Fruit Crate Labels, Old and New

Consider this to be a grower challenge. We can certainly display an impressive gallery of fruit crate labels dating back to the first half of the twentieth century. Yet there's been relatively few of us inspired to create a fruit crate label for these times.

Sure, no community orchard is shipping crates of fruit across country by rail yet alone topping off a barrel of apples to send across the sea. But what if you imagined you might?

Fruit crate labels ofttimes reflected a 'brand' more so than a particular orchard name but invariably bore the grower's name. Later versions would give greater emphasis to the packing house. The fun part came with the bold art chosen to draw attention along with the pithy phrasing. These were small poster size, as labels needed to fit on the end of a packing crate, thus dimensions ranged up to 10 x 11 inches but rarely any larger.

Who's game to get together with an artist friend and revive this vivid tradition? We'll happily post all upstart submissions here. And do make actual prints as well, whether you utilize such at farmer's markets or even swap with network friends to create your own barn display.

Here's my pledge: Come next winter, Lost Nation Orchard will definitely have a contender!