I've been wanting to WWOOF for a while now. WWOOFING is essentially couch surfing but on a farm - for free room and food, volunteers help with daily maintenance (picking fruit, tilling soil, milking cows, etc.).
Because I am in enrolled in a full-time graduate program, it's hard to commit to a stay on a farm, especially since the closest to LA is about an hour away. So...instead, my friends and I volunteered through Food Forward's fruit picking service. On our specific day we picked persimmons in Sherman Oaks.
The organization goes to the backyards of private home owners who have abundant fruit trees. Then all of the fruit is donated to an organization that helps feed the less fortunate. My friends and I met in front of the Sherman Oaks house. The Persimmon tree was HUGE. We ended up filling 23 boxes, equalling over 900 pounds of persimmons and there were still a large amount hanging on the highest parts of the tree (where we couldn't reach).
There were seven of us total, including two people who worked for the program. Charles, the main organizer for the day, was very supportive and encouraging. We used ladders, fruit sacks, pickers (look kind of like lacrosse sticks), sheers: a whole array of gardening tools. It was a beautiful day so it was nice to be outside doing something good for humanity. It did get a bit tiring after a while, but we were only there for an hour and 1/2. After picking the fruit and boxing them, we raked the lawn of fallen leaves and split/rotten fruit, and carried the boxes to a large truck. This particular pick was going to a Jewish organization for those less fortunate, and some of the fruit was going towards a canning service through Food Forward, to help maintain freshness of the food.
I would definitely recommend volunteering with Food Forward. I might not do it again, because it is a bit strenuous (ha, I'm such a wimp), but apparently persimmons are a particularly stubborn pick (the fruits don't want to leave their mama tree!), but I definitely felt like I did a good deed for the week and it was really pleasant.
You can learn more about Food Forward here: http://foodforward.org/
I believe they have pickings once a week.
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