Did Nancy Wong foresee her San Francisco government career putting her into strange people's basements and yards, sidestepping their Teslas, and hauling off tons of their fruit?
"No," she admits. "No, I did not."
And yet, this describes a considerable portion of her worktime as, essentially, the one-woman show behind the Department of Public Works' "Urban Harvesting Program." That's a pretty highfalutin title for what amounts to Wong showing up at your home with a cardboard box and a few Inspector Gadget-like extender devices before plucking your trees. But, in the past four years, Wong has been fruitful: She has picked 2,040 pounds of fruit on her own this year, and that much or more in prior seasons. In this city, she can attest, there are plenty of people with no desire to pluck their apples, pears, plums, avocados, or lemons.
But it's almost always lemons. "The only thing that grows really well here all year are lemons," she says.
The city does not want Wong to be maimed or killed while bagging lemons. As such, she is under strict orders to not climb the trees or ascend ladders. She has, on occasion, gathered fruit while standing in a homeowner's bedroom and leaning out the window. Her equipment consists of a long pole, another long pole to attach to the first long pole, and a basket-like device that goes on the end and slices fruits off limbs.
Considering Wong only hits up around 40 San Francisco households, the untapped fruit-generating potential of this city is legion. And Henry Randolph could use the fruit.
As the shop floor manager of the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank for the past 18 years, Randolph has been the beneficiary of more than 4 tons of Wong's handiwork.
Produce is free for the service providers, ministries, and other groups who "shop" at the Food Bank. And, Randolph says, "lemons move pretty fast."
Spot a San Franciscan in the supermarket toting a lemon and there's a pretty good chance it'll end up in the long neck of a Corona longneck. That's not happening at the Food Bank: When the city gives you lemons, you tend to make lemonade.
Fifty pounds of lemons — a big haul for Wong — could represent 200 or more fruits. That could yield around 9.5 quarts of juice. When asked how much sugar would be required to produce palatable lemonade, Randolph shouted around the Food Bank and returned with the answer of 2.5 pounds.
Procuring sugar isn't Wong's forte. But, as more San Francisco homes avail themselves of her services, perhaps another city department could look into this.
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