Standing Up

Last weekend, Richard and I made another trek to the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) for the Annual Seed and Scion Exchange. That trip provided the inspiring experience that visiting MOFGA always does--meeting experts who have been working (quite literally) in the field for decades, as well as other young farmers, gardeners and orchadists, makes for a truly beautiful scene. It was encouraging to tell these gurus about our mission and program, and to hear their excitement for what we are doing. They were eager to learn more and excited to help!

A fruit tree in the Exploring New Horizons organic garden and orchard where the ReTreeUS co-founders once taught.

So, we came home with renewed inspiration and many of the necessary pieces to our spring planting puzzle. 

We are fortunate (thanks to sponsors like Adams County Nursery and Skillins Greenhouses) to have compost, mulch, and trees on their way to being planted straight into our first school orchards next month.  For our nursery, in which we will grow saplings for future school orchards, we have donated rootstock (a necessary piece) and a grant from the National Gardening Association, KidsGardening.org, and Home Depot which will fund other necessary tools.

And at MOFGA on Sunday, we gathered scion: the wood we will use to graft thousands of varieties of apple, plum and pears trees for school orchards and others for many years to come. Choosing which apples--mostly heirlooms and unusual favorites--to grow and introduce to kids is one of our favorite parts! Which apples taste like pineapple? Which have dark purple fruits? Which are the best straight off the tree? Thanks to MOFGA, we were able to find many of the most interesting and tasty varieties available today.

Black Oxford apples (photo courtesy of the MOFGA website).

Students in our programs will be able to help grow and taste fruit they would never see in a grocery store, but that maybe their ancestors grew. They will develop a love for the most nutritious "candy" of nature, and for the earth.

And now you don't have to be connected directly with one of our participating schools to taste the fruits of our program! That's because we are well on our way to opening a farm stand this summer! We will provide our nutritiously organic produce on a sliding scale--meaning anyone who visits our farm stand will be able to afford to feed their family well!

How do we grow organic produce and provide it to some families for pennies? Because other families who can afford to pay the same price they would pay in a grocery store for organic produce will donate, too. And still other families, businesses, and foundations who can afford to give more will donate extra to cover what's left. They are standing up for our communities, our children, and our planet, just as we are standing up and providing good food to everyone.

If you'd like to stand up too, but you don't live close enough to visit our farm stand, please visit our Kickstarter page today! By sharing our video and/or donating to our campaign, you will help us reach more children and communities through creative education this year. Our goal is $1,000 and we're already two-thirds of the way there! If we don't reach our goal by April 14th, however, none of the money goes to our program. So please check it out today!

We are excited to report that many have, indeed, checked out our program and the good news is spreading. As more people from ReTreeUS members to participating school teachers to MOFGA growers and more tell their friends about what we are doing, we are getting inquiries from all over the U.S.! Many people are asking about getting orchards for their schools, and about how to prune, grsft nd revitalize their existing orchards. (We will post tips on planting, grafting, pruning, and otherwise maintaining orchards soon.) With the help of our supporters, we plan one day to be able to plant orchards in thousands of schools and put food on thousands of tables.

One of our young participants hugs a tree.

Stay tuned as we graft the heirloom varieties, pineapple candy apples, and delicious pears from neighborhood trees to be planted in more and more schools! We are standing up with many others...for the earth and for our children.