The Orchard Project turns 15 today! 🎉 Here's a little photo trip down memory lane ...

In this time we've worked with 500+ orchards & empowered thousands of people with food-growing skills. If you'd like to mark our birthday with a gift, donate here: bit.ly/40FbU6m 🎁

The last in a series of one-day training courses with Living Under One Sun is coming up on 18 May when Lewis will show you how to create a balanced ecosystem & avoid pests and diseases.

Book your space (free to Tottenham residents) via Eventbrite 👉 bit.ly/3QFaaGt..

We’ve joined forces with cold-pressed juice brand Rebel Kitchen to highlight London’s amazing community orchards.

Along with staff getting their hands dirty at orchard events, they're also donating 1% of revenue to us as part of #1PercentForThePlanet : 👉bit.ly/44zXypU

Explore the art and science of summer pruning fan-trained stone fruit trees at Sutton Community Farm on 18 May: eventbrite.co.uk/e/stone-fruit-…

Dreaming up a fruitful future 💭

We met with local residents at The Inch Park in Edinburgh recently for a site survey and orchard planning session.

Check out our upcoming bird-watching events, both in-person and online, with Friends of Inch Park, Edinburgh: bit.ly/3D9WCwa

Do you want to make your orchard a wildlife haven? Taking part in #NoMowMay allows native plants to thrive, providing extra nectar and #habitat .

You might enjoy the #wildflowers so much that you continue to the no-now practice well past May! 🌼
Plantlife

Eating wild garlic pesto and foraging is high up on our list of a perfect way to spend a few hours and it looks like the local community in Hendon, London agree! We recently marked #EarthDay there with a new partnership with Earthwatch Europe to create a tiny new food forest.

We're part of the More Natural Capital Coalition and obviously our pledge would be to make those fruit trees! 🍏

How lovely is this photo of Glasgow Project Manager Fergus planting containers at Bella Rose Hall with Crookston Community Group?

We love any opportunity to teach the next generation about resilient food systems 🍏 We hope it helps foster a lifelong love & respect for Nature!

If you're looking to put your talent to a good cause, then this could be the job for you! We're looking for a Head of Fundraising to help grow our income so we can empower even more communities to create & maintain community orchards across the UK. 👉 bit.ly/49Opbwq

Single use-plastics pollute our Earth and adversely impact our health, but we know they can be hard to avoid.

Sourcing more of your fruit locally can help reduce your plastic consumption - and those small changes add up 🌍!

#EarthDay2024 #PlanetvsPlastics

Anyone for nettle tea? 🌿 At Cae Tan's recent 'spring leaves' session volunteers could try not only tea, but also hedgerow salads & plant some medicinal herbs. We've been working at this CSA site on the Gower Peninsula in Wales as part of our community food forest project.

Want to learn where to pick free fruit in NW London & find out more about setting up a local fruit harvesting group? Sufra NW London is working with Michael Stuart to help make this a reality. Next meeting Tues 23 April. Sign up 👉: bit.ly/3xqxhhh
📷 Cal Holland

In our latest blog, our Education, Skills & Training Manager Jo Homan shares her experience establishing Edible_Landscapes_London

She shares advice for cultivating diverse communities of plants & people in your growing space. Read it here: bit.ly/3VTX9fQ

📣 Attn gardens & growing spaces: registration for Good to Grow Week is live! Sign up to take part in the national edible week of action 22-29 April and get your garden (or orchard!) on the map.

Sustain Good to Grow Capital Growth Sustainable Food Places
goodtogrowuk.org

Are you looking for a course to deepen your food-growing knowledge or kick-start your horticultural career?

Don't miss getting a place on our online Forest Gardening course starting 22 April: bit.ly/43KcaCt

#ForestGardening

🍏 Job alert! 🍎 We're looking for a Project Manager who is passionate about community orchards to join our team in #Manchester .

Benefits include flexible working, 25 days A/L pro rata, training support & wellbeing allowance: bit.ly/3TKMP79

⏰ Deadline: 5 May 2024.

We had so much fun adding herbaceous perennials & wildflower seeds to the orchard in Crowcroft Park #MCR recently!

Thanks to Garden on a Roll & @meadowingarden for donating plants, Greater Manchester Environment Fund and to all the volunteers who have helped cultivate this greenspace for the community 🍐

Did you know that we don't just create new orchards, but also help to restore old ones?

Our Glasgow Project Manager Fergus was joined by some enthusiastic local volunteers in Kinlochard to prune neglected veteran apple trees on a housing estate.