Volunteers and city officials planted trees in Goshen Monday morning, it's the beginnings of the city’s new public orchard.
Tiny trees, little more than sticks, rise out of donuts of mulch at Abshire Park in Goshen. It’s the beginnings of an Orchard that will be tended, and harvested by the public.
The project is the brainchild of Goshen resident Patrick Coonan. It’s funded by a $30,000 grant provided by Enterprise through the Arbor Day Foundation.
Aaron Kingsley is the head of Goshen’s Department of Environmental Resilience. He said the community orchard won’t really look like a traditional orchard with rows and rows of the same tree.
“It will look much more like a garden with lots of different things happening, and maybe not like a terribly organized garden. Although there is a lot of thought and a lot of planning that’s been put into where the different plant are and how they will function in relation to each other.”
It’ll be several years before most of the trees will be productive. Right now there are a few hazelnuts for harvesting. In the spring volunteers will plant blueberries, raspberries and other fruits in beds around the trees.
Eventually there will be apples, pears, cherries, currents, plums, persimmons, and many other fruits and nuts for the community.