Apples have been a bit of a mixed bag from the beginning. From Eve's fateful bite to the meeting between the fruit and Sir Isaac Newton's head, fruit seems as likely to hurt as to help and sometimes does both in equal measure.
Here in the Cariboo we have a similarly stressed relationship with our fruit: delicious and dangerous in equal parts.
Delicious on the plate but troublesome when it attracts bears.
This can be a troublesome burden for fruit tree owners and their neighbours alike, but The Two Rivers Harvesters, a new volunteer organization opening this summer, hope to ease the conflict, both between wild and city and in the schedules of fruit tree owners, by harvesting the fruit on a volunteer basis.
Judy Anderson, one of the drivers behind the new initiative, is hoping to drive some positive change, not just on the wildlife of the area, but in the community as well.
"It's helping at the most basic level," she said.
She got the idea when she saw a magazine about a group doing a similar thing in Toronto. The group picks fruit from backyards around Toronto, gives one third to the grower, keeps a third and gives a third to charity.
The idea is to help feed the community from a backyard orchard and get food to a large swath of the community in a more sustainable way than shipping food from around the world.
The fruit is already here in the city, but now a lot of it is going to waste.
Anderson is currently looking for growers, or anyone with some sort of fruit in their yard which they have no desire to pick.
Have an apple tree with it's budding leaves just peeking out. She wants you to call.
"They can contact us and we will make arrangements," Anderson said.
"We will come ahead of time to check and the grower can contact us again when it's ready and we'll come back."
It's never too early to get on the list.
If you’ve got a tree that you don’t plan on harvesting, you can contact the harvesters at tworiversharvester@gmail.com, or call 255-255-4093.
Harvesters will bring everything needed to get the fruit.
Not only does knowing ahead of time help the pickers know what they need to bring to get at the fruit, it allows the pickers to contact organizations to donate to.
Anderson is hoping to donate the fruits of the pickers labour to schools and food banks.
In sum, the apples (berries etc.) that would have once found the ground or the belly of a hungry bear, will now go to pickers and charity, while owners still get a piece of the pie (as long as they're willing to make it.)
That’s a lot better than an apple falling on your head.