And now for some much needed sweet city news, an organization called Just One Tree has created a San Francisco-based project in which 50 fruit-bearing lemon trees will be distributed to willing volunteers throughout the Tenderloin. Just One Tree hopes to provide delicious lemons to San Franciscans who desire them, and also to connect the city's neighbors through the collective tending of the trees.
Just One Tree comes to us from Urban Resource Systems, a local non-profit. According to Hoodline, the organization figured out that to take care of San Francisco's lemon needs, the city needs 12,000 lemon trees. With an estimated 4,000 already growing in San Francisco, we could use 8,000 more. Just One Tree then secured Cole Hardware and Destination Gardens to begin with a donation of 50 lemon trees.
Here's where the plan really gets interesting: those 50 lemon trees will be planted in collections of three or four trees in designated spots around the Tenderloin, and volunteer stewards will be tasked with caring for them. Each small collection of trees will have a small collection of volunteer caretakers. The goal here is to bring neighbors and families together, caring for their collective trees, the neighborhood and ultimately each other.
If you've already got a lemon tree blooming in your backyard (or near a sunny window in your overpriced apartment), sign up your tree to be counted. You don't have to share your lemons unless you want to, and registering will help Just One Tree track their goal of getting San Francisco to 12,000 trees. You can also help sweeten this project by spotting lemon trees around San Francisco and letting Just One Tree know about them. Whomever spots to most trees gets a "prize," presumably lemon-based.
If Just One Tree pulls this project off—and we know they will—San Francisco will become the first American city that is self-sufficient in a tree crop. Bring on the lemonade!