The streets of San Francisco are planted with thousands of fruit trees, yet they are strictly ornamental varietals. Most cities want to avoid the mess of fallen fruit, which could lead to slippery sidewalks and the infestation of unwanted pests. Guerrilla Grafters is a grassroots group that sees a missed opportunity for cities to provide a peach or a pear to anyone strolling by. Their objective is to restore sterile city trees into fruit-bearers by grafting branches from fertile trees. The project might not resolve food scarcity, but it helps foster, in their words, “a habitat that sustains us.” So far the group has grafted about 50 trees in neighborhoods where they identify locals to take stewardship of the trees
and their harvest.