RICHMOND, CA - Kennedy High is part of our 5-year program with Nutiva to orchardize every public school campus in Richmond, CA. Our Fall planting here marked an historic moment in our relationship with the school district. Like many schools in West Contra Costa County, Richmond has had a long-time ban on fruit bearing trees on campus. Thanks to intense interest from teachers and the principal, Common Vision was granted an exception and allowed to break ground on a new campus orchard for the first time in over a generation. Part of our program is to help California public schools create sustainable orchard care systems to address very real maintenance concerns over fruit falling when campus is closed for the summer.
Kennedy High will soon have bragging rights to one of the largest school orchards in the East Bay. On our most recent visit this Fall, we planted 23 new fruit trees, the first half of an orchard that we hope to double in size with a followup planting possibly as early as this Spring. Many thanks to our friends on the Nutiva team who came out to help us dig over 400 feet of trench to bring water to the orchard, no small feat!
It also marks the first time that we’ve installed a school orchard behind the endzone of a sports stadium. Persimmons by the scoreboard anyone? The bus and most of the crew pulled away just as the sun set for the day. Our follow-through crew had to wait until after the Kennedy High football night game to jackhammer one last section of soil for the irrigation pipes. The last crew member left campus at 9:45 PM!
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