Ruth and Rafaela take a moment to pose for the camera after a hot, humid morning mulching our fruit trees and pollinator garden.

The volunteers of Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard were back to mulching this Canada Day long weekend, finishing off yet another big bag of compost that we spread around our trees and in our pollinator garden.

And today we had an extra special guest. A volunteer that joined us way back in 2012 came back to visit us in the park. Her name is Charlie the Tortoise and she came with her owner to enjoy the park on this hot long weekend and to meander around the park. 

Giselle communes with Charlie the Tortoise, who last visited us during a stewardship day 6 years ago, when she was just 35 years old.

We had two teams mulching today…Gail and Giselle in the pollinator garden, and Cliff, Susan, Ruth, Rafaela and Marilyn were working on the trees. Charlie the Tortoise contributed to the work by bringing her sprightly energy to the park.

Charlie the Tortoise zipped around the park while the rest of us mulched the trees.

Lynn dropped in to bring a new signup sheet for us to keep in the shed. So often people come by and want to know how to join the group and now we have a way to put them on the mailing list. New volunteers get emails before stewardship days and ahead of harvesting and other events.

Lynn brings a volunteer sign up sheet to the garden.

It was a wonderful day – even if it was pretty hot and humid. And we look forward to our next stewardship day in two weeks time. Come and join us!

The volunteers in Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard on the Canada Day long weekend.

Susan Poizner is the coordinator of the Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard and she is the creator of the fruit tree education website www.orchardpeople.com. She is also the author of the award-winning fruit tree care book Growing Urban Orchards.