Orchard Volunteers Needed!

Folks, we need your help winterizing the People’s Orchard so it comes out of dormancy strong and healthy next spring. Our goals with this small fruit orchard on the south side of our building are to:

• Support USDA’s People’s Garden Initiative
• Promote employee wellness
• Demonstrate sustainable gardening practices
• Provide education (employees, general public, CSU and FRCC students, and children)
• Maximize useable produce for the Larimer County Food Bank

There are two ways to volunteer:

1. You (or better yet, your office group) can “adopt” a portion of the orchard. Your primary responsibility would be weeding in the summer, but you could also help prune branches, wrap tree trunks, spread wood mulch, etc. There are still a few unclaimed blocks remaining.
2. Volunteer to help with the orchard winterizing by referring to our spreadsheet (see below) for instructions and checking out tools from Building A’s mailroom.

Information on adopting an orchard block as well as tasks and instructions for the orchard winterizing can be found in an online spreadsheet that will shortly be emailed to employees on the NRRC campus.

Email the NRRC-A Green Team if you  have any questions or would like a link to the spreadsheet.

Thanks in advance for your help!

NRRC People’s Orchard Project Featured in CSU Newsletter

In November, 2011, NRRC Building A’s People’s Orchard project was featured in CSU’s Today @ Colorado State University newsletter. The article discusses CSU’s important contribution of initial weed control and drip irrigation to the project and contributions by our other partners:

• The Gardens on Spring Creek, for orchard design and variety selection
• The City of Fort Collins Forestry Department, for truckloads of wood mulch
• Volunteers from four different USDA agencies, two local Boy Scout troops and a Cub Scout Pack for planting and staking trees, spreading mulch and providing necessary maintenance.

CSU’s article also discusses the goals of the People’s Orchard:

• Support USDA’s People’s Garden Initiative
• Promote employee wellness
• Conserve irrigation water
• Demonstrate sustainable gardening practices
• Provide educational opportunities
• Supply fresh fruit to the Larimer County Food Bank

Orchard Tucked In for Winter – Just in Time

Melissa and Mark wrap a fruit tree

Gene and Eric wrap a fruit tree

December 2nd, 2011

In late November, volunteers spent their lunch hour preparing the People’s Orchard trees for winter. Their tasks  included wrapping tree trunks to help prevent sunscald, adding support stakes and adjusting the tension of support wires. Normally, staking isn’t needed with newly planted trees and can even be harmful. However, because this orchard is in a high wind “corridor” between two buildings, we chose to stake and support these trees.  The volunteers adjusted the support wires to hold the trees upright, yet left them loose enough so that trees can sway a little in the wind, encouraging strong trunk development.

Paul from Forest Inventory and Analysis donated two large rolls of commercial tree wrap and the lunchtime volunteers included: Eric from the Forest Health and Technology Enterprise Team, Mark, contractor for Business Administrative Support Services, Gene, contractor for Natural Resource Manager, Melissa from the Agricultural Research Service (NRRC, Building D) and Matt from the Forest Management Service Center. Thanks everyone!

Additional maintenance will be needed in the spring. If you’d like to volunteer, stay tuned!

Many Hands Make Light Work

Drew demonstrating proper planting techniques. Notice the audience’s rapt attention.

Lift with your back, not your legs … oh, wait!

Two father and son teams hard at work

Two Forest Health Technology Team members thinking “We’re planting currants? Currants are an alternate host for White Pine Blister Rust!”

Clan Cormier hard at work. Sturdy work gloves? Check!

The Marston Clan preparing to plant an apricot tree

Most (but not all) of the motley crew

Well, maybe not “light” work, but nevertheless, about 30 volunteers gathered together and made quick work of planting our People’s Orchard on Saturday, September 17th.  Feds, contractors and family members from the U.S. Forest Service, NRCS, OCIO and ARS plus Boy Scouts from Troops 81 and 90 and Cub Scout Pack 11 met, ate breakfast, tolerated some tree planting and safety instructions then proceeded to quickly and professionally plant 34 fruit trees and shrubs in just under two hours! We planted:

• 2 Red Delicious Apples
• 2 Golden Delicious Apples
• 5 Honeycrisp Apples
• 3 Pioneer Apricots
• 3 North Star Cherries
• 4 Stanley Plums
• 6 Crandall Clove Currants
• 8 Red Lake Currants
• and 1 Black Lace Elderberry

As I discussed in January, this orchard is the first phase of our overall People’s Garden project. The Green Team’s goals are to:

• Support USDA’s People’s Garden Initiative
• Promote employee wellness
• Demonstrate sustainable gardening practices
• Provide education (employees, general public, CSU and FRCC students, and children)
• Maximize usable produce for the Larimer County Food Bank

If you feel as though you missed out, we still need volunteers! We will need help wrapping the trees for winter, staking the five large apple trees and spreading wood mulch on the orchard area. This is tentatively planned for 8:30 a.m Saturday morning, October 1st. Later, periodic maintenance will include deep watering a few times this winter and light pruning next spring.

Take a look at all of the great photos taken by Barbara Menzel and Sally Eliasen on planting day. If you were there, I guarantee you are in at least a few of these photos.

May all of our labors bear fruit!

People’s Garden

With the revolving door behind us (so to speak), your Green Team, firmly backed by Building A’s Agency Executives, would like to start a People’s Garden on our grounds.

Before we begin though, we need to know what level of interest and involvement we can expect from Building A employees. Next week, all Building A employees will receive an email with a link to a short, anonymous, online survey asking about your level of interest, whether you would be willing to volunteer with a People’s Garden and in what capacity.

So what is a People’s Garden?

THE PEOPLE’S GARDEN INITIATIVE is an effort by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) which challenges its employees to establish People’s Gardens at USDA facilities worldwide or help communities create gardens. People’s Gardens vary in size and type, but all have a common purpose—to help the community they’re within and the environment.

Our current People’s Garden draft plan has a small fruit orchard on the south side of Building A and a medium-sized vegetable garden on the north side, with flowers and culinary herbs worked in where practical and desired. All food would be donated to the Larimer County Food Bank. Additionally, we would partner with the Gardens on Spring Creek across the street.

Building A’s goals are to:

• Support USDA’s People’s Garden Initiative
• Promote employee wellness
• Demonstrate sustainable gardening practices
• Provide education (employees, general public, CSU and FRCC students, and children)
• Maximize useable produce for the Larimer County Food Bank

USDA also has a People’s Garden blog, and there are a variety of videos about the USDA People’s Garden on YouTube.  There is also a good video of Secretary Vilsack giving a People’s Garden update.

Please take five minutes next week and complete our interest survey!