Juniper Removal at Sabin Community Orchard

Since last summer, intrepid volunteers, workforce trainees, and staff have been plugging away at removing a juniper hedge at the Sabin Community Orchard. Why? WELL!, Did you know that juniper can carry cedar rust fungus that can negatively impact apples, pears, Asian pears, and quince?

This project has felt a bit like a never ending story, but that all changed a couple of months ago when we connected with Deacon Construction who were looking for a great team volunteer job that would really utilize their skillset. When we mentioned the horror story of removing - and hauling - this pesky hedge it all just clicked. And if the juniper wasn’t enough, we just kept saying “and what about…” and they just kept saying “yeah, we can do that!”

With the help of their team, we not only have removed the juniper AND hauled it away, but installed new trellis infrastructure for two espalier apples, and soon we’ll see new signage at the entries without graffiti (at least for a while).

Community partnerships like this mean the world to a small organization like ours - what they could do with an excavator in a few hours, we could only do with hand tools and literal months of labor. Teamwork really does make the dreamwork.

But hey, now we have this big open space! What would YOU like to see there? It should be edible, not create dense understory that can lend itself to filling with trash, and relatively drought tolerant. Tell us your ideas!