{"id":19169,"date":"2023-11-21T15:43:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-21T20:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=19169"},"modified":"2024-01-02T10:26:26","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T15:26:26","slug":"a-forum-for-fruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/","title":{"rendered":"A Forum for Fruit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Scott<\/a>
Scott Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\"\"\n

Scott Smith<\/a> is more than familiar with debugging\u2014whether it’s in lines of computer code or amid the rows of his orchard.<\/p>\n

The director of graduate studies and a professor in the Department of Computer Science<\/a>, Smith has been growing fruit in his north Baltimore backyard for more than 20 years, but his love of homegrown produce reaches back to his early childhood when he first plucked cherries from his family\u2019s tree when he was three.<\/p>\n

Smith was inspired to try growing his own fruit in 2002 as a respite from his research on programming languages. \u201cOne cold, dismal March day, I got this fruit tree catalog in the mail,\u201d he says. \u201cThere were all these beautiful pictures of fruit\u2014such a bounty!\u2014and I said, \u2018Okay, I\u2019ll order a couple of things.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

A \u201ccouple\u201d has turned into two full orchards\u2014replete with various types of fruit, from apples to kiwis to persimmons. He now has plans for a vegetable garden to round out his acre of suburban land.<\/p>\n

Smith learned most of what he knows about growing online. But he also benefited from the guidance and mentorship provided by local growers\u2014and, like a true scientist, he wanted to give back to the fruit \u201cresearch\u201d community, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I started my own fruit-growing forum,\u201d says Smith. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty active, with several posts an hour. We even have some young people who are big contributors; it\u2019s all different ages, all different stripes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
\u201cThat\u2019s why I started my own fruit-growing forum. It\u2019s pretty active, with several posts an hour. We even have some young people who are big contributors; it\u2019s all different ages, all different stripes.\u201d -Scott Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The online forum boasts 5,000 active users and 700,000 posts, and even has a trading post where enthusiasts can trade growing tips and grafting sticks.<\/p>\n

When he\u2019s not moderating the forum or directing the Programming Languages Laboratory,<\/a> Smith can be found outside in his orchard, planting, pruning, harvesting, and, of course, \u201cdebugging\u201d\u2014albeit with a low-impact, nontoxic spray regimen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scott Smith is more than familiar with debugging\u2014whether it’s in lines of computer code or amid the rows of his orchard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":19173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4945],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-other-life","issue-winter-2024"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Forum for Fruit - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read about Scott Smith, director of graduate studies and a professor at the Whiting School, and his love of homegrown produce.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Forum for Fruit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Read about Scott Smith, director of graduate studies and a professor at the Whiting School, and his love of homegrown produce.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-21T20:43:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-02T15:26:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/DSC_8293.jpgCorrected.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"898\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve James\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve James\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/a-forum-for-fruit\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/a-forum-for-fruit\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steve James\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815\"},\"headline\":\"A Forum for Fruit\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-21T20:43:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-02T15:26:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/a-forum-for-fruit\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":364,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/a-forum-for-fruit\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/DSC_8293.jpgCorrected.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"My Other Life\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/a-forum-for-fruit\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/a-forum-for-fruit\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/a-forum-for-fruit\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Forum for Fruit - JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/a-forum-for-fruit\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/a-forum-for-fruit\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/DSC_8293.jpgCorrected.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-21T20:43:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-02T15:26:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815\"},\"description\":\"Read about Scott Smith, director of graduate studies and a professor at the Whiting School, and his love of homegrown produce.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/a-forum-for-fruit\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/a-forum-for-fruit\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/a-forum-for-fruit\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/DSC_8293.jpgCorrected.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/DSC_8293.jpgCorrected.jpeg\",\"width\":1350,\"height\":898,\"caption\":\"Scott Smith\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/a-forum-for-fruit\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Forum for Fruit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\",\"name\":\"JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815\",\"name\":\"Steve James\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steve James\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Forum for Fruit - JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"Read about Scott Smith, director of graduate studies and a professor at the Whiting School, and his love of homegrown produce.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Forum for Fruit","og_description":"Read about Scott Smith, director of graduate studies and a professor at the Whiting School, and his love of homegrown produce.","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/","og_site_name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","article_published_time":"2023-11-21T20:43:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-02T15:26:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1350,"height":898,"url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/DSC_8293.jpgCorrected.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve James","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve James","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/"},"author":{"name":"Steve James","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815"},"headline":"A Forum for Fruit","datePublished":"2023-11-21T20:43:26+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-02T15:26:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/"},"wordCount":364,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/DSC_8293.jpgCorrected.jpeg","articleSection":["My Other Life"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/","name":"A Forum for Fruit - JHU Engineering Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/DSC_8293.jpgCorrected.jpeg","datePublished":"2023-11-21T20:43:26+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-02T15:26:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815"},"description":"Read about Scott Smith, director of graduate studies and a professor at the Whiting School, and his love of homegrown produce.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/DSC_8293.jpgCorrected.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/DSC_8293.jpgCorrected.jpeg","width":1350,"height":898,"caption":"Scott Smith"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/11\/a-forum-for-fruit\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Forum for Fruit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/","name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815","name":"Steve James","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g","caption":"Steve James"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19169"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19691,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19169\/revisions\/19691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}