earliest days of California, but the practice has captured new interest as an alternative to the industrial food system.
This event begins with a bicycle tour of fruit gleaning spots in Temescal, guided by Forage Oakland. Upon return to the Museum, there will be presentations and discussion with California foragers and a screening of the film The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, 2000). The event includes a take-away guide by artist Kacie Erin Smith, and, quite possibly, tastes of foraged foodstuffs.

Bike Tour
OMCA Oak Plaza & Temescal
1:00 pm

Meet at OMCA for a bike tour guided by Forage Oakland. The route is a total distance of about seven miles, over mostly flat terrain; we'll ride at a moderate pace. Bike-nurse services by East Bay Bike Party, and bike valet by East Bay Bicycle Coalition (EBBC).

Discussion
OMCA Oak Plaza
3:00 pm

Short presentations by panelists, followed by group discussion.

Eugene Ahn, FORAGE restaurant, LA
Kevin Cook, chef and boar hunter
Kirk Lombard, marine forager
Osha Neumann, lawyer
Iso Rabins, ForageSF
Moderators: Ted Purves & Susanne Cockrell, artists

Film
OMCA Gallery of California Art
3:30 pm

Screening of documentary film The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, 2000).
"[Director Agnès Varda] crisscrossed the French countryside…in search of people who scavenge in potato fields, apple orchards, and vineyards, as well as in urban markets and curbside trash depositories. Some are motivated by desperate need, others by disgust at the wastefulness all around them…The Gleaners and I is both a diary and a kind of extended essay on poverty, thrift, and the curious [practice] of scavenging."
–A. O. Scott, New York Times

All images courtesy of the Oakland Museum.