All Invited To the New Orchard Planting Event Party Sunday, June 26, at our new community park 6005 N. Johnstown

You are all invited to attend the Orchard Event for the public on Sunday, June 26 beginning at noon along with the National Fruit Tree Planting Foundation and Edy's Fruit Bars marking the planting of the new orchard that day that was recently won in a national competition for our emerging Welcome Table KitchenGardenPark at 6005 N. Johnstown Ave. Please pass this on to others.

Volunteers are always needed to help us plant that day or to come help us clean and prepare the site before hand, and to take on garden plots already installed for growing food for families and our food pantry. To volunteer call project leader Bonnie Ashing, bjashing@aol.com, or 918 3463475.

We were not happy with the selection of the day for beginning the orchard and festivities, which was picked by the organizations sponsoring the national competition, because of short notice, people being gone, and not optimal for planting season, but we will be making it a momentus day for the far northside anyway as we combat food deserts and blight in our area with this project we have called the "miracle among the ruins."

We hope you will be there, to receive our thanks, and to see the latest developments, and enjoy the festivities, and tell others, and dream of ways to partner with the park and duplicate it elsewhere. It is hard to believe that just one year ago we were still trying vigorously to raise the funds to buy the rundown abandoned property from N. Kenosha to Johnstown and 60th to 61st Streets atop a hill from where you can see downtown Tulsa and other landmarks. We not only were able to raise the funds, but used the property to help us buy another bigger more historic rundown abandoned church building in our area and turn it into a community center asset, and then this Spring we managed to garner enough online support to win the orchard in the first round of voting at www.communitiestakeroot.com.

While we will be there all day with volunteers working on the site with the arborist from the Fruit Tree Foundation, we will pause at noon for the announcements and recognitions and words of support. Edy's Fruit Bars will be giving away free fruit bars, building a bench for the site to commemorate the occasion, and the arborist will be unveiling the fruit trees planted and turning on the irrigation system installed by the foundation. The trees are being purchased from local nursery Worley's in north Tulsa County.

We have been installing and planting community garden beds already as well as preparing the site at the park for the orchard section. We also are hoping we can announce the awarding of a new grant too, which we have applied for in partnership with local Freedom Bank and with the help of the USDA Tallgrass RC&D, but even if it is otherwise we will be able to show the vision of what will be coming.

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