May 17, 2022

When Life Gives You Excessive Amounts of Lemons, Swap Them for Avocados

When I moved into my house in San Diego about 18 months ago I was thrilled to see that so many of our neighbors had fruit trees. As the seasons turned though, I was disheartened to see such a high percentage of fruit rotting on the trees. My initial disposition was slightly judgemental. How can these people not be picking and using this wide variety of fruits? Week after week while walking my dog, I would see such a variety of apples, avocados, bananas, oranges, passionfruit, peaches, pomegranates, and more and within a few weeks, the greater majority of which would rot on the tree.

At our house, we had three mature trees in the backyard and we planted another 11. Living through that first growing season I finally had empathy for my neighbors, a mature fruit tree produces soooo much fruit. How are my wife and I going to consume 500 lemons a year?! I needed a solution.

Through online and word-of-mouth research, we found a few different options. There are a number of groups through Facebook that allow you to trade with or donate extra fruits to peers. Many of these groups specialize in Online Swaps, Neighborhood Exchanges, or even niche groups geared toward Rare Fruit. Below, I hope to provide a few options to help solve your potential produce consumption issues.

Feel free to come out to Cadman Recreation Center this Sunday at 1 PM for the first meeting of San Diego Fruit Swap. And feel free to join the Facebook group here, or follow us on Instagram for updates.