10 Steps to Establishing a Community Orchard in the Uk and Beyond

Planning a community orchard. Photo credit: The Orchard Project

TEN STEPS TO ESTABLISHING A COMMUNITY ORCHARD

www.orchardpeople.com 1 Since 2009, The Orchard Project, a charity dedicated to the creation, restoration and celebration of community orchards, has established over 540 community orchards in the UK. These projects have been a huge success. They have increased food security and helped develop resilient communities with the skills to plant and care for fruit trees.

So in episode 59 of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast, host Susan Poizner interviews Lewis McNeill of The Orchard Project about how they help nurture and support groups that want to start community orchards in the UK and the lessons learned can be applied to community orchard projects in North America and other countries as well.

Below are The Orchard Project’s 10 steps to establishing a community orchard.

10 steps to establishing a community orchard in the uk and beyond

Here are a number of the steps involved in establishing a community orchard in the UK that will survive and thrive for years to come.

1. Finding a Suitable Site: Most groups already have a site in mind, like the grounds of a housing estate, a school or a park. The Orchard Project team will visit the site to assess its suitability in terms of sun, soil and wind. They will do some basic soil tests with the group including the ribbon and ball test and the jam jar test. 2. Forming or Expanding an Orchard Team: The Orchard Project asks that any group wanting to found a community orchard in the UK has a minimum of fve members who will serve as orchard leaders.

www.orchardpeople.com 2 These leaders will receive additional training and serve as ambassadors to the community, reaching out to the wider community to ensure that the orchard project is inclusive and enjoyed by everyone. 3. Group Consultation and Visualization: To ensure that the orchard refects the needs of this particular community, there is a visualization meeting where Orchard Project staff lead a discussion with the new UK community orchard group. What types of fruit do they want to grow? What do they want to do with the fruit? Is it to feed the hungry? Or a way to fnd income opportunities? Will the fruits chosen refect cultural diversity in the community? 4. Orchard Leader Training and Orchard Management Plan: Once the UK community orchard group is clear and united in their goals, all orchard leaders attend a day long training course which explores how to care for the trees and also how to use the orchard as a community space. Volunteers from groups across each region meet each other during this session and share ideas. During this session each group develops a customized orchard management plan exploring the jobs involved in the long term care of the orchard including practical jobs like developing a watering rota. 5. Collaborative Design Session: At this point the group is clear about their goals and educated about the tasks they will need to do to care for their fruit trees. Now UK community orchard groups are ready to work with Orchard Project staff to design their orchard using a 3D design kit. In creating a design, the priority is to help the team visualize where the trees will be and ensure that the trees are properly spaced. The group learns to consider mature tree size (as determined by root stock choices). Larger trees, for example will need more space for their roots to expand. But there are other considerations too, for example, birds love cherries, so placing

www.orchardpeople.com 3 cherry trees in the areas closes to human activity may help prevent predation. 6. Planning the Planting Day: This is an opportunity to get the wider community involved by inviting them to help plant the fruit trees. The Orchard Project provides template posters to promote planting day and they ensure there will be free snacks food offered as an extra way to entice people to attend. Community Orchards in the UK are usually planted between December and February so volunteers provide hot soup or drinks to participants. The Orchard Project will help take care of planting day logistics, hiring vans, making sure all trees, mulch and tree guards are ordered, and making sure the tools are ready to go. 7. Planting Day: This is an exciting day for the group with lots of participants and local press in attendance. The volunteers and Orchard Project staff come early to set up and ensure that everything goes smoothly. They start the event with a planting demonstration and then the group plants and stakes the remaining bare root trees and installs protective tree guards to protect the trees from dogs or from string trimmer damage. Once the work is done, participants celebrate and enjoy food together. This is a wonderful day and it's easy to encourage people to plant trees. The next challenge is to ensure that the group continues to care for the trees, as neglected newly planted trees can quickly become stressed and diseased. 8. Celebration: The Orchard Project focuses on the practicalities of establishing community orchards in the UK and ensuring that the volunteers are able to take care of them in the long term. But they also stress the importance of celebration, helping groups organize events such as Apple Day in October or Wassailing in their new orchard in January. Annual celebrations are considered part of the orchard plan.

www.orchardpeople.com 4 9. Follow up and Support: Once The Orchard Project has partnered with a new group, they can reach out any time for support from staff, skilled volunteers or from trained "orchard mentors". And Orchard Project staff also comes to visit to do a six month follow up visit in the summer to see how the trees are establishing. Orchard Project staff will troubleshoot any pest or disease problems and check how the team is doing with their watering rota. After that the volunteers can sign up for more advanced community orchard courses in the UK. The group runs in-person training courses (running 12-14 days over 12 months) as well as blended courses involving some online coursework and 5 in person training days. 10. City Wide Community Orchard Network: Finally, The Orchard Project encourages community orchards to support each other. They are creating a network of groups in each region that will work together to build food resilience, to share skills and support each other. For instance, one group may be skilled in pruning and may come to help another group that is less experienced on pruning day. Or if a small group is getting a large delivery of wood chips, they can call on volunteers in another group to help them mulch the trees. These relationships will help any community orchard in the UK to be more successful in the long run.