The Idea

I stood there, overlooking a section of unused land many times and thought "there needs to be an orchard here".  Was it a thought from inside of me expressing outward or a thought placed inside me from outward influence?  Divine influence?

Fast forward to a Sunday evening study at Coop Prairie Church a few months ago.  Past years at Coop Prairie, I always knew what I was supposed to be doing.  Was away for some years and returned a little over a year or so ago but up to this particular evening, I didn't have a clue as to what it was I was supposed to be doing.

All I knew was what I wanted to do and blurted it out during a discussion, "What I want to do more than anything is make use of all that unused space and make a community orchard".  Pastor Pete motioned with his hands and a big smile, "have at it!"

So it began, from an idea to a project set in motion.  The first thing was to step off a rough boundary and get an idea of what kind of footage we have to work with...

At fifteen feet spacing, give or take a few, we probably have room for 250 trees. This rough boundary is by no means set in stone.

Soon will begin measuring, laying out lines, measuring some more, digging holes and setting the first year-old, native persimmon seedlings (D virginiana) in the ground to become established and serve as future root-stocks for grafting Asian and Hybrid Persimmon varieties.
Will also be setting other root-stock trees into the ground that have been donated, such as pear and apple. Will have to make room for a couple of Jujube as well.

As Spring arrives, we will be planting a whole new crop of persimmon seeds for the following year, (D lotus and D virginiana). Along with those we have a bunch of Hedge Apple seeds, AKA in these parts as Horse Apple. Never knew there was a use for them until we learned about Che fruit, a relative that grafts onto the Horse Apple root-stock.
We need to propagate tip layers from the Triple Crown Thornless Blackberry at home. Can’t have an orchard without berries!

Did I mention Figs yet? Figs, figs and more figs! Figs will take the majority of the space. Hardy Chicago, Sister Madeline’s Green Greek, Unk Yellow and Unk Dark as well, we hope, and a mix of others that prove themselves hardy enough by coming back to life in the yard after the cold spells we’ve had this Winter.

The Coop Prairie Community Orchard is going to be just as the name implies, a true Community Orchard. A place where people can come and gather from what God provides. It's not to be sold for any purpose other than perhaps to give financial aid to someone who may need it, as we may be led to do so. Otherwise it's to be free for whoever needs it.

Some items have already been donated but we still need some things and I have full faith they will be provided, if not in advance then just in time. Today was acquired a 300 gallon IBC tote for the first tank to provide irrigation from rain water we'll collect from the roof of the gym. I see the need for at least 1,000 gallons.

We need manure and/or compost and lots of it. I plan to contact the City about getting a load or two of the wood chips that are piled by the recycle yard. Anybody with means and the notion to donate any barnyard manure, please contact me. As of now I have no way to haul it but can probably find a way if we have a source.

Will update as things progress.