A simple cider press started it all.
“As friends and poor college students, Craig Durkin and Aubrey Daniels wanted to find fruit to make cider instead of going to the store to buy apples,” said Katherine Kennedy, executive director of Concrete Jungle.
In their search for apples around the city, they found a wealth of all kinds of fruit.
“The whole story is that they started having an annual cider press party,” Kennedy said. “A big, outdoor community event where people could come, play music, have fresh-pressed cider and enjoy the fall weather.
“In 2008, 3,300 pounds of apples were picked and that was way more cider than anyone could drink,” she said.
The waste and abundance took Durkin and Daniels on a different path. In 2009 they founded the nonprofit Concrete Jungle to donate the fruit.
Three years later, they were given a piece of land from a fan of Concrete Jungle who thought they could have a longer season of production if they also grew vegetables to donate.
The once “kudzu jungle” now Doghead Farm produces about 4-5,000 pounds of vegetables a year, according to Kennedy. On the farm now are roots and greens that can withstand the winter.
“On the average, we are picking up to 30,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables a year,” she said.
Mapping out fruit trees in Atlanta along with their harvested vegetables, their footprints are all over Atlanta. They donate almost all they collect to food banks, soup kitchens, shelters and those in need.
“Fruit picks are amazingly fun. Full of high energy,” Kennedy said. “We let people climb the trees, shake the fruit and we all catch it in the tarp.”
For those wanting to lend a hand with the farm, there are two “farm days” scheduled Dec. 7 and 21.
Not stopping at harvesting food, they hold food education and cooking classes, recipe demonstrations and have compiled a cookbook.
“The annual ciderfest continues to this day, but the thing that really keeps us going and pushes the needle on our mission is the community. We have this kind of spirit of fun and of party, and this work doesn’t get done unless we all pitch in. That’s what is changing hearts and minds and diets.
“Because we are just not typical, next year we will be celebrating 11 years, not ten,” said Kennedy. “We are trying to be forward thinking in all the good things to come in the next decade and we want to celebrate what we’ve done.”
Visit www.concrete-jungle.org.
Each Sunday we write about a deserving person or charity events such as fun-runs, volunteer projects and other community gatherings that benefit a good cause. To submit a story for us to cover, email us at ajc.doinggood@gmail.com.
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