‘Abundance slips between and prises open the idea of “private and public” by harvesting, through agreement, collaboration, reciprocation and permission, in backyards, church grounds, hospital carparks, industrial estates, waste land, streets, scrub, derelict property, private businesses, public authority housing, parks and green spaces, and turns ownership on its head by distributing these private resources publicly.’*
The idea is to make use of fruit that would otherwise rot on the trees and use the produce to make jams, chutneys, pickles and juices that are then distributed to local community groups for free. Abundance locates public and private growing sites, notes when the fruit is ripe and then organizes groups of volunteers to collect and preserve it. Obviously they make sure that they seek the permission of the landowner before harvesting trees on private land, but when trees are located on public land they are seen as a public resource. Care is taken not to damage the tree and some fruit is left for wildlife.
