Our Orchard is Loaded This Year! Help!

community orchard littleton co
orchard,community orchard,grow fruit

Young Trees in the Orchard

This summer and fall will be a huge bumper crop for our community orchard at Alkire and Bowles in Littleton, CO.  That means that there will be lots of fruit to harvest and donate to food shelves and to anyone in need.  But it also means that we could use a lot of help!

We need volunteers to help any Sat. from now (May 2016) through the harvest this fall.  There are many tasks that need to be done:

  • Check and repair the irrigation system. Winter takes a toll on it!
  • Mow weekly and trim around trees – this is a big job! Are you up for it? We can use several volunteers
  • We’ll be thinning out the fruits so the branches can support them and so the fruit will grow bigger and better. Yum!
  • Some branches will need to be propped up to support the weight of the fruit
  • Grapes need to be tied to the supports to get them off the ground
  • Of course, as fruit ripens, we can use harvesters: apples, nectarines, peaches, pears, apricots, grapes and more!
  • If you can cook or bake, we can use you to make deserts, jams, jellies, cakes to donate these to food shelves (you can keep some for yourself as well)
  • We need food packaged to get it ready for the food shelves
  • bees,bees for honey,bees in community orchard,littleton co, denver

    Bee hives!

    The orchard supports bees in hives that produce lots of honey.  This will need to be packaged in jars for donation

  • Are you willing to deliver food to the food shelves? We can use you!
  • There are many other jobs that come up as we grow – please sign-up for the mailing list to stay updated and then check back to see what we’re doing.

fruit trees,apple trees,community orchard denver IMG_20160514_135000_808 IMG_20160514_135808_398 IMG_20160514_140831_182

45007112_littleredhen I’m reminded of the parable of the Little Red Hen.  The hen found wheat seeds and decided to plant them. She kept asking for help with all the tasks involved in growing the wheat, weeding the field, harvesting the ripe grain, and then baking it into bread.  When she asked, she got no one willing to help.  But when the bread was baked, she asked again who wanted to help eat the fresh bread.  THEN….everyone wanted a part of eating the bread!  little red henBut, the little red hen used it to feed her own family.  The moral: if you’re not willing to help when there is a need, should you be invited to partake in the bounty?  You decide!

We need you! There is a huge task here and so much to do! You can truly make a difference in the lives of families, individuals and children by providing them with fresh, delicious and nutritious food.