Is it Mango Madness?
A reader wrote:
"Is it just me or is anyone else totally offended when people come into our yards or swales to take the mangos, coconuts, lychees, avocados or any other wonderful fruit that we have grown in our yards? The other day after a particularly bad storm, I saw a car pulled over on Aviation Avenue with a woman grabbing as many mangos off the ground that she could stuff in her very large bag. As my dear mother used to say “why don’t you just get a mask and a gun?” Is this not stealing?"
posted by Tom Falco at 8:00 AM
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11 Comments:
Is this a joke? Thank goodness there are people willing to forage in the rain for mangos on the ground. Jeez, sometimes the collective conscious of this neighborhood really amazes me. You are complaining about people collecting fallen fruit? I don't think anyone should be coming into your yard but fruit falls all over, and it's awesome that someone will pick it up, rather than letting it rot or go to the rats. (Yes, the North Grove has a rat problem).
To answer your question, I hope "it's just you."
I'm pretty sure Tom thought found it humorous.
'That is the beauty of Coconut Grove we have abundance. Share! I'm sure with the abundance you have you most likely have taken fruit to co workers or friends. I don't have a tree anymore due to gentrification but I have lovely friends who share their fruit. Yes it would rot in this heat if not picked up within hours.
I wish someone would have come into my yard and picked up my mangos instead of me spending my Sunday scooping rotted mangos into my trash can!!!
It used to be traditional in the Grove to put boxes of excess windfall fruit (or even picked fruit) at the curb for anyone passing by to help themselves. Nobody went into people's yards, but just watched for the boxes. It's better than letting it rot on the ground, attracting vermin and causing a big cleanup problem for the property owner or occupant.
"It's Just You!"
It's just not humanly possible to eat all the fruit a tree bears in a season.
How I see it, if there is a lot of fruit (beginning to over-ripen) on the ground around a tree, obviously it's going to waste. I would prefer to gather them up and share with my friends and neighbors.
Many people have "inherited" fruit trees with their homes and don't even like or know what they are. In our neighborhood there are naseberry, ackee and lychee trees that are under appreciated by their property owners. It's sad when they prefer to let it go to waste than have someone pick and enjoy them.
If a tree is beyond the swale, I will ask the owner for permission, but only if I notice lots of neglected fallen fruit.
Bottom line is, it's nice to share and not hoard it all for your piggy self.
I have absolutely no problem with sharing the fruits from the tree on my swale with people in the neighborhood. The problem is that my house's proximity to Bird Road / US1 has many people from out of the area coming down and taking ALL of the fruit our tree bares. My bedroom is right near the tree and I hear people as early as 5am talking outside as they scoop up all of the fruit that has fallen that night. I have only managed to find 2 edible mangos this season because every single one that falls is scooped either before I wake up or after I come home from work.
Well this post says one thing, we need more fruit trees. I think part of the reason people are so willing to jump a fence and grab a few is the price of food (produce especially).
Well, there was just a fruit tree giveaway this past Saturday. They had mango trees, lychee, avocado and more. All should have gone and got their allocation of 2 trees per City of Miami resident (ID required) for free.
Look for the next give away and atrt planting.
The next fruit tree giveaway is Saturday June 13th at 8 am at St. Peter and Paul. Open to City of Miami residents only...
It's just you.
Growing up we had 5 mango trees, 1 avocado and one mulberry tree in our back yard.
After a storm, neighbors would always come over and pick up mangoes. This was a great for my brother and I because it lessened our chore, but the real pay off was in the fall, when we went trick or treating on Halloween, as those neighbors would recognize us and give us extra loot.
BTW - the swale is public right of way.
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