Here people fish in the canals. But people empty all their dishwater, trash and sewage into these canals. Once i saw a dead dog floating in there. The canal near me looks more sewage than water. I am not sure how the fish survive.
Some people put their catch in clean water for a week before they eat it, so the fish can cleanse themselves of the toxins from the dirty water.
They say the risks are soil hasn't been tested and could contain heavy metals (like lead) and/or chemials from road run-off, pesticides, gas and oil leakage, animal feces, all of which could in part be transmitted up from the roots.
Also emissions from cars that get deposited on the fruit or leaves, and conducted into fruit, regardless how well you wash it.
And then there is the question if the neighbor home-owner may have sprayed pesticides, or worse. It is an unknown.
Just wondering how others handle this, but I think I am changing my mind on it.
Animal feces? Are you a complete idiot? What do you think farmers have been using as fertilizers for thousands of years?
Easy there, Farmer Brown.
AI Overview wrote:
No, growing food in cow dung is not the same as growing it in dog feces; cow manure is a beneficial fertilizer, while dog feces are dangerous due to the high risk of pathogens, parasites, and toxic bacteria, making them unsuitable for use in vegetable gardens. Cow manure, from herbivores, provides beneficial organic matter and nutrients to the soil, whereas dogs' high-protein diets mean their feces contain harmful bacteria and parasites that can make you seriously ill and are incompatible with plant needs
Ooo. Keep up the fishing but I’d be throwing that sh!t back lol. I’m sure you can make them as safe as any other fish but yeah no fn way am I eating fish out of what you must described.
A massive, collaborative map of the urban harvest uniting the efforts of foragers, freegans, and foresters around the world. Explore and share information about the sources of free food in your neighborhood.
I am a huge fruit nerd! I forage plenty of fruit. First off make sure you aren't trespassing (no reaching over property lines etc).
In the US at least if near commercial farms heavy spray of roundup (known carcinogen) or fresh fresh pesticide spray can be not so great tasting at least. Most peaches/cherries etc have to be sprayed for bugs to not eat so probably only eat immediately after a rain. Wild fruit I eat pretty much whenever. Wild mulberries, blackberries, grapes, native plums, maypops (basically will only be in the wild and are so freaking good!) an occasional persimmon. Those are my favorite and are all in my area and in most areas in the US. I have eaten apples and pears depending where I am or traveling too. There was one run I was walking of shame home and probably ate a pint of blackberries.
If it's from the strip between the sidewalk and road, it's actually your neighbors' property, and you should probably ask before filching their fruit (we know this is a risk, but I am still annoyed when people eat the fruit I carefully cultivated all year. I planted near the street for optimal light conditions but it does tempt the occasional pedestrian).
i actually am employed by a major city to plant and care for edible fruit trees/ shrubs around the city on with the hopes that people will eat them.
Very cool.
I bet you've thought of this but what would go a long way to making worry-warts like me more comfortable with eating them would be making the following known:
The soil has been tested and passed for the absence of heavy metals
No run-off from the roads.
Publicize if pesticides have been used, fertilizers applied to the soil, etc.
Monitored for pet waste.
Curious what city or part of the country but understood if you would prefer not to say (and I do live in a major city, btw)
If it's from the strip between the sidewalk and road, it's actually your neighbors' property, and you should probably ask before filching their fruit (we know this is a risk, but I am still annoyed when people eat the fruit I carefully cultivated all year. I planted near the street for optimal light conditions but it does tempt the occasional pedestrian).
Good idea, and I do whenever i run into the homeowner, but have never just done a ramdom knocking on a door to get permission.
My M.O. is to pick the fallen fruit off the ground for the entire season, and only revert to picking the fruit off the tree or bush at the end of the season when they are starting to wilt/wrinkle. It is really freakin' obvious when some homeowner is harvesting their fruit.
And the only ones I see getting harvested are some blueberry bushes, so I won't pick those, and a few fig trees and plum trees. For those I wait until the season has passed, and if they are still there, I pounce.
PS- not doing any of this anymore as I said already.
soil contaminants shouldnt be an issue with trees. that is verified by my program existing because the government doesnt mess around with risk. we have very strict protocols requiring testing, remediation plans, and/ or circumvention (like raised beds) for anyone trying to garden.
im mostly tasked with planting "natives", so paw paw, american persimmon, serviceberry, hazelnuts, etc which largely don't need sprayed. higher maintenance species like apples, peaches and soforth get care until fruiting and then we let them go. generally they do fine, we dont need to make grocery store quality. usually non profit groups do big harvests and process them into products to donate to food banks.
i also plant a lot of elderberry by request. thats the exception because people need to know about the trace amounts of cyanide that needs cooked out before eating. i tell them, but no one listens.
Serviceberry is amazing, and so underappreciated. I was thrilled when I realized that my city plants them as a fairly standard landscape shrub/tree.
More generally, I'm genuinely puzzled that the OP is now saying that he won't do this anymore. To me, the only legit risks are from annoyed homeowners. And yeah, if I'm taking apples from park trees, I bite very carefully to avoid possible worms. But for berries, zero hesitation. Mulberries are also hugely underappreciated and mostly go to waste.
