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.
At first, it was just Eleanor, Susan and Ian. Then Eric joined us, followed later by Zeny. Together, we managed to sharpen all the orchard tools, getting them ready for another busy year.
Zeny swept up the shed which now looks tidy and ready for more work in 2027!
During the morning, we even had one visitor who brought along some tools that needed attention. We were delighted to help our one customer of the day! Of course, we offer this service free to the community, and we had a lot of fun along the way.
A Special Honour for Ian
One of the highlights of the day was a little ceremony to recognize Ian, our not-so-new volunteer, who has now been helping at the orchard for about two years.
It was finally time for him to receive his official Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard T-shirt!
Now, we take these T-shirts very seriously. We think they’d look just as good on the catwalks of Milan as they do in our little Toronto orchard. They’re highly desirable fashion items, and we don’t hand them out to just anyone!
Volunteers have to earn their T-shirts by showing up, pitching in and becoming part of the orchard community. And Ian has certainly earned his.
Over the past two years, he’s brought his own skills and expertise to the orchard while learning plenty of new ones. We like to call him our apprentice fruit tree pruner. This year, Eleanor and Carolyn have been mentoring him, and he’s taken on lots of challenging pruning work alongside them.
We’re delighted to have him on the team, and we will be very happy to see him finally sporting his official orchard T-shirt in 2027!
Wrapping Up Another Wonderful Year
Today was our last official orchard stewardship day of 2026. It’s hard to believe another growing season has come to an end.
We’re hoping to organize one more gathering, perhaps a potluck, so we can spend some time together without any tools to sharpen, trees to prune or weeds to pull! We’re open to ideas from the group.
A huge thank you to everyone who participated in today’s event and to all our wonderful volunteers who have contributed their time, energy and enthusiasm throughout the year.
It’s been a wonderful season at Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard, and we’re already looking forward to the next one!
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.