Each year, the Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard team dedicates an average of about 270 volunteer hours to the park. We care for the fruit trees (pruning, fertilizing, protecting them from pests and diseases) and the beautiful pollinator garden.
But this year has been amazing. We now have a larger team including new volunteers and we’ve been able to do so much more including renovating an overgrown dogwood bed. So far this year we have devoted over 375 volunteer hours to caring for Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard.
So this weekend, we started off by doing what we do…caring for the garden and the trees, scrubbing the historic harvest table, creating a mural on our bulletin board, and making and giving out herb bundles to passers-by.
Then it was time to celebrate this year’s achievement by giving our newest volunteers their official (and very fashionable!) Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard Volunteer T-shirts. And we are proud to say that one of our new volunteers is Irene – a spry 91-year-old who helped make herb bundles in the park this week. Click to enlarge any of the images below.
Team scrubbing the harvest table. 
Reenie weeding around the fruit trees. 
Annie weeding the pollinator garden. 
Jane painting the park’s notice board. 
Irene and Ann creating herb bouquets. 
Irene, Ann, Ellie and Sara making herb bouquets.
It’s been a wonderful season. The new volunteers learned lots of new skills. And our new volunteers worked hard to earn their new Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard T-shirts. This year we had an extra surprise as well. Reenie is a long-time volunteer and her mother Lilly, volunteers for Canada Sews, donated beautiful, hand-made face masks for all the volunteers. Thank you Lilly!
Dan 
Zeny 
Jane and Nadine 
Teenage volunteer! 
Reenie with the masks her mom made for our volunteers. 
Nathan, Sara, Rebecca, Ellie.
We still have a few more sessions left in the park for 2021. But we hope all the new volunteers will be back again next spring. We have more great plans to expand our plantings. Come and join us! If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, send an email to Lynn at growingforgreen (at) gmail.com.
Susan Poizner is one of the volunteers for The Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard in Toronto. She is the creator of the fruit tree care education website OrchardPeople.com. Susan is the author of four fruit tree care books including Grow Fruit Trees Fast: A Beginner’s Guide to a Healthy Harvest in Record Time. She is also the host of the Orchard People podcast and an ISA Certified Arborist.