Welcoming a community orchard

As of May 6th, 2023, there’s an orchard at the Underhill town pond.

Okay, calling it an orchard is a bit aspirational. There’s six apple trees, nine blueberries, and ten raspberries in the ground. Once they start producing, they’re up for grabs to anyone who comes by.

Map
See full map with descriptions

It’s a public experiment of planting perennial fruit-givers on public land.

The trees and shrubs and fruit are visually unavoidable while folks are relaxing by the popular family swimming hole. My hope is the plants inspire conversation about why they were planted, local food insecurity, and how people can help. To continue imagining, it may even inspire folks to plant a their own which will boost the areas biodiversity.

It’s also a physical connection point. Many locals in this town of Vermont are passionate about gardening and fruit trees, but much of that knowledge remains within the boundaries of property. I’m very much a part of the group that obsesses over my lawn and my 1 acre, but it’s knowledge-hoarding. Not dissimilar to every garage on the street stocking the same tools, same lawnmower, and same ladder. In our time and place of relative affluence, the potential for sharing is juicy ripe. The community orchard is tool sharing at the library. It’s the adorable used book houses that amass along roads. It may just coax those with nature-brains from their cozy nooks into the open.

These are my immediate visions for the project. A place to host knowledge-sharing workshops on:

A place to organize get-togethers:

So, the foundation is set. These activities just need a little nudge to get started.

This was what I brought to this project. I threw a humble nugget of initiative against the wall. I was, and still am, grateful that it stuck, that my pitch was accepted with open arms by two other fellow crew members. It as as if they were waiting, poised for a project like this.

Here’s a summary of our process.

  1. In late 2022, the town of requests community submissions for what to do with our ARPA money.

  2. I take my new interest in fruit trees and resilience and penned a proposal.

  3. Then I hesitate. I almost send it to the town, but instead send it to John who manages the food-sharing shed to get some notes.

  4. He loves the idea and pushes for usurping the funding and doing it ourselves, embodying Rob Hopkins from the transition town movement:

    “If we wait for governments, it will be too late. If we act as individuals, it will be too little. But if we act as communities, it might just be enough, and it might just be in time.”

  5. We define the model of specialists and generalists: Each plant gets a specialist who’ll be the go-to resource and provide strategy when needed, but they won’t have to do all the work. General volunteers will provide support, like watering or weeding.

  6. We fill out the group with volunteers and friends.

  7. We adjust the proposal to focus on approval not funding and send to the select board and recreation committee, because they manage the pond park.

  8. In April, we get approval and some surprise funding support anyway. Plant orders are made.

  9. On May 6th, Earth Day and Vermont’s annual Green-Up Day, we welcome the plants into our ground.

  10. Currently, we are in watering-mode. We assigned one of us to dump water from the pond onto each plant daily.

The buzz from this project has me thinking, what’s next?

After being a part of a project like this, the idea bees are indeed abuzz. The notion of a public spud spot has already taken root. Empty patches in town are calling out to have fruit trees planted on them. The challenge at hand is tending to the wee saplings and shrubs that need extra care right now, but we’re in good hands. Apples won’t produce for 3-5 years. Blueberries will be sooner, and raspberries sooner still, but planting is just the beginning. Trees teach patience.

As I sought out similar projects while researching for this one, I noticed each project was at a different stage of maturity. The Underhill community orchard is indeed young and in the establishment phase. I found few that were in the maturation and stewardship phase, where the ecosystem is self-sufficient and requires minimum human input. This is the dream. Most I found were only a few years old. The projects that come up on google may not be an accurate view of the landscape and may indicate the people undertaking such projects aren’t tech-savvy and don’t update their blogs.

The projects do, however, share strikingly similar missions, like enhancing food security and access, promoting sustainability, ecological restoration, fostering community engagement, empowering folks to commune, etc.

And even more radical missions like planning for the collapse of outdated systems by creating living examples of resilient and climate-adaptive agricultural systems that can withstand extreme weather conditions. Or intending to heal the severed wound of community and connection with the land.

I’m here for all of the above.

That’ll be in the next phase.

raspberries
unimpressive raspberries
blueberries
blueberries inside the new fence
apples
apples outside the fence

Links on community orchards / food forests

General

Vermont

Northeast