How schools orchards create community

By Diana Raiselis



One of my favorite things about Fruit Tree Tour is seeing how teachers and school leaders use their orchards as a tool for hands-on teaching, and for building community.  After our visit to Birney Elementary in the San Diego area, I'm still thinking about how wonderfully Ms. Mindy has done this at her school.  From the moment our bus rolled onto campus, I could see the vitality that the school garden & orchard brought to the campus: the rainbow-colorblocked storage containers that formed her outdoor classroom, brightly painted signs dotted planting beds, and the space itself was alive with students, working on the mulch pile and running between fruiting trees.  

Week One on Fruit Tree Tour, Spring 2015

By Trevien Stanger




I write to you this evening from the breezy confines of the Common Vision tour bus.  Dusk is falling here at our camp-ground on the outskirts of San Diego, with the high crags of the Laguna mountains to the east turning a desert crimson in the sunset.  Below the window, just outside, I hear the chattering din of my fellow Tour crew members– they sit beside a forking campfire, headlamps trained upon small white boards in their dirt-caked hands as they sand down the edges, readying them for an orchard-sign painting workshop tomorrow morning.  Beyond them, working beneath some towering eucalyptus trees, are two other crew members watering over thirty citrus trees and a half-dozen bags of bare-root fruit trees– peaches, persimmons, figs, apples, plums, and nectarines.  Just another evening of Fruit Tree Tour, and as I bite into a piece of citrus as the orange sun finally sets, I begin to set down some recollections for you of my first week on Tour.

But before I go much further, perhaps I ought to catch you up some on what this whole “Fruit Tree Tour” thing is in the first place.  The Tour is one of the primary activities of an educational non-profit organization called Common Vision.  Operating in California, CV is built upon a desire to address a suite of multi-pronged and interconnected problems– poor nutrition in inner-city schools; urban food-deserts (places where community members do not have access to food beyond that which is available in gas stations and convenience stores); and the lack of quality environmental programming in these underserved areas.  Common Vision believes that one way we might to address these issues is to both simple and profound: plant fruit tree orchards at public schools the length of California, and in the process, to use the opportunity to provide students with unique, immersive, environmentally-educational experiences in the process.

Common Vision at Castle Park High in San Diego

by Libby Woods, Spring 2015 Tour Crew Member



Last Friday Common Vision visited Castle Park High School in San Diego. Our first High School of this tour. Castle Park High is located upon a hill that over looks the city with a great view of the mountains. The school is 50 years old and has not had an Agriculture program within any current teachers memory. This install came through a dedicated and enthusiastic special needs teacher Rhonda. Like most school yards we visit, Castle Park High school grounds was extremely compacted and nearly hard as concrete. Michael and I visited the school a couple evenings before to lay a drip line and soak the grounds. This small step accelerates our morning digging process tremendously.

The Biggs Miracle Orchard

FALL 2014 TOUR REPORT: BIGGS



CHICO, CA - Biggs is one of our many miracle orchards. First planted in 2008, we were somewhat flabbergasted by the success of this orchard. Since our last orchard care visit in 2011, we returned this Fall to find the drip-irrigation system in disarray. But these trees were determined. They managed to root down into groundwater during the drought and are thriving. On this visit we add 8 new fruit trees to the 16 we planted on past visits. Nothing smacks a big old smile on our faces more than watching kids fill boxes and boxes of pomegranates, pears, apples and persimmons from their superabundant school orchard.

Sacramento school orchards are thriving

FALL 2014 TOUR REPORT



SACRAMENTO, CA We are super happy to report that school orchards at CCAA Elementary and High School, Orangevale, Skycrest and Serna Village in Sacramento are all thriving. These schools represent orchards comprised of over 200 fruit trees, and our return visits this Fall were focused mostly on pruning back these super abundant trees to get them ready for next season. CCAA is another great example of total campus transformation. Where there was once just a patch of grass, there is now a food forest complete with a canopy that creates a living classroom on campus.

Teaming up with The Polish Ambassador

FALL 2014 TOUR REPORT: ALTA SIERRA SCHOOL



GRASS VALLEY, CA - Infinite gratitude to The Polish Ambassador, Ayla Nero and Mr. Lif for a sold-out Sunday evening show that helped raise $21,000 for our school orchard program. Also, a humongo thank you to all of the fans who came out to Alta Sierra school to work with Common Vision on the first day of action on The Polish Ambassador’s Permaculture Action Tour. Many hands make light work, especially when jackhammering compacted soil, picking out giant rocks and moving concrete rubble to make room for a new orchard. Our action team and more than 50 TPA fans showed up at Alta Sierra Elementary School with shovels in hand ready to get dirty. We dug holes for fence posts and prepared the water irrigation system.

Sacramento school district green lights new pilot orchard

FALL 2014 TOUR REPORT: PACIFIC ELEMENTARY


SACRAMENTO, CA - Pacific Elementary marked the first time in ten years that the Sacramento school district gave the green light to plant a new school orchard. Similar to our pilot program in Richmond, we are working closely with the district to prove that school orchards are doable, and delicious!

Ag Revival at Luther Burbank High

FALL 2014 TOUR REPORT: LUTHER BURBANK HIGH SCHOOL

Farm to Fork Capital of America

FALL 2014 TOUR REPORT


YOLO COUNTY - We love Yolo County! The Sacramento Area recently decided to become the farm-to-fork capital of America, so Common Vision teamed up with Yolo County Farm to Fork to plant orchards at Zamora, Plainfield, Knights Landing and Dingle elementary schools. In 2008, the present-day principle at Knights Landing was a 3rd grade teacher at Plainfield when we first planted peach, nectarine, apple and apricot trees there.

Endzone orchard breaks new ground in Richmond

FALL 2014 TOUR REPORT: KENNEDY HIGH SCHOOL


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.

Growing fruit in the SF fog belt

FALL 2014 TOUR REPORT: A.P. GIANNINI



SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Infinite gratitude to our friends at Tree Ring Productions who came out to help us plant on a sandy hillside at A.P. Giannini Middle School in San Francisco’s Sunset District. Tree Ring creates videos for social enterprises, individual changemakers, grassroots organizations, and non-profits in the Bay Area. We are blessed to have their help!

Burckhalter’s bompin’ orchard bearing big fruit!

FALL 2014 TOUR REPORT: BURCKHALTER ELEMENTARY


OAKLAND, CA -This Fall marked our third visit to Burckhalter Elementary, a super successful school orchard in Oakland. Think big trees and little kids! This amazing school orchard is a great example of our new model of deeper ongoing engagement with students and teachers.

First planted in 2010, Burckhalter is bearing big fruit!. According to Michael Flynn, “Burckhalter has fruit trees that are totally bompin’.” (Bomp: (v) To bear big, juicy fruit. Common Vision unabridged dictionary of school orchard slang). They had a good crop this year, and are expecting an even bigger harvest next. Bomp on Burckhalter!

Jackhammering drought-baked schoolyard soils

FALL 2014 TOUR REPORT: LEARNING WITHOUT LIMITS



OAKLAND, CA - Our visit to Learning Without Limits was another extended jackhammer morning since we didn’t have an opportunity to pre-drip the site and soften up the soil the day before. At sunrise the morning of the planting, it took an advance team of five Common Vision groundbreakers using jackhammers, picks, and shovels to get the ground ready to receive a new 12-tree school orchard.

Permaculture in action at school orchard plantings

FALL 2014 TOUR REPORT: FAITH RINGGOLD SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCE


HAYWARD, CA - For the first stop on our Fall 2014 School Orchard Tour, we were excited to return for our second visit to Faith Ringgold School of Arts & Science in Hayward. We planted a small six-tree orchard here in 2006 and returned this Fall to find the Elephant Heart Plum, Santa Rosa Plum, and Comice Pear trees thriving and in need of a good pruning.  With their orchard now the heart of their garden program, the Common Vision crew added six new trees, bringing the school up to a dozen fruiting trees on campus.

On the Road with Common Vision

Many, many thanks to our friends at The Edible Schoolyard Project for a great feature report on Spring 2014 Fruit Tree Tour. The mission of the Edible Schoolyard Project is to build and share an edible education curriculum for kindergarten through high school. They envision gardens and kitchens as interactive classrooms for all academic subjects, and a free, nutritious, organic lunch for every student. Integrating this curriculum into schools can transform the health and values of every child in America.

> Read their full report on Fruit Tree Tour

Fifteen Years From Now

"This tree you're planting today is a  gift to the future," I tell my group. Looking around at their faces I see the usual scene: a couple eyes locked on me, some checking for worms in the dirt, and naturally, one pair has drifted off to distant day dreams. I wonder if they get the message; maybe I should repeat that part? But then I remember yesterday. 

Building a Healthier Community

Many thanks to Nutiva for blogging about our amazing planting together at Richmond College Prep School. It is thanks totally to Nutiva that Common Vision is blessed with the opportunity to plant a new orchard on the campus of every public school in Richmond!

> Read Nutiva's Full Post

Orchard Curriculum launched at four Southern California schools

We figured that if McDonalds could contribute to public school curriculum, well...so can Common Vision. We are very proud to announce that we just launched the first unit in our Orchard Curriculum at four Southern California elementary schools: Carthay, Palms, Round Meadow and Vista del Valle.

Thanks to your support, Common Vision’s week-long unit on decomposers features the California Education and Environment Initiative (EEI) Curriculum as a base and includes hands-on compost and mulching exercises in the orchard. Now, in addition to leaving a wake of fruit forests in food deserts, we are also leaving behind lesson plans straight out of the book of life itself.

For example, orchard learning activities include composting and mulching, when students are introduced to the deep ecological reasons for maintaining soil health. Our juicy curriculum transforms school orchards into living classrooms right in the heart of the city. Now, that is some serious schweetness!!!

California is currently poised to lead the nation in environmental literacy with the Education and Environment Initiative (EEI), a national model designed to help prepare today’s students to become future scientists, economists, and green technology leaders. The K-12th grade curriculum is comprised of 85 units teaching select Science and History-Social Science academic standards. Each EEI Curriculum unit teaches these standards to mastery using a unique set of California Environmental Principles and Concepts. The curriculum was created to bring education about the environment into the primary and secondary classrooms of more than 1,000 school districts serving over 6 million students throughout California.

Thank you so very much for an incredible orchard day at Carthay! We were so very impressed with your team - they worked so hard and so efficiently and with such kindness. It was absolutely amazing - as soon as tree (or vine : ) trimmings dropped to the Earth another team member was there to haul it away - all six dumpsters full!

And I can't believe how quickly the mountain of mulch was moved, and the grapes pruned and everything else expertly pruned and fed - it was a beautiful day and we thank you for it. It is such a HUGE help to have Common Vision come to Carthay each year - our fruit trees anchor our garden. With the care you provide these trees will preserve it for many years and many generations of students to come. Thank you for the amazing work you do.

- Teresa Dahl, Sustainability Schoolyard Ombudsman, Los Angeles Unified School District and Cathay Elementary Garden Coordinator

A daytrip down to Orange County

We had so many LA area schools on the schedule this tour that we only had time for a daytrip down to Orange County for a fantastic planting at Brea Junior High School. With so much suburban sprawl, it’s amazing to remember that OC's namesake were the orchards that once carpeted the county. It’s great to see students start to reclaim some of that heritage by planting a new school orchard. Eighteen new fruit trees went in the ground today, and urban agriculture continued its beautiful expansion into Southern California suburbs.

As fulfilling as it is for Fruit Tree Tour to return to thriving orchards that we planted back before co-director Leo Buc was 21, we have to admit that there’s a uniquely special feeling in the air when we are putting a new school orchard in the ground for the first time. Watching a schoolyard transform from a lawn into an orchard in just a day is itself transformative to witness. A superindent from the local school district came by Brea Junior High to see what all the buzz was about. After watching our amazing all-volunteer army of modern-day Johnny Appleseeds in action, he turned and told us, “I love it!”

Massive gratitude to EnrichLA for keeping Markham’s orchard juicy

It’s not every day that the flagship of our biofueled fleet gets a chance to play the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but our visit to Markham Middle School was one such auspicious occasion. On this visit, we returned to prune and feed the trees, improve the irrigation system, and create colorful orchard signs with the students. It was great to see an entire 6th grade science class outside using the orchard as a living laboratory!

First planted on Fruit Tree Tour 2007, this 30-tree orchard is producing tons of free, fresh juicy fruit. We want to express gratitude to EnrichLA for being the group on the ground who makes sure that Markham’s orchard gets enough to drink during the hot Southern California summers. 

EnrichLA is an environmental non-profit focused on adding edible school gardens to public schools. Their gardens are inexpensive, promote community involvement, encourage respect for the planet, act as outdoor classrooms, cheer up school campuses, help students build a good work ethic, and promote thoughtful and healthy eating habits. Needless to say, we are perfectly aligned!