Money doesn’t grow on trees, but the excess fruit from a neighbor’s yard can make your diet richer and it won’t cost a dime. Shouldn’t we share the wealth?

That’s the thinking of Neighborhood Fruit, created by San Francisco urban farmers to reduce the tragic waste of fruit, which is forbidden in their vision of sustainability. Their website lets subscribers find and share fruit locally both in backyards and on public lands.

Since planting the seed in June, they’ve attracted between 3,000 and 5,000 visitors a month and located a total of 10,000 trees nationwide and growing.

Much of the fruit the nation consumes is grown in water-intensive orchards far from our homes and shipped at the high cost of fuel. Instead, co-founder Kaytea Petro sees a future where the bulk of seasonal backyard fruit is utilized and shared between neighbors for snacking, baking, putting up organic preserves, even setting up a lemonade stand – any good uses you might have for the bounty.

“I first thought of the idea when I lived on Bernal Hill and my neighbor had an apple tree with a lot of excess fruit that she would never share,” says Petro, who decided to refine the fruit network notion for her graduate thesis at the Presidio School of Management, where she received an MBA in sustainable business.

“We’re a nationwide tool that helps people connect locally,” says Petro. “The typical user is someone with a plum tree who knows what a pain it is when the fruit comes in because it all comes in at once. Those seeking the fruit are into making pies and jams or to show their city kids where food comes from.”

The mechanics of connecting are simple. I register my lemons and oranges and when the fruit arrives, I put out the word on the site. “Come and get it!” I decide if I want to pick it myself or have interested takers come over with their bushels to help pick what they want.

It seems to be attracting those who don’t want to go through the red tape of becoming a registered producer who sells at the farmers’ market, the only way to sell fruit legally.

“It can be a lot of paperwork,” observes Petro, who adds that 25% of her users are people with fruit trees. And for obvious reasons, those with trees in L.A., Miami and Austin see more of a year-round yield than those in Boston and Seattle.

In addition to making connections, Petro and co-founder, Oriana Sarac, manage a monthly newsletter, The Grapevine, featuring the voices of gardeners, bee keepers and other experts in the field, as well as a blog for sharing timely articles, recipes and success stories.

They call their neighbor fruit sharing network Fruitfillment. Anyone who believes in this vision for making use of our abundance knows the ripe concept is fulfilling a mission, indeed.

Images: DieselDemon, Seph Swain, Neighborhood Fruit

They’re already talking about their costumes, those candy-crazy girls of mine. That’s how I know fall is here, just a wink and a nod after packing them up for summer camp.

Design-wise, it’s one of the easiest seasons for stylists since it involves scavenging for leaves and twigs to tweak our vignettes for free. Ah, there’s that “F” word, again, a favorite at EcoSalon.

Want to spruce up your rooms for autumn without much of a budget? Take one of the following paths most traveled by the frugal M. Stewarts among us:

The Centerpiece: Leaf it Alone

The Toast and Tables blog gathers no moss but plenty of leaves for centerpieces (images below). The simplicity is enticing. You can also make your own wreath with bundles, or layer them along the mantle to be set aglow by beeswax candles.

The DIY Twiggy Cabinet Door from Apartment Therapy

Bring the outdoors in by assembling twigs to embellish the typical cupboard cabinet (image below).

Basket Cases for Giving Thanks to the Autumn Bounty

Most of us have a caterer’s supply of baskets stored in the house. Fill a few with aromatic apples, Indian corn, leaves, pumpkins and other colorful objects for a cornucopia of delights. Don’t forget to toast your pumpkin seeds and put them in a bowl on the coffee table for another tasty treat of fall.

Scatter Bowls of Fall Potpourri with Old Fashioned Living’s Blend of Earthy Balsam Scents

Collect dried leaves and flowers from the ground, blend with fragrant oils and make your own yummy potpourri. Follow the DIY recipe and bring the woods and celebration of the equinox into your nest.

Image: J. Charpentier

Felt Leaf Napkin Rings and Placecards for Your Fall Dinner Party

Design Sponge has the skinny on these orange and brown napkin rings and cards (images below), easy to make with felt, scissors, glue, buttons, thread and your imagination. I love the chic, homemade texture of these festive gems.

Main Image: Design Sponge

There is something about berries that screams summer to me. Where I live in England it’s the height of strawberry season right now and the berries are cheap and plentiful. They are also succulent and sweet with the summer sun -  unlike the watery tart versions you get from supermarkets out of season. For the next few months we will have a berry bonanza with raspberries, gooseberries, blueberries, red currants, white currants, black currants, and finally in the autumn, blackberries.

For my fifth birthday I begged my mother to make a strawberry shortcake – I think I must have been inspired by the saccharine Strawberry Shortcake doll that was popular with the under-seven set at the time. The only problem? We lived in Bathurst, a small inland city a few hours west of Sydney, and my birthday was in midwinter. There was snow on the ground and fresh strawberries were non-existent. My mother ended up making the strawberry shortcake with tinned strawberries. She was horrified but my five-year-old self was perfectly delighted with the result.

These days, you can buy imported berries at any time of year. In winter, in London the supermarkets are filled with cheap blueberries that have been air-freighted from Peru. EcoSalon readers are almost certainly aware of the terrible environmental impact of such a luxury but never mind the food miles, the fruit is inevitably disappointing as well.

Fortunately, there are better ways to extend the taste of summer fruit into the cold months – and now is the time to think about it. If you grow berries yourself, unless you have a large family, you probably cannot keep pace with the berry eating and need to think about preserving the harvest. If not, you can still join in the fun by visiting a pick-your-own farm (preferably an organic one, since conventionally-grown strawberries are one of the most pesticide-ridden fruits and vegetables) or taking advantage of discounts at the farmers’ markets.

The simplest way to preserve berries is to freeze them. The trick is to lay the berries out on a baking tray and freeze them individually before bagging them up – otherwise, the berries will stick together.

Or you can go for the time-honoured route and try your hand at jam-making. I tried it for the first time with my aunt in Scotland two years ago and it was actually far easier than I thought. It was also quite fast – it took longer to pick the berries than to make the jam. At the simplest level, it is simply cooking up fruit and sugar.

The standard rule is to have equal quantities of fruit and sugar – a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit (or a kilogram of sugar to a kilogram of fruit). You can play around with this a little if you like – for example, 16oz of raspberries to 14oz of sugar will make a jam that is slightly less sweet. Be aware that the sugar is necessary to preserve the fruit so if you cut back, it will not last as long. Some people use apple juice or honey instead, but I have never tried this.

The best option is to buy special preserving sugar, though if you can not find this, the closest match is granulated or raw sugar. You can buy preserving sugar with or without added pectin – the natural agent that makes the jam set. Some fruit, such as black currant, is naturally high in pectin anyway – you can tell from the stickiness of the raw fruit. Strawberries on the other hand are low in pectin and traditionally you would add lemon juice as the setting agent.

Before you start, wash the jars and lids in hot soapy water and then put them in the oven at about 100C (210F) (but don’t put the lids in for too long if they have plastic on the inside). This will sterilise the jars and also make them hot so they don’t crack when you put the jam in.

Stew the fruit in a pot, with just a splash of water to stop it sticking to the pot. Stir and wait for the fruit to start to fall apart – when you don’t want it to fall apart any longer, add the sugar. Stir and cook the fruit mixture for 10 to 20 minutes – it depends on the fruit but you can tell it is done when the mixture develops a gloss. Keep a saucer in the fridge and when you think the jam is done, you can test it by dropping a teaspoonful on to the cold plate – it is done if it sets. (Take the jam off the heat while you do the test and put it back if needed).

When it’s ready, spoon the jam into the jars and twist on the lids immediately to seal it in – you might hear a lovely pop as the seals go upwards. Apparently if you are using cellophane and wax you need to wait until the jam is cold, but I’ve never tried this. It should keep for about a year in the cupboard – refrigerate once open and use within a month or two. If you get good at it, it makes a wonderful gift for friends and family.

If your first attempt does not work out, don’t worry. There’s another name for over-cooked jam – toffee. You might not be able to spread it on toast, but it is perfectly delicious in its own right.

Image: abbybatchelder

According to Environmental Working Group (EWG) research,  you could easily be consuming an average of 10 pesticides a day and not even know it. But that’s only if you are eating the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables around.

These 12 conventionally grown fruits and  vegetables, or the “dirty dozen” as EWG calls them are: peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, kale, lettuce, imported grapes, carrots and pears.

EWG, by the way, is not recommending that you stop eating these fruits and vegetables. Instead, they recommend that you simply buy organic.

Why not download a copy of EWG’s convenient and easy to read A Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides to take with you when grocery shopping? Not only does it list which fruits and vegetables to buy organic, but also lists the “Clean 15″ conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables that have the lowest pesticide levels. Definitely a guide worth having.

They also stress that rinsing the fruit and vegetables might reduce but not eliminate any pesticides that are present.

Image: thegreenparty

There’s no weekend excursion you relish more than getting your hands on the local harvest at organic farmers’ markets, but picture this instead: You’re craving a crisp salad garnished with savory herbs. You step outside into your garden, pick some tomatoes, peppers and basil, and enjoy a natural meal without ever stepping foot beyond your yard. If the idea of cultivating the food you consume seems intimidating, it’s a lot easier than you think to get your thumb to go green.

Before you begin, start a compost bin. You’ll be surprised at all the different things you can toss in to make use of waste.

In the meantime, decide which vegetable and herbs you want to plant. Consider the soil acidity required for them to grow. To increase the pH level, apply lime. To decrease it, apply sulfur.

Choose a spot in your yard that gets ample sunlight year-round. Remove any pebbles or debris.

Smooth a thin layer of your nutrient-rich compost over the soil and mix them together with a shovel or pick.

If you plan on growing peas or beans, fence off this area to provide support for their stalks. Plus, it will keep away all those hungry bunnies.

Mark off rows for the various crops you’ve chosen and leave plenty of room between them for growth.

Dig to the depth specified for each type of seed and evenly distribute them along the row.

Cover the seeds and pat the soil down firmly.

Water your freshly planted seeds using a spray bottle instead of a hose, which won’t unearth or saturate them.

Once your vegetable and herb garden starts to flourish, attentively pull out weeds from the root and repel insects with a natural blend of chopped garlic and mineral oil.

Image: lepiaf.geo