Lynn giving thanks for fruit trees in Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard

It was a lazy, cool and breezy Thanksgiving weekend and while some of us were busy baking and cooking and preparing Thanksgiving meals, a handful of Ben Nobleman Park volunteers spent the morning giving thanks for our fruit trees by volunteering in our pollinator garden and community orchard.

With such a small group – it was me (Susan), Lynn and Marilyn, we declared it “Do What You Want Day”. And so we all chose our gardening tasks. Lynn, always one to buzz around the pollinator garden, decided to weed and tidy there where the Black Eyed Susan’s are waning while the Autumn Joy Sedums are just getting into their rosy red stride.

Black eyed Susan’s and Autumn Joy Sedum in Ben Nobleman Park Orchard’s pollinator garden.

Marilyn was drawn to weed around a city-planted dedication tree – a sugar maple that suffered this year in the severe drought. Then she moved to tending and weeding the apple trees in the west side of the park. She worked with them earlier in the season applying Orchard Sox.

Marilyn weeds around the trees – including around a memorial Sugar Maple tree in the park.

And I went to commune with the fruit trees on the east side of the park.  Hopefully no one heard me singing to them as I weeded and worked the soil around their roots!

Susan weeding around the apple trees in the east side of the park.

We look forward to widening their mulch circles and adding nutritious compost next year, but for now, we’re letting them wind down into winter dormancy.

It was a lovely day and we are so thankful for our beautiful trees, garden and park. They give us so much enjoyment. And because of them, we have created a wonderful community of volunteers who gather in the park to work, chat and enjoy nature.

Thank you fruit trees! And happy Thanksgiving everyone!