Concrete Jungle started as a volunteer-run, urban foraging organization. Now we’re a statewide solution for combating food waste and food insecurity.

After obtaining a cider press, Craig Durkin, Aubrey Daniels and friends search for apple trees growing in Atlanta, finding many neglected trees in yards all over the city or on public property. The first Ciderfest, replete with dogs, trampolines, music and cider takes place, thus marking Year 0 in the Ciderian calendar.

The biggest Ciderfest ever! 3300 lbs. of apples collected solely from urban trees by a bunch of college kids. Too much fruit for just a party! We decide to share the harvest with families in need and so Concrete Jungle is born.

We go public with our fruit tree map. By 2022, we map 4,300+ fruit trees in Atlanta and Athens.

The nice thing about vegetables is that they grow almost year ’round in Atlanta! A friend donated land in southwest Atlanta and we set out to turn a kudzu jungle into the bountiful and beautiful Doghead Farm. The farm increases our annual yield by 3,000-5,000 pounds and adds diversity to our distributions to partner agencies.

Concrete Jungle explores some speculative design with Carl DiSalvo at Georgia Tech, exploring drones for fruit foraging, sensors to detect fruit ripeness, and better mapping technologies to inventory and share our tree knowledge.

We hire our Executive Director and first paid employee, Katherine Kennedy.

Now we’re official! CJ becomes a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and begins our Adventure Picks program rescuing fruits and veggies from farms and orchards and exploring nearby swimmin’ holes and hikes.

Concrete Jungle launches our PEEL program to help clients receiving our produce learn inexpensive and easy ways to prepare it. We begin distributing recipe and “vegecation” cards and offering recipe demos and taste tests at select partner locations.

Concrete Jungle begins harvesting produce in our first branch city of Athens, Georgia! We also hire two former clients, having first met them at a food pantry where we distribute produce. CJ also released its fruit-foraging cookbook with recipes to make from local fruit.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, CJ purchases and delivers groceries to 500 families with increased risk of contracting COVID-19. This effort evolves into Produce Buyers Club, scaling our work with local farmers to purchase cosmetically their blemished and excess produce at a discount and distribute it throughout Atlanta.

Concrete Jungle keeps on growing! We reach a milestone of seven full-time staff, including a Farm Recovery Manager in south Georgia. CJ also surpasses 2 million pounds of food diverted from landfills and redirected to folks who need it.

Concrete Jungle reaches a milestone of providing 1 million pounds of produce annually to families in need. We do this by expanding our farmer and partner networks, recruiting more volunteers, hiring more staff and increasing our warehouse space. We also celebrate 16 years of supporting food access with a big Sweet 16 Event!