24ACRES PROJECT

Community Orchard

Planting Day was Saturday 12th January 2013

On Saturday 12th January there was an opportunity for villagers to come along and help plant the fruit trees in the Reach Community Orchard on the 24Acres field.

Planting happened throughout the day, starting at 10:00am and finishng mid afternoon with 154 trees planted. If you want to see a Planting Plan then please click on the link.

There was an excellent turnout and photos can be accessed by clicking here.

Of the 154 trees, 104 have been adopted by villagers and their friends and family which is a wonderful achievement. It will help us to maintain the orchard - and even extend it as further old varieties become available to us. We also want to spend some money on paths, noticeboards, benches and maybe an apple press!

The opportunity still exists for you to sponsor some of the remainder - see how to do this below.

And we should also give huge thanks to the Big Tree Plant and ECDC who provided the funding for this project.

Adopt a Fruit Tree!

We continue to invite people to ‘Adopt a Fruit Tree!’. What does that mean?  Well, those adopting trees will:

• Get special invitations to annual ‘Orchard Days’ and other events
• Get invited to pick and celebrate the first fruit from ‘their’ tree in the year it becomes productive
• Have their adoption listed on the Orchard page of the Reach Village website
• Receive a certificate noting their unique role in helping to get the orchard established, and a map showing the location of their adopted tree

We hope that those who adopt trees will want to get involved in the orchard – there will be plenty of opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to help out, from caring for them (weeding, pruning) to ultimately helping to harvest the fruit each year.

We suggest a voluntary contribution of £15 for each tree adopted.  The money received goes to the Reach Community Orchard fund which will contribute towards on-going costs of maintaining and developing the orchard.

You could also ‘gift’ an adopted tree as a birthday, Christmas, anniversary or special-day present or donate a tree to mark a special occasion or as a memorial. You can see a list of trees and their sponsors by clicking here.

If you want to select the fruit tree variety for adoption click here to see a full list of those still available - and you can see the Planting Plan by clicking on the link - alternatively we can select one for you.

You can even see the Varieties Sorted by Flowering Period - just click on the link.

And remember, by helping to establish our community orchard you will be: 

• Ensuring access to local seasonal fruit now and for future generations
• Building local distinctiveness – helping to conserve fruit varieties traditional to the East of England
• Helping to create a habitat that will be good for wildlife - for bees, birds, wildflowers
• Helping to make more healthy and sustainably produced food available to people in the village 
• Creating a place for relaxation and recreation

So, please be part of this initiative, and Adopt a Tree today!

If you want to know more, or would like to sponsor a tree please contact Graham Lingley by email (glingley3@googlemail.com) or phone 742293.