Unterallgäu - You can pick apples, pears or plums free of charge again this year from all trees in Unterallgäu that are marked with a yellow band.
After the great response last year, the district is offering the campaign again together with several municipalities and is calling on all citizens to participate.
In many places you can already harvest.
The trees that you can pick yourself are spread across the district. On the one hand, the district has designated trees on its own areas as well as on areas of the state building authority. On the other hand, eleven municipalities take part in the campaign and mark trees in their municipality. These are often trees on orchards that are created as compensation areas for construction projects. Many trees already have the yellow ribbon, and more will be marked over the coming weeks when the fruit is ripe.
All citizens with their private gardens are invited to participate. All types of fruit trees or walnut trees are suitable for the action. The principle is always the same: Anyone who does not need their fruit or has already covered their own needs ties a yellow ribbon around the trunk of trees with ripe fruit and thus releases them for everyone to harvest. This means that anyone who wants to pick can go on the property without asking.
But you should observe a few rules of the game, says Markus Orf, district consultant for garden culture and land maintenance at the district office, who coordinates the action. So you should only pick ripe fruits and not break any branches during harvest. "Fruit is ripe when the fruit peel off easily and the kernels are brown," explains the expert. Also important: everyone is responsible for safety when picking, you should only take fruit from marked trees and not damage anything in the garden. As a yellow ribbon, according to Orf, you can use a thicker gift ribbon, for example, but also any other yellow ribbon that is clearly visible, weatherproof and survives the harvest season.
The district-wide harvest campaign has also been joined by the Türkheim local branch of the Bund Naturschutz with the “Fruit for All” project. Here, however, there are no yellow ribbons, but signs attached to the trees. The district in turn participates in the Yellow Ribbon project in the “Germany saves food” campaign of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, which runs in September and October. The Ministry of Food wants to use it to promote more appreciation of food.
"Even if there is not as much fruit in many places as last year because of the hailstorms and the wet and cold spring, it would be a shame if it turns out to be bad just because you cannot eat and process everything yourself," says Markus Orf .
“Many others are happy when they get some fruit.
Be it to squeeze juice, bake cakes, cook applesauce or just to eat fresh. "
If you have any questions, Markus Orf will provide information by phone on 08261 / 995-256 or by email to markus.orf@lra.unterallgaeu.de.
Here you can harvest
Trees are or will be marked with yellow bands in the following communities: Bad Grönenbach, Böhen, Buxheim, Lachen, Lauben, Lautrach, Memmingerberg, Ottobeuren, Memmingerberg and Woringen.
(MK)