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Community Orchard course comes to Bristol
The Orchard Project is bringing its Certificate in Community Orcharding (CICO) course to Bristol from September.
The only national charity dedicated to community orchards aims to ‘make a serious contribution to a better food system’ by creating, restoring and celebrating orchards as places people can work together, in their neighbourhoods, to produce and harvest their own fruit.
The focus is on urban community orchards as wildlife and well-being havens, and low-emission food providers.
is needed now More than ever
The Orchard Project helps communities create spaces for local food growing and wellbeing – photo: The Orchard Project
The charity is currently on a mission to plant community-based food forests in cities, to improve social equity and access to local food. These add in complementary edible crops around fruit trees so the space produces more food for communities.
Farming the Future, a collaborative project with the Soil Association and Shared Assets, will establish two sustainable food forests in Scotland and one in Wales, and results will feed back into government strategies to meet net zero targets.
The 11-month CICO is led by orchard experts and provides all the skills participants need to set up and run their own community orchard.
Subjects include pruning, grafting, soil science, pests and diseases, caring for veteran trees and fruit ID. The course will also feature a tour of Bristol community orchards, including Horfield, Royate Hill, and a new site at Stoke Park Estate that was set up with help from some of the CICO Wales students.
It will be taught at Avon Wildlife Trust’s Grow Wilder, a beacon of local food and growing in the city that already hosts Sims Hill veg boxes, Edible Futures salad cooperative, Hedgeroe Apothecary herbal medicines, Upcycled Mushrooms and a wildflower nursery.
Bristol’s history with community orchards dates back at least 20 years. Transition Bristol’s ‘virtual orchard’ project, established by Shift Bristol’s late Sarah Pugh in 2002, made fruit trees available for cost price and was responsible for thousands of trees being planted in back gardens across the city.
The Transition Bristol ‘virtual orchard’ flier from 2007 – photo: Laura Corfield
Abby Cremin, the Orchard Project’s Head of Operations and Programmes, is looking forward to bringing the CICO to Bristol. “Bristol is a Sustainable Food City with some fantastic community growing spaces,” she says.
The course begins on September 4 and is limited to 17 students. For more information and to book, visit www.tickettailor.com/events/theorchardproject
Main photo: The Orchard Project
This piece of independent journalism is supported by The Extra Mile and the Bristol24/7 public and business membership
Read more:
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- Pioneering green educators open doors to new students
- Pop-up garden allows outdoor learning for students
- Plans to plant a new forest in North Bristol
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