A fruitful idea: Napa website helps gardeners share extra produce with neighbors

Lots of Napans have a bountiful fruit tree or successful backyard garden that produces far more lemons or oranges, or zucchini or tomatoes, than any one family could possibly eat in a season.

That leaves some folks with a "growing" problem - what to do with all of those extra fruit or veggies?

James Rosen has one answer: PickMyFruit.com.

Rosen, who lives in downtown Napa, created the website to help locals turn their "backyard abundance" into community food.

PickMyFruit.com is meant to help locals connect with neighbors who will use their produce, explained Rosen.

Here's how it works: Napa gardeners list their extra produce on the PickMyFruit.com website. Locals can then see what's available and then make plans with the grower to pick it up. For privacy reasons, addresses are not listed on the website, only neighborhoods. It's up to each grower to share their address or location after the request is made.

"I really wanted to create something where the people involved all support and benefit from one another," said Rosen.

"And also, I just like being in my garden. And I know other people who like just being in their garden."

Rosen said that PickMyFruit.com also has a larger mission. As the website explains, "food waste exists alongside hunger because of broken connections, not scarcity. Every season, fruit falls to the ground while families go without. Pick My Fruit reconnects that abundance to need."

If you "rescue" food, you can feed more people, the website reads. And build a sustainable community.

"Every fruit tree, every volunteer connection, every process we build should leave things better than we found them," the website reads.

He said he thought of the free food idea years ago, before he moved from the Peninsula to Napa in 2020.

"I was just walking down the street, and I saw some fruit overhanging the sidewalk, and I thought, you know, someone should be able to take advantage of that."

Then last August, he was laid off from a software engineering job. He and his wife Erin have a growing family, including a baby.

"It was a time to reflect," and reconsider how he wanted to spend his time. "This project has been on my radar forever," he said. Now was his chance.

So far, there are about a dozen Napa listings on the website, offering lemons, limes, grapefruits, loquats, radishes, rosemary, laurel, collard-greens and even white roses.

Rosen talked about a man who stopped by his garden for three artichokes and dropped off a bag of loquats at the same time. "But I've also had people just come for some rosemary."

So far, he has about 15 registered households and about 40 "rescues" or people who have received produce via the website.

Rosen said he understands that the CANV Food Bank has a gleaner team and also accepts food donations.

"I'm very glad that those things exist in Napa, and that's awesome work. But I think there's a lot of folks who just have, you know, 10 limes, and would love to share them."

Some readers might wonder how PickMyFruit.com is different than someone posting free fruits or vegetables on Nextdoor, Facebook or other social media.

It's a similar idea, said Rosen, but those platforms are usually used for one-time offers, and aren't dedicated to providing food for free.

One neighbor, Suzanne Wooldridge, said she heard of PickMyFruit on Nextdoor.

"I wanted to try it because I love the sense of community and I had fruit to share," wrote Wooldridge.

"I think it's a wonderful way to get involved and to exchange with other people something that they might have an abundance of. I go on daily walks, and I see so many trees packed full of fruit. I wish more people would do it rather than letting the fruit rot on the trees."

Wooldridge said she currently offers lemons on PickMyFruit.com, "but I have plans to plant a lot of things this summer, so if I have more, I'd definitely offer it."

Rosen hopes that Napans will use PickMyFruit.com regularly, again, building that sense of community and sustainability.

If it works out, he could expand PickMyFruit.com to include other cities, other counties and even other states, he said.

However, "The goal of this business is not to be a multinational conglomerate taking on the grocery stores," he noted. "I just want to get neighbors connected, trying new foods, eating stuff out of the gardens, and having a connection with each other and the land," he said.

Right now, Rosen said he's hoping to see 100 listings of available produce, he said. With the summer growing season ramping up, he's optimistic, said Rosen.

This Napan explained that the person who is offering the food decides if they want visitors to pick it themselves or not. So far, most of the time, the gardener does the picking. For example, when he offers artichokes, "I cut them as people request them."

"But I do know I have a neighbor who has a lemon tree, and she says, ‘Just come pick lemons. I don't want to deal with it.' And that works too."

Rosen said the gardener decides if they want to meet the person receiving their produce face-to-face.

"I like to meet them," he said. "I like to learn about how people found the site. And obviously, I have a slightly different interest than other folks. But I really do want it to be a degree of community."

"That said, I certainly know that not everybody wants to strike up a conversation with strangers, and sometimes the safest and most comfortable thing is to leave it on the porch."

While the service is free, he's open to ways he can monetize the website, said Rosen. For example, he's considering offering a sponsorship opportunity in a monthly newsletter.

For more information or to see which produce is available, visit PickMyFruit.com.

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