I heard it through The Grapevine! Welcome to Neighborhood Fruit! Neighborhood Fruit is a revolutionary service that connects people who have excess backyard fruit with those who want it. Founded on the principle that we all live better when we share, Neighborhood Fruit envisions a future where we all eat healthy and affordable food grown in our zip codes. You are friends with one of the founders, Kaytea Petro and Oriana Sarac, so you are among the first to hear about this upcoming service! This is the first Neighborhood Fruit monthly missive, The Grapevine. It is packed full of content that we hope you love (and if you don't, let us know). The Grapevine includes recipes, gardening tips, fruit labels and updates Neighborhood Fruit. Just so you know, we will never share your email with anyone (not even if they offer us an abundant Mangosteen tree that's always in season). Feel free to forward The Grapevine to a friend. We are very excited to be bringing Neighborhood Fruit to life, and are thrilled to share it with you! Expect new developments all the time! May the fruit be with you, Kaytea and Oriana

Help us with a survey! As you may know, Neighborhood Fruit developed out of a final project at Presidio School of Management. Many of you were kind enough to be interviewed and surveyed for that project. The company name, branding and identity all were emerged from your feedback. Now, to successfully bring Neighborhood Fruit to the big top, we need your help again. Please take a moment to fill out our latest survey, which we will be using to develop the features of the site. Take survey now.

Fruit Label Every month we present a fruit label for you to enjoy, featuring a monster that eats seasonal fruit. These labels can be printed out and affixed to a box of fruit you want to share, or downloaded for a desktop background! Each month, we will introduce different artists to you through this label. If you would like to contribute, please email for design guidelines. Presenting the Strawberry Stealer! The March fruit label features a cartoon by Bay Area artist, Thomas (TJ) Walkup. TJ brings his talent and vision to a variety of genres. He currently works as a filmmaker through his production company Omnific Pictures, the staff cartoonist for Street Sheet, a cafe cartoonist, and an amazing painter. He currently is filming a documentary about pioneering African-American cartoonist and cardmaker "Goodie" Cleven Goudeau. Neighborhood Fruit is honored that he brought us a Strawberry Stealer, and we hope you enjoy his work! Download the label now.

Notes from the Yard: Gardening Tips The rains are coming down hard and fast here in "Sunny California". But that doesn't mean that we can't do some work to get our gardens ready for spring! This month, we turned to gardening expert, Mary Ann, for some sage advice for fruit growers. If you would like to share gardening advice for the month of April please email us before March 20th. Prune that apple tree! Although most people prune their apple trees in January, as long as you get it done before spring really takes hold, you should be ok for this year. Remember, pruning the tree now will save hassle when it comes to harvest time. Fertilize your citrus! Don't forget to fertilize your citrus trees once a month for healthy happy citrus.

Notes from the Kitchen: When March gives you lemons... There's been all sorts of delicious lemons making their way through the Neighborhood Fruit offices this winter, so we thought it apropos to celebrate this tangy fruit with a smattering of lemon-based recipes. Enjoy! If you would like to submit a recipe for the April newsletter, please email it to us by March 20th. Perfect Arnold Palmer! This recipe is the result of months of experimentation in our scientific laboratory (a.k.a kitchen). You can't beat this Arnold Palmer. Ingredients 3/4 cup turbinado sugar 4-6 Meyer lemons, roughly 1 . 5-2 cups (more if they’re small) 7 black tea bags water Directions Put the sugar into a pan with 4 cups of water and make it into simple syrup (simmer it). Turn off the heat and add teabags and cover. Juice the lemons into serving pitcher. Add ice to the lemon juice. Add 1/3 of the simple syrup tea. Taste it. Keep adding tea syrup to taste. Lemony Hot Toddy When it's cold and you need a little comfort... Ingredients 3 sticks of cinnamon large pinch of whole cloves 1 whole nutmeg or 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg 10 lemons 1/2 cup turbinado sugar or honey (more to taste) 2 quarts of water Directions Put the water, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and sugar into a saucepan to boil. Cut the skin away from the pith (the bitter white part) from two lemons (more if they're small). Cut skin into strips and add it to saucepan. When the pot comes to a boil, turn it down to a simmer, and let it simmer for at least 15 minutes. Prepare the serving cups. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lemon (or more to taste) into each coffee mug that you're serving. If they want an "adult" toddy, put a shot of rum or bourbon into each cup too! Add a cinnamon stick and a slice of lemon. When the toddy base is good and hot, pour it into the cups and serve! Winter Lemon Salad Simple, fresh and perfect. Ingredients 1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil Juice of 1-2 Lemons sea salt and cracked pepper 1/2 pound spinach or butter lettuce 1/2 C crumbled feta Directions Wash and toss the greens into a bowl. Squeeze the lemons directly over them, add the oil, salt and pepper. Toss the salad to mix. Sprinkle the feta on top.

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