Sharing Your Backyard Bounty

Do you have a lemon tree on your property loaded with fruit, but no time to pick it? Is the last of your avocado "crop" just a little too high to reach?

The prolific grapefruit tree that graces my family's backyard is more than 60 years old and looms tall at more than 18 feet. Even after canning dozens of jars of tangy grapefruit-and-vanilla marmalade and giving our family and friends swag bags full of the yellow orbs, we still had plenty to spare on the higher branches. And we didn't want the fruit to go to waste.

That's when Food Forward stepped in to help. I learned about the group from KCRW's Good Food hosted by Evan Kleiman. The all-volunteer nonprofit gleans excess fruit off residential trees and donates 100 percent of the harvest to local food banks to feed the hungry. The group supplies volunteers, equipment and coordination to pull off "picks" both large and small. (Not to worry: Food Forward carries full liability insurance for all its harvesting volunteers, who are trained in proper harvesting methods and sign waivers of liability.)

What began as a grassroots neighborhood project founded in 2009 by Rick Nahmias from "over the hill" in Valley Glen, Food Forward has harvested more than 275,000 pounds of free, fresh fruit. The group gives priority to seniors and people with disabilities, and others who cannot pick the fruit from their trees themselves.

The first pick at my family's 1934 Spanish-style bungalow was last fall. After an e-mail or two to set up a time, Property/Harvesting Coordinator Erica Kenner arrived on the cool autumn afternoon with a fruit picker basket and ladder. With her was the group's petite and agile ace tree climber, Emily Dell, a filmmaker and frequent Food Forward volunteer. In about 45 minutes, they gleaned close to 65 pounds of grapefruit, all of which was donated to SOVA Community Food and Resource Program, part of Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles.

Food Forward provides a tax deduction for every pound it harvests. A receipt for my family's donation arrived in the mail shortly after our pick.

In my neck of the orchard, the peak season for grapefruits is January to June, so our tree is about ready for another visit from Food Forward.

Though fruit trees are often planted primarily as decorative landscaping, they offer so much more. Turn your very local lemons into lemonade—Mar Vista style—and help others while you get some help yourself.

Call Food Forward's fruit line at 818-530-4125 or visit the group's website if your fruit tree could use a good gleaning.

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