Why do we pay for fruit and veg?

So the earth produces the fruit and vegetables, we live on the earth, earth is our home so why is it illegal to go into a apple orchard and take some apples which the earth produces for free?

Doesn't anyone else think that if the earth produces the food for free we have a right to take it without paying.

I know some will say "The farmer owns the land" But you can't own mother nature, you can't own the sun, wind, and rain.

I think fruit and vegetables should be free for everyone.


(I had no idea where to post this)

[edit on 11-6-2009 by Haydn_17]

because you didn't grow it yourself.

The earth provides for free, but it takes work to obtain the "fruits of your labor," and people just don't want to labor for free.

Originally posted by Haydn_17
So the earth produces the fruit and vegetables, we live on the earth, earth is our home so why is it illegal to go into a apple orchard and take some apples which the earth produces for free?

Doesn't anyone else think that if the earth produces the food for free we have a right to take it without paying.

I know some will say "The farmer owns the land" But you can't own mother nature, you can't own the sun, wind, and rain.

I think fruit and vegetables should be free for everyone.


(I had no idea where to post this)

[edit on 11-6-2009 by Haydn_17]

hello Haydn_17

"I think fruit and vegetables should be free for everyone."

That is what the native American Indian used to say

How can anyone own mother earth

Yet there is not a free grain of sand left on this planet that does not belong to some government, institution or person

even the air that we all breath is now being taxed disguised under the environmental clean air act

And in some parts of the world I hear it is illegal to collect your own rain water


So I am afraid the free picking of the fruit and vegetables ....
are definitely off the menu ....

Basic economics. Added value is a big factor that determines the price of a product. That and quantity demanded by buyers and quantity supplied by producers (sellers) will get you to the price you pay.

You can always grow your own produce, but you'll need quite a big piece of land to satisfy all your requirements. Either that or you can go back to trading, for example you can plant peach trees and trade your peaches for apples if you don't want to pay for apples...



[edit on 11-6-2009 by Gemwolf]

So I should pay excessive property taxes, pay for my apple trees and veggie seeds and the organic fertilizer and bug killer and let you pick my fruit?

I share my harvest but if you try to steal someones crop you might get bird shot in your buttocks when you are running away when you are caught.

If God plants it beside the road you travel then pick it. But if someone puts time and money into a field or garden it is theft to take it without asking.

Please deny ignorance.

reply to post by Haydn_17


Look, it costs a lot to pay Monsanto for all those chemicals to keep the worms off, the weeds down.
The farmer has to recover his costs, make a profit and feed his family.

Besides, I have seen and been in orchards that have been abandoned and gone wild. The fruit eventually becomes rather pathetic for a number of reasons.

reply to post by Haydn_17


If we take it all for free
Why would the farmer grow the crops?
why do teachers get paid to pass on knowledge which is free?

things cost money because people expect something in return for their effort.
you may think that the farmer plants the apple seed, but that is wrong, grafting, pruning and maintaining, all of which takes time and effort.
a farmer who grows apples gets money for 1 season, or roughly 3 months and then gets nothing for the rest of the year.

Well for starters because we are to lazy to grow it ourselves.
And secondly its seasonal, so if you want it in the off season you have to import it.

I would love to grow my own fruit and vegetables, but I don't have time or space to do so. They must be cultivated and cared for.

So I am happy to pay for someone else's time and effort.

They are getting expensive....I agree. But the farmer doesn't get all that. Transporting them to different areas is expensive too. That's what gets me. Every time oil and gas go up....so do our fruits and vegetables, along with the rest of our groceries. The truckers have to be paid, too.

If you live in access to a wild, wooded area, you might be able to find some things which have naturalized. When I was a child, my grandmother and I would go into the woods and pick blackberries, and find wild plum trees.

This is neither here nor there, but funny. Last summer I traveled a rural road twice a month for work reasons. Right on the side of the road was growing a lovely tomato plant! I was able to see it grow and mature, thinking I would stop and get a tomato when the time came, but the birds (or something) beat me to it. I figured birds is how it got there in the first place!

Also, in some areas in Colorado you can find wild asparagus.

Pretty cool.

reply to post by Haydn_17


Because greedy, fearful humans do not respect nature. Greedy, fearful humans go against nature. Greedy, fearful humans are natures enemy. Nature is free and uncontrollable. But we as greedy, fearful humans put all of our efforts into controlling instead of cooperating with each other and with nature.

You are an idealist. I like that. The world needs more of you.

i had the idea that apple trees and pear trees and such should be growing along the roads, and all throughout town. and then just eat up. veggies would be a little harder, but each local town should have local plots that are somewhat cheap if not free for the local residents.

because someone had to plant it
fertilize it
harvest it
pack it up
ship it



And that is quite expensive.

reply to post by Haydn_17


Well Haydn, if you grow your own fruit and vegetable plants, and put your own work into this, then the fruit and vegetables will be free? Why do you feel you are entitled to leech off of someone else's efforts? Do you feel the same if someone wants you to work for them for free because you are the product of the Earth also?

Because farmers spend exorbitant prices to grow those fruits and vegetables and don't get reimbursed until after harvest. I have seen grape farmers literally in tears after a late winter frost destroys their vineyard.

Thousands of dollars in fertilizers, thousands more in weed and pest control, thousands more in maintenance and diesel prices in the hopes they can turn a good profit come harvest. And you think you deserve to take their produce for free? Reality check time, buddy.

Do you think you deserve the right to walk into my backyard and jump in my pool? I mean I don't own the water do I? Why don't you fire up my barbecue and cook up some tritip from my freezer while you are at it?

well right off the bat I'd say cause most people are too stupid to know they can grow there own and don't have to depend on the government to provide it, or too busy to grow their own. Even some are too lazy.(my sis being one.) Even in an apartment or condo you can grow your own indoors if you buy growth lights and now even they have small self contained boxes with the light over top. A product like this one:
www.aerogrow.com...
Or this one
www.topsyturvy.com...
Can make it easier.

I have now been trying to get my own produce garden started, but it requires a lot of topsoil and I already made my compost... I just have to wait for my dh to get off his BUTT and load his truck with topsoil for me and I will be more self reliant , ok maybe in say 12 months I should be anyway!

[edit on 11-6-2009 by ldyserenity]

You can't own Mother Nature? Tell that to the Feds when the game warden comes up behind you and your gutting a deer out of season.

Originally posted by korath
You can't own Mother Nature? Tell that to the Feds when the game warden comes up behind you and your gutting a deer out of season.

So sadly true, Those people though are not all bad. We went through hard times and had to do some off season fishing in NJ to sustain our children and ourselves, not only that we had no license and the game warden saw the situation we were in and said to us Just be careful and left. Nice guy, but they aren't all like that, that's for sure.

In most places you're free to forage for what is just being provided by the Earth. If you want anything that has been cultivated, cared for, labored for, paid fees for, etc... then you're going to have to compensate whoever is doing the work.

You think there are just natural orchards of fruits and natural rows of veggies?

It takes a helluva lot of work. Work, I find, that these "lets all live and free and eat the sunshine" types arent exactly willing to do. If they were they wouldnt keep begging for handouts.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
In most places you're free to forage for what is just being provided by the Earth. If you want anything that has been cultivated, cared for, labored for, paid fees for, etc... then you're going to have to compensate whoever is doing the work.

You think there are just natural orchards of fruits and natural rows of veggies?

It takes a helluva lot of work. Work, I find, that these "lets all live and free and eat the sunshine" types arent exactly willing to do. If they were they wouldnt keep begging for handouts.

So true. I am telling you, the downfall of society was making people dependant on so many things like money, the government, the farmers, the economy...the list goes on and on. And people just keep reproducing without teaching their children about any kind of self reliance.

I know some will say "The farmer owns the land" But you can't own mother nature, you can't own the sun, wind, and rain.

Well, if you find fruit in the wild (or even public property in most cases), of course you can eat it for free (i.e. not on private property).

Thing is, let's say you wanted to make a salad. Are you really going to trek all over creation to find a wild cucumber, lettuce head, tomatoes, etc.? No, I think you're going to pay for the CONVENIENCE of having someone else gather, clean, and centrally locate these commodities...

As a group of people formed governments and declared that they'd recognize claims on land, then yes, by consentual agreement, you can "own" the land.