The bounty of summer has arrived. Luscious plums, pluots, grapes, raspberries, peaches white and yellow, and all manner of melons are at L.A.’s Farmers Markets. But if you run out of your farm-purchased delicacies midweek and don’t have a backyard grove of your own, you may be brave enough to go ahead and reenact that original famous garden scene and snatch some irresistible forbidden fruit from someone else’s tree.

Fallen Fruit, a collaborative art project, wants to help. And the good news is that fruit is not actually forbidden if it hangs over a public space, which means anything beyond a private property line. There’s plenty of public fruit in Los Angeles, hanging from branches that overhang spaces like streets, sidewalks, and parking lots, enough for lots of folks to take what they need. And we’ve all probably seen it going to waste, succulent plums squashed on the pavement, avocados rotting in a concrete grave.

No more fruit shall be wasted if we all check out the neighborhood maps on Fallen Fruit’s site – from Larchmont to Claremont, they can tell you where, when and what kinds of fruits fall in public spaces in that part of town. The only instructions: “Take only what you need; say ‘hi’ to strangers; share your food; take a friend; and go by foot.”

Fallen Fruit imagines a world where the streets are lined with fruit trees bearing goodies for all to share. You can follow its maps to bounty in your neck of the city, plant your own trees to provide food for your community or make a new map of your own (instructions here).

Look out for Fallen Fruit Public Fruit Jams, Nocturnal Fruit Forages, and Community Tree Plantings at the website: www.fallenfruit.org.

Tags: fallen fruit, farmers markets los angeles, fruit maps, public fruit