Tag Archives: Orchard Shed

Thank you Fiskars!

It may be early May, but as far as we’re concerned, Christmas has arrived in the Ben Nobleman Community Orchard. Earlier this year we applied for a Project Orange Thumb Grant with the garden tool company Fiskars. Well, recently we discovered that we were awarded the grant and as part of it we received a generous package of all the tools we’ll need to take care of our orchard and of the park’s perennial bed that we’ll be renovating this June. This week the irrigation committee met at the orchard shed and had a blast unwrapping the tools to see what we’ve got: garden shovels and forks for deep digging and weeding, secateurs and loppers for pruning and hand tools for planting and weeding. There are hard rakes and hoes and some fantastic collapsable baskets for collecting and transporting leaf waste and weeds . We’ve also got knee pads, herb scissors and a bunch of beautiful bright orange Fiskars t-shirts. We’re trying to figure out if there’s a way we can add our own Ben Nobleman Community Orchard Logo somehow. Anyways, it was an exciting day and we can’t wait to use these tools to dig in to the perennial bed on June 13 and 19th. More about that on our events page….Oh…and check out the Fiskars Project Orange Thumb web page. Sherry’s picture was one of the ones that’s featured on the front page!

Irrigation Committee Poses with new FIskars T-Shirts

Transformed shed unveiled!

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for. After some more chilly hours in the park introducing more colour and detail to the mural, the final picture can now be unveiled. Only, the thing is that every chance Sherry gets, we know she’ll be back out in the park painting in more details, adding more fruit to the trees, popping in a few dogs and cats. That’s just the kind of muralist she is. So while the mural is done, you might want to see it as an ongoing project. Each time you take a walk to the orchard, have another peek at the mural. You can expect to be surprised.

So what was Sherry aiming for with the mural? “I wanted to show that parks are for all of us”, she says, referring to the mix of young and old, and folks from all sorts of cultures and backgrounds holding hands, encircling the fruit trees. She thinks that the orchard will help draw more adults out into the park to spend quality time volunteering in the orchard, having picnics, reading books, enjoying harvest or blossom festivals, and of course snacking on the fruit when that time comes.

And back to the mural: in order for paint to dry, you need to have a temperature of at least 10 degrees Celsius.  So we may not see Sherry and Lynn out there with their paints and brushes until the spring. But then again, with climate change, you never know what the temperature will be like from week to week….so we’ll see.  Enjoy the mural! You can have a peek at more pictures on our Flickr page by clicking on any of the pictures below.

Lynn paints details onto the community orchard shed

Sherry paints detail on mural

Concrete bunker transformed

Close up detail of orchard shed design

The trees are fruiting!

Yes….the trees are fruiting! Well, actually the fruit trees we planted this June are still a bit young to bear fruit. But the trees on the mural we’re painting on our orchard shed came to life today as they burst forth with pears, apples, and plums. Sherry also had a new assistant to train today – me! By the end of the day our hands were a bit numb from the cold. Thank you for Michelle for bringing us a little picnic with some hot mint tea to warm us up. In fact, this was our first picnic in the orchard – the first of many we hope.

So you may wonder after seeing this mural: is it possible for one tree to bear a number of different types of fruit? The answer is “sort of”.  It is possible to buy a self-pollinating apple tree that bears five types of apples or a self-pollinating pear tree with five types of pears. So for those who want to plant a fruit tree but can’t  decide whether they’d prefer Macintosh apples or Granny Smiths, this may be the way to go. More painting to come tomorrow…

Our Orchard Mural Bears Fruit

Our Orchard Mural Bears Fruit

Our first Orchard Picnic

Our first Orchard Picnic