Grapes by the Grate-full for the Grateful
by Susan McLucas

One of the dozen or so public fruit spots in Somerville is at Kenny Park, a little park that includes a walkway along a bordering fence. For a long time, every time I rode by this fence, I thought it would be a nice fence if it just had a few grape vines on it. So in 1992 a few of us planted four grape vines -- mostly Concord. I found a neighbor who would let us get water from his backyard and someone else who would water. Within a few years the fence was covered with grape vines. Various waterers and water sources came and went, but the grapes kept growing.

A few years ago, early in the harvest season, the grapes disappeared all at once. I asked around and, much to my surprise, ended up talking to a little boy who admitted that he was the one who picked and ate all the grapes. We talked about how many people live in the area, and he promised not to do it again. In the last couple of years, I've noticed that the harvest has lasted well into the season and that nobody is picking it clean. This summer I had a fascinating encounter with this same boy and his little brother. The little brother had been picking grapes and throwing them -- a favorite kid activity. My young friend told his brother to leave them so that we could eat them when they were ready. I listened for a while and then chimed in, "Stop throwing the grapes around! Wait until they're ripe and we can eat them!" The little brother said to me, "You can't tell me what to do with these grapes! They're for everybody!" The big brother came to my defense saying, "Well, she planted them." The little brother stopped throwing the grapes.

The vines are high now, and some grapes are out of reach of most people. Though kids can climb the fence to get some, it's still difficult. So this past September I put up a sign up that I would come the next day with a ladder. The next day, as I picked, people began to gather. One of these people was the "bad boy," as many neighbors refer to my young friend who had eaten all the grapes one year. After he had his turn picking, I invited him to help hold the ladder for the other children, to tell me which kids hadn't yet had a turn, and then to help distribute the harvest. The youngsters went around the park, organized by the grape loving boy, asking who wanted grapes and then giving them out. At the end we divided up what was left, and everybody went home with some grapes and a smile.

The nice thing about mature grape vines is that the harvest is big enough so that, even if there is a little greediness or a small accident with one of the vines, there are still plenty of grapes for a lot of people to enjoy. It always makes me happy when I see the harvest at our EarthWorks sites lasting well into the season. I think of how many people must have seen that there were grapes to be had, who could have easily picked the whole harvest and taken it home, who didn't and instead left the vast majority for the other people.

In addition to totally public fruit sites, we can encourage semi-public sites, such as people who plant fruit on their property and let what hangs over the sidewalk, in public space, be public. The passers-by get the grapes on the outside of the fence, and the property owners get the ones on the inside.

This past September many of us had fun visiting sites on the Tour of the Orchards. Some of us wore signs saying, "Plums for the People," "Grapes for the Grateful," and "Apples for Everybody." People along our route read what we are about, and a number of them expressed interest. Maybe they will plant public fruit in a public place near them this spring.

My idea of the perfect city is to have a grape vine on every fence, a raspberry patch in every vacant lot and some fruit trees scattered around as well. What do I want for the new millennium? For our city to blossom with even more fruit, along with plenty of community spirit to nurture and then share it. Together, we can make the city more like the country and create a Garden of Eden, right here in Boston.