conversation/The Pine Tree Guru's and Urban Foraging

V. Something nice and "crispy" about this picture, too. Hair of the beast that ate most of the thing that now lies beneath the snow?

J. Ah but you see, it's vestiges of the weeds from the back of the creek monsters. In the snow and the ice he can make it just that far away from the creek. However, what he didn't realize is that he sluffed off some of his concealing creek weed on the fence along the way.
Or perhaps it's simply the little creatures who live in fences. They snuck down to the creak in the brightest light of the day--for that's what creek monsters are slowest of course at least in winter--and carefully plucked creek weed from the back of the creek monster so as to frame him for that which lies beneath the snow. However, little do they know what all that lies beneath the snow is dead grass and nothing at all incriminating. So, instead of framing the creek monsters as they wish, because he enjoys snacking on the little creatures who live in fences when he can't get hiker.

V. Ah, your folklore is getting richer, now populated with more little creatures... with ulterior motives!

J. Conflicting interests. But the poor little guys who live in the fence really must talk to the air headed creatures who live in the pine trees. You know sniffing those pine fumes all day, that's really the best way to figure out what it's all about.

V. !! I love it. Wow... Pine fumes. Hmm, reminds me of teenage years... Hmmm. I feel a picture coming on...

J. Climbing pine trees and getting the sap stuck all over your hands and never being able to get it off. Though it did smell rather nice.

V. Ah, haven't done that for years. Near where I lived as a kid was a row of 5 or 6 enormous fir trees and we'd often climb into them, way up near the top, where you sway back and forth in the wind. Sometimes pretty scary; great views.

J. Yeah, pine trees can be great. I used to climb mango trees over seas, they had a similar sappy problem. But when left they could get ginormous, and made the best climbing trees. Sometimes on the biggest ones we couldn't get up the trucks so we'd pull down the lower branches and climb up them. Mango's aren't overly strong but they bend quiet a lot before they break.

V. Oh, now I have to find a mango tree to climb!

J. You really should. Though I'm not sure how much luck you will have finding one in this country.

V. Yeah, I don't think I've seen one, but maybe in Hawaii...

J. I think you would in Hawaii, though I can't remember seeing one when I was there. That would be closer to the right climate though. Maybe it's like most fruit trees they don't tend to grow them in the cities or populated area's because of the fruit mess. I haven't been much outside of Honolulu, in a while.

V. Heheh, yes, the fruit mess. People around the neighborhood here tend to have orange and lemon and olive trees, and then instead of eating the fruit, they let it rain down and rot on the ground... I had an apricot tree that died a few years back, but when it fruited, it gave the best apricots in the whole wide world.

J. Yeah, I never understood the idea of having a fruit tree and not at least eating or using some of it. I know a number of people around here who have apple trees and they do that. We had a neighbor who had one and we'd made tones of apple sauce every year because she didn't want the apples. I can understand having more then you can use yourself but to just let it all sit there.

V. I also have an apple tree, in front by the driveway. The fruit isn't very good really, and we only eat a few each year... But not because it falls and rots. It never gets as far as falling or rotting. People come by in the middle of the night and steal it! Once last summer, I woke up in the middle of the night to some sound out front, and when I cracked the blinds to look, it was interesting. For half an hour I watched a woman with a flashlight going around the tree, picking apples and stuffing them into a bag. When it was full, she departed. Another time in the dead of night, I saw a family of people stop their car, all jump out, pick a bunch of apples, then pile back in and drive off. Jeez-o. If they really need the apples, they're welcome to them!

J. Urban foraging. There is a map floating around of this city and where the fruit trees and berry buses are in town. Someone on one of the groups I'm on was complaining about urban foraging, that because of the amount of it, people aren't leaving anything for the local wild life to eat.

V. Wow. I feel like a total dolt! It never even occurred to me. I guess it goes on here, too: [link] I guess my "old home town" Berkeley is a hot-bed of this activity. Who knew? Ha ha, maybe this is why all the 'possums have disappeared. But the squirrels and crows seem to do well here with all the oranges. The back fence is always littered with orange peels dropped by plump squirrels who eat the innards and leave the husk.

J. *chuckles* It's rather interesting. For instance I wouldn't have thought about all of the smaller urban animals that rely on that as a food source. I was reading a conversation going on between some of the members of the local Permaculture group (email), [link] [link]

The second photograph has been edited by vanilla-vanilla. This conversation was carried out via DeviantArt, by my friend vanilla-vanilla and myself. Feel free to browse around this conversation and for others which may or may not appear here at a future date. I hope your day/evening is a good one.