Urban foraging (harvesting food from an urban environment) is a fun way to get your food. Or you could think of it as a nutritious way to have fun! Either way you look at it, there are plenty of places in Sacramento to get food that’s growing for free.

Some places are pretty reliable – for example, there are citrus trees in Capitol Park and along many streets in downtown and midtown, and they’ll bear fruit every year. (You’re not actually supposed to pick fruit from the trees in Capitol Park, and they’re usually pretty crummy citrus anyway, so it’s probably not worth the effort.)

Other opportunities come up unexpectedly. For example, the Army Corps of Engineers sometimes tears up land to expand on Sacramento’s levies, and if that land has fruit trees on it, organizations may have the opportunity to harvest the trees before they’re wasted. You should keep an eye out, but you may also want to get on the mailing list of organizations that provide food assistance services – some of these, such as the Sacramento Food Bank and Senior Gleaners INC will notify clients and supporters about opportunities to collect food. They’ll be collecting food to support the organization’s mission, but they’ll also usually let volunteers take some food home, too.