Thursday, April 24, 2008

Emmy Nomination for Common Vision !!!

Get out your cameras!

Common Vision will be on the red carpet at the Northern California Emmy Awards, May 10th 2008 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, CA. The Fruit Tree Tour segment on Natural Heroes, a national television series of independent films on the environment, is nominated for an Emmy in the category of children/youth-program special. The episode “Fruit Tree Tour” was based on Common Vision’s DVD, “Planting the Vision”. Order the DVD here to see what the academy is talking about!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Fruit Tree Sale Varieties

To make an order contact Faith ~ 530.277.1408 ~ faith[at]CommonVision.org

Tree Sales Location:

Thurs. April 8th @ Ukiah Natural Foods COOP, Ukiah
Fri. April 9th @ Mariposa, Willits

Sun. April 11th in Bay Area Location TBA

Wed. April 14th @ Briar Patch, Grass Valley
Thurs. April 15th @ Mother Truckers, North San Juan
Fri April 16th @ Willow Springs, North San Juan

Sat. April 17th @ Earth Day Event, Healdsberg
Sun. April 18th @ Ukiah Natural Foods COOP, Ukiah


Wednesday, April 2, 2008

1000-Tree Fruit Forest in a Box




2008 is the year for variety in Fruit Tree Tour's veggie oil powered refrigerator truck! Because of local nurseries like Rolling River in Orleans, wholesale nurseries such as Dave Wilson Nurseries and Sierra Gold who support planting fruit trees in school yards and community centers, our tree stewards have worked with over 65 different varieties of fruit trees. It's a tight squeeze getting all those bare-roots to fit in their winterized box-truck home! Luckily they move out quickly as we plant on average 20 trees per school. Trees of Antiquity surprised us with heirlooms like Tydeman's Late Orange Apple while SolMan Nursery in Encinitas donated our first 6 bananas in Fruit Tree Tour history! Through a large donation of fruiting vines, chain link fences surrounding many city schools will soon be dripping with Ruby Red and Monukka Grapes and Heyward kiwis. Having such a wide variety of trees allows for each school yard to experience fruit harvests throughout the school year. A school might have Loquats in April, Earlitreat Peach in May, Dapple Dandy Pluots in August; Emerald Beaut and Elephant Heart Plums in September, Fuji, Pink Lady and Granny Smith Apples in October, Fuyu Persimmons in November, Satsuma Tangerines in December, White Sapotes in January, Cherimoyas in February.. well, you get the picture.

Biggest Planting in Tour History!



In a historic planting day, Common Vision teamed up with members of Serna Village to plant a record-breaking 105 fruit trees! Serna Village is a thriving community that serves as long-term housing for families that have struggled with homelessness. With master gardeners, Village community members, and organizations like First Five of Sacramento, the day of planting and celebration yielded an amazing nutritional resource for the over 200 kids living at the village. After a powerful day of working, learning and laughing together, fruit trees now surround the co-housing units.

In a few years this place of growth and new beginnings for the 83 families who live there, will have the beauty, health, and abundance of a wide variety of fruit trees. Leo Buc, veggie mechanic and mathematician estimates in six years, the trees will produce 2 and ½ tons of fruit, roughly equivalent to the weight of 875 gallons of vegetable oil or 1 unloaded veggie-powered soil-hauling dump truck. In this video Annapurna shows the planting, planning, and celebration that went into this momentous collaboration.

Workin at the Bus Wash

After traversing half the state, from Santa Cruz to Joshua Tree to San Diego and up to L.A., Common Vision’s veggie powered caravan needs a good scrub down. Now that our 175 feet of caravan has passed our 17, 231st mile, the Fruit Tree Tour crew is becoming experts not only at planting fruit trees and writing rhymes with kids, but also getting the murals shining on all sides of our buses and homes. Working at the carwash has never been this much fun….or this much work! The parking alone was a work of art!

Green Theatre 2008 Slide Show


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The 2008 Fruit Tree Tour “Green Theatre” performance has inspired over 8,000 students this year. The story follows two urban students on there journey to find out how the food they eat is interrelated to the health of the environment. Their adventure includes a magic book that come to life, an old grandmother who shares how the birds, animals, and cycles of nature taught her about how to grow her food, and a crew of rhyming street kids who transform trash in a littered lot into instruments and music. With colorful veggie busses as backdrops, intricate puppets, drumming, and dancing, the performance engages whole school assemblies with messages of cooperation, earth stewardship, and community action for positive local and global change.

Drum Group



Common Vision brings enough drums for all the students in the workshop to play a variety of rhythms together. In the drum group, facilitators bring to life the importance of communication, respect, and recognition of interconnectedness. Students learn about traditional and contemporary cultures that use music and rhythms to celebrate seasonal cycles, to accompany farming work, and to remember that all people and animals share the common rhythm of the heartbeat. The drumming group marks time for their classmates to pickax, plant, and transform their schoolyard. Click Here to hear from Pranav, lead facilitator of the 2008 Fruit Tree Tour Drum Group.

Nature in the City

The Fruit Tree Tour crew is dedicated to helping urban students and community members renew a relationship with the Earth. Acknowledging the challenges of connecting to Nature in city environments, the crew sometimes needs a little inspiration to remember the interconnectedness of the plants, animals, and human kind. Thanks to the 10-year-old nephew of veteran tree-planter and eco-hip-hopper Koral Delatierra, Fruit Tree Tour received two fuzzy-golden bears suits for this year’s Green Theater. The inherited costumes quickly became a favorite accessory for the earth-loving, adventurous crew of Fruit Tree Tour 2008.


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