t was a beautiful but chilly day at Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard today! The temperature was just 3°C, and after weeks of unusually warm October weather, it finally felt like fall had arrived.

A small but enthusiastic group of volunteers gathered for our annual tool sharpening day. Eleanor arrived early and laid out all the tools on the harvest table, ready for us to get to work.

It was another beautiful day at Ben Nobleman Park. Despite a light sprinkle of rain, volunteers showed up in full force, and once again we wrangled the plants in the pollinator garden.

Our biggest task today was removing seedling trees and suckers before they could take over the garden. We also restored the pathways so that it will be easier for us to get into the garden and care for it.

Along the way, we discovered what we thought might qualify as an award-winning cherry tree sucker!

The ornamental cherry trees in our pollinator garden are notorious for sending up vigorous shoots (called suckers) from their roots. We cut these shoots as close to the ground as possible so that the pollinator bed isn’t gradually taken over by ornamental cherry trees.

It was a beautiful morning for stewardship at Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard, and we had our work cut out for us.

After being rained out for a couple of stewardship days, the pollinator garden had been growing vigorously. So much so, that we first got to the garden this morning, it was hard to know where to start.

But with a strong team of volunteers, we soon got to work.