Ray Block examines some of the apples already growing on his apple trees at his orchard on the shore of Lake Superior. Block has been instrumental in starting many new apple orchards in the county over the last couple of years.
Ray Block said he would like to see an organically grown apple in every Cook County kid’s school lunch box every day and the way it’s going, he just may get his wish.
Not counting the hundreds of apple trees growing in his orchard, over the last two years Block has assisted in planting over 500 apple trees in six different locations in the county, and on Tuesday morning, June 28, he was at the Cook County commissioners’ meeting when Diane Booth told commissioners that with their support, 100 apple trees would be planted at the Cook County Law Enforcement Center.
Cook County Community Center/ Extension Director Booth said the trees would be planted near County Road 7/5th Street on the law enforcement center lawn.
Helping to fund the project was a grant for $15,909 from the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation. That money will be used primarily to install fencing and a water catchment system that will direct rainwater off the law enforcement center roof into a water collection system. Some money will go toward purchasing other plantings for the law enforcement center. Booth said there is also $1,600 in her department’s budget to be used as matching funds.
All told it will cost $32,219 to build and plant the orchard, but $14,710 will come from in-kind donations. Those donations will be in the form of donated work or materials from McMillan’s Tree Service ($920), Hedstrom Lumber ($2,500), Cook County Soil & Water ($1,500), University of Minnesota (UM) Master Gardeners ($300), Erik Hahn, Great Expectations, ($750), Cook County Extension ($3,040), and Edwin E. Thoreson Construction ($1,500). Another $3,000 was donated by a private individual for the purchase of the trees. Block also contributed a $1,200 Minnesota Department of Agriculture grant to the project.
The donated dwarf variety honey crisp apple trees are cold weather resistant and will be trellised. The trees mature fast and will bear as much as two bushels per year per tree, said Block.
The trees are currently being stored at Block’s orchard on Lake Superior and will be planted soon, with the fence to follow so the deer will be kept at bay.
Along with apples, Booth, who is also a master gardener, is looking at experimenting to see if cherries, grapes, lingam berries, jostberries, blueberries and other types of fruits will grow there. The establishment of grape vines and other fruits won’t take place until 2017, she said.
Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen is an enthusiastic supporter of the project, said Booth. In a memo to the Lloyd K. Johnson Board of Directors Eliasen wrote, “I have walked the southern slope below our building and strongly support the development of the proposed fruit orchard. It is really an ideal location in full sun and protected from the wind.”
Eliasen was on vacation so he couldn’t attend the Tuesday morning county board meeting.
One of the “neat things” about this community orchard is that it will truly be a collaboration of many entities, Booth said. Great Expectations School students will help with pruning and cleaning the fruit beds. Sentence-to-Serve participants and community volunteers will aid in the maintenance, harvesting and learn how to make grafts. The UM Cook County Master Gardeners and Extension will also help and provide an ongoing funding source for plantings and help repair, when needed, the irrigation system, and provide other technical assistance. Booth said Eric Hahn, a science teacher at Great Expectations was in the process of developing a curriculum for students K-8 that will use the orchards as a living lab for students.
Winona native Caroline Dry donated the trees. This is the third year she has made donations of apple trees to a correctional agency, she said, but she told the commissioners that the scope and inclusiveness of this program may be the largest of its kind in the country, and she said was going to take the model used on Cook County back to Winona to see if it could be implemented there.
Leave a Reply