Orchard Stewards Program Session 2
Session 2: “Sharing the Harvest Among Neighbors” The last phrase of BOP’s mission statement is “sharing the harvest among neighbors.” In the past, this... Read More
About Us
Who are we?
The Baltimore Orchard Project strengthens communities through planting and cultivating orchards, teaching neighbors to be long-term stewards, and sharing the harvest among us all.
Our Latest Posts
Orchard Stewards Program, OSP
We held our first Orchard Stewards Program session back in August. Potential “orchardistas” learned about the program, connected to each other, and shared... Read More
Genesee/Ben Howard Orchard
As anyone who cares for plants knows, it can sometimes be frustrating waiting for nature to make things grow. As a nonprofit that has been... Read MoreFruits of the Past: Uncovering the History of Orchards in Baltimore City
Blog 4: Orchards Then & Now By Ian Collins, UMBC Intern As I finished last week’s post and started drafting this one, I couldn’t help... Read MoreFruits of the Past: Uncovering the History of Orchards in Baltimore City
Blog 3: Orchard Owners by Ian Collins, UMBC Intern With over 80 orchards showing up in the atlas, I was both excited and slightly overwhelmed... Read MoreFruits of the Past: Uncovering the History of Orchards in Baltimore City
Blog 2: The ‘Map’ by Ian Collins, UMBC Intern What I expected to see and what the librarian at Hopkins ended up showing me were... Read MoreFruits of the Past: Uncovering the History of Orchards in Baltimore City
Blog 1: Introduction by Ian Collins, UMBC Intern As a kid, it never really sank in that a lot of what I was eating came... Read MoreOur thanks to Ben Howard
After three plus years building, strengthening and guiding the BOP, Ben Howard is moving on. He is becoming a schoolteacher, gifting the Baltimore City school system... Read MoreFunky Fruits are super dooper more nutritious!
Eliza Greenman, a young star of the orchard world, has uncovered a fruit secret! Bruised, blemished and scabbed fruit is in fact more nutritious than... Read MoreMoving from stability to resilience
No doubt you have noticed that the world is changing. Weather, climate, seasons are in flux and we are no doubt in for a bumpy ride... Read MoreThe enduring value of orchards
“When you lose an orchard, you sacrifice not simply a few trees… but you might lose fruit varieties particular to that locality, the wild life,... Read MoreImagining an Edible Baltimore
“People act on the basis of the imagined world in which they dwell, and by acting on what they imagine, they help establish their worlds as... Read MoreFrom Mowing to Growing: Alternatives to the American Yard
America is in love with its lawns! Yet with all the mowing, fertilizing, pesticides, and watering… our lawns are hiding some dirty secrets. Discover alternative... Read MoreUrban fruits are more nutritious
“Wouldn’t the fruits be all nasty then?” said a Jubilee Arts student in response to my explanation of edible rain gardens in the city. “No!... Read MoreCelebrating Funky Fruit is a win-win-win-win
Food waste is huge problem in America. Somewhere between farm and fork, 40% of all our food goes to waste. $162 billion worth, $1500 per... Read MoreWant to be on TV?
Want to be on a yard farm reality show?
Our First Pear Harvest of 2015!
For two years, the BOP worked to reclaim an abandoned pear orchard with 100 trees. Several trees had to be cut down; others are struggling;... Read More
Orchards and Placemaking
Sometimes it is hard to describe what we at the BOP are doing. Working with fruit trees in and with neighborhoods we sit at the intersection of food... Read More
Ap-pear-antly Great
Three years ago, we adopted an abandoned pear orchard of almost 100 pear trees in northern Baltimore County. The orchard had been neglected for several years... Read MoreWhat we eat and California’s drought
Each week, the average American consumes more than 300 gallons of California water by eating food that was produced there.” This infographic shows you the... Read MoreThe Peepers Are Back!
The temperature hit the high 60s yesterday – awakening the peepers and starting the summer chorus. It seemed a bit late this year. Usually one... Read MoreA vision of abundance from the Book of Daniel
The vision of the King Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel (chapter 4:10-12): “There before me stood a tree in the middle of the land.... Read MoreThe essential role of urban food forests
The BOP was founded on the belief that urban fruit trees and food forests must become an essential part of 21st century urban design. These... Read MoreMunicipal Food Forests in Australia!
Lyneham, Australia is the latest city seeking to bolster its food security, strengthen its social capital and improve its ecosystem through food forests! Hurray for... Read MoreJane Goodall
Jane Goodall, the woman known for her pioneering work with chimpanzees, also has been enchanted by the world of plants since she was a child.... Read MoreApril Community Orchard Network Webinar
Michael Phillips, author of The Holistic Orchard, presented at the monthly webinar of the Community Orchard Network. Check out the podcast here. And send an... Read MoreThe Intimacy of Trees
Here is a lovely sentiment I happened to bump into (randomness, serendipity or just rubbing two things together can sometimes be our most creative tools)... Read MoreA Wendell Quote
Though Wendell Berry is not without his detractors (who among us isn’t?), he often speaks fundamental truths in such clear, compelling ways that they merit... Read MoreCommunity Orchard Network – 3rd Webinar, on Urban Foraging
The Baltimore Orchard Project is proud to be one of the founders of the growing community-of-practice called “Community Orchard Network.” We are an informal, on-line... Read MoreAn Orchard Grows in Cork County Ireland
The orchard movement continues: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/native-fruits-at-the-core-of-clonakiltys-orchard-plans-317648.htmlUrban Orchard Community Establishes Network
In January, a group of urban orchard folks got together and with the help of the Alliance for Community Trees and the Arbor Day Foundation... Read MoreUrban Trees
A wonderful quote from Shirley Trier of the Davey Resource Group: “Trees are not just landscaping placed on top of city infrastructure, they are city... Read MoreOrchards as Theaters of Grace
Joseph Sittler, a Lutheran theologian, wrote that nature was a theater of grace, and encountering it in the proper way was necessary for the sanity... Read MoreThe Blessing and Necessity of Public Parks… and Orchards
In his last masterpiece, Wild Fruits, Thoreau gives us an intimate tour of the vegetative life in his New England neck of the woods across... Read MoreThe Next Generation
Last week, Ben (our BOP Program Coordinator) and I were approaching an overgrown lot which once had aspirations of becoming a neighborhood orchard. We were... Read MoreOn Gleaning
We are sometimes asked what gleaning means, or how gleaning differs from harvesting. Indeed, we often use the two words interchangeably – both referring to... Read MoreWild Fruits
The last, unfinished work, of Henry David Thoreau was a magnum opus of the wild fruits that populated the woods in his beloved New England.... Read MoreNew Neighborhoods Need Old Trees
“Urbanist Jane Jacobs … famously said “New ideas need old buildings”, pointing out so definitively how dependent a vibrant city economy is on connecting the new with the... Read MoreIowa City Food Forest
The edible food forest movement is growing. Planted on public lands, tended by volunteers and neighbors, created with the blessings and assistance of city park... Read MoreWhat I told the USDA
I had the amazing privilege of speaking to members of the USDA’s annual Agricultural Outlook Forum today. They asked me to talk about the state... Read More2014 Farm Bill
Statement by Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) President, Jim Weill, on the passage of the Farm Bill today: Washington, D.C. — February 4,... Read MoreMore Quotables From Wendell Berry
It is hard to know what to read first of Wendell Berry‘s. Essayist, poet, novelist, farmer. I don’t know if there is a progression to... Read MoreOrchards as Commons
In “The Demand for the Common Good,” Jonathan Rowe, (1/7/04) writes: “The commons is a kind of counterpoise to the market. It provides stability and sustenance rather... Read MoreBosky – That’s a Word For Us
Dictionary.com has chosen “bosky” as their word of the day. bosky \BOS-kee\, adjective: 1. covered with bushes, shrubs, and small trees; woody. 2. shady. What... Read MoreTight On Room? Espalier!
Tree limbs are amazingly pliable in their early years. For those of us who have little room to grow trees and cannot let their limbs... Read MoreWelcoming a Friend to Spice Up Our Blog
Friend and historian Barbara Wells Sarudy runs a fabulous blog called Early American Gardens. We have been fans of it (and her!) for a while now.... Read MoreWe Are Helping to Build Up America’s Forests
Though America has made gains in her forest growth in the last few decades, still, scientists believe that our forests’ carbon dioxide scrubbing capacity will... Read MoreUSDA Agroforestry Strategic Framework 2011-2016
Government planning documents are not what you would usually find on my reading stand. But this one from the USDA is an exception. For one thing,... Read MoreHeart-Warming Stories
This past harvest season we partnered with Civic Works’ Real Food Farm to make some of our fruit available at affordable prices to food desert... Read MoreSanta’s Sustainable North Pole
See how Mr. and Mrs. Clause are working toward arctic sustainability at their Northern pole homestead! Click the image to expand. Image by Libby Baker... Read MoreGoing Nuts!
A recent NPR story tells of the amazing benefits of nuts. In the largest study of its kind conducted by Dr. Charles Fuchs, Director, of the Gastrointestinal Center, Dana... Read MoreThe Benefits of Fruit Trees
In technical talk, the work that we do in planting fruit trees (and the extended version we call food forests) falls in the category of “agroforestry,”... Read MoreThe Other Side of the Harvest
By Ben Howard When volunteers of the BOP harvest fruit together, most of us experience a pleasant time with kind and interesting people. We gather... Read MoreHickory Nuts
The harvest season isn’t over yet! While the fruit season is flagging, the nut season is flourishing. My neighbor has a hickory tree which has... Read MoreA Country Apart
In an article entitled “The Great Grid” (published in Fritz Haeg’s Edible Estates), Lesley Stern writes this wonderful line: “A garden, any garden, is also a... Read MorePublic Produce
I am reading Darrin Nordahl’s book, Public Produce, a compelling case for cities to allow urban gardening and “orcharding” [my word, not his] on public... Read MoreLast Delights of Summer Harvest
We are coming to the end of the 2013 harvest – but what a great late season it has been. To date, this year we have... Read MoreGathering the Fruit
A bountiful harvest on a beautiful summer eve! On September 2nd, nine volunteers gathered 433lbs of apples at a country club in Baltimore. 216lbs were... Read MoreForest Gardens!
Here is a wonderful introduction to “forest gardens” also called “food forests” and possibly “fruit parks” if on public land. They are designed to be... Read MoreFruit Parks for Baltimore
Chicago Rarities Orchard Project is working to transform Chicago’s unused public spaces into community resources for food, recreation, and a renewed sense of pride and... Read MoreA Wonderful Fourth!
“We come from the earth, we return to the earth, and in between we garden.” The BOP is dedicated to working well our vast yet... Read MoreMulberry Season
‘Tis the season of mulberries! About 50 years ago, mulberries must have been all the rage. There are two mammoth black mulberry trees on... Read MoreEasing Food Insecurity
Although the recession is easing, the rolls of the unemployed are slowly declining, the attitude and confidence of the country is slightly rising, those individuals... Read MoreLondon Orchard Project
Check out this lovely little video about an organization in London doing what we do here!B’more Abloom
At our inaugural “pruning of our pear grove” at Genessee Orchard this past Sunday, volunteer extraordinaire Steve Getlein gave me an important book with the... Read MoreRon Finley Guerilla Gardner
Watch this fabulous Ted Talk by Ron Finley – talking about changing the environment, the look, the soil of cities so we can grow healthy... Read MoreCreating Cultural Landscapes
Food, fields and trees are all essential parts of the work we do. And if we manage them right, we create not only edible resources... Read MoreRight to Food
Jill Wrigley, a BOP Advisory Board member, teaches a wonderful UMBC course on “Food.” It explores the history of food, food production, food distribution, urban... Read MoreFruit Branding
I am not an “orchardist,” or a “pomologist” (someone who is schooled in the study and cultivation of fruit). I am just a lover of... Read MoreVote For Us
The BOP has been honored with being a finalist in the Warschawski PR “design with purpose” pro bono website assistance program. The final phase of... Read MoreFruit Tree Pruning Workshop March 17
Join us for this hands-on workshop on March 17, 2:00 – 4:00! We’ll start indoors with a class on fruit trees and then move outdoors... Read MoreBaltimore TreeKeepers
Are you a tree advocate who wants action? Join TreeKeepers and get straight answers about urban trees and how to care for them. TreeKeepers is... Read MoreOn Threads and Nests
I found this lovely quote in Dwellings: a spiritual history of the living world by Linda Hogan. “It was in early February, during the mating... Read MoreFruit Trees Make Strong Neighbors
Yi-Fu Tuan is a pre-eminent geologist and philosopher, someone Thomas Berry might have called a “geologian”. In a work on “Rootedness,” Tuan wrote the following... Read MorePower of Landscape
“The power of landscape lies precisely in its dual role as a creation of culture and of nature… [so that it appears] that the cultural... Read MoreLA Opens Public Fruit Park
We love this idea and will work on seeing how we might emulate here in Baltimore. It took LA eight years to work this one... Read MoreGood Landmarks, Good Feeling
Feelings of comfort, ease, peace and contentedness are what we all seek, what we all ask for in one way or another as we make... Read MoreFruit Trees Good for Keeping Power On
Yesterday’s Baltimore Sun ran an article about BGE’s battle between trees and power. The headline: “Tree cutting and removal are seen as key ways to... Read MoreSoil Workshop
University of Maryland Extension Service is offering this Soil Workshop on February 2 at Cylburn Arboretum. Great topics. Great teachers. Check it out. Hope your... Read MoreThe Movement is Growing
Thanks to Michelle Barrows for telling us about The Urban Farmers gleaning, giving and growing program in California. It is mightily similar to our own,... Read MoreFruit Plants Training
Kudos to Elizabeth Hill and Russ Moss for (respectively) running and presenting at our jointly sponsored Native and Easy Fruit Growing training program November 4... Read MoreACCE Planting
A year ago, the land around the Academy for College and Career Exploration in Hampden was a parking lot, acres of hard top, inhospitable to... Read MoreThe Great Harvest of 2012
Well, the inaugural BOP harvest has come and gone. And it was a great success. Fifty volunteers worked at seven harvest gatherings and picked a... Read MoreNovember 4 Fruit Tree Workshop!
Thinking of planting some fruit trees? Wondering about how best to care for them and any challenges they may pose? Join us on November 4... Read MoreReplacement Trees with Help from BGE
BGE is trimming and removing thousands of trees in our neighborhoods to protect our electrical wires from damage and destruction. This should not be a... Read MoreJonah House Harvest
Twelve intrepid volunteers trekked out to charming Jonah House in Sandtown yesterday to harvest 12 apple trees. We only got to four yet we still... Read MoreWelcoming Rachel Rappaport
We are delighted to welcome Rachel Rappaport – of Coconut & Lime – to our Recipes section. Rachel started the award winning food blog Coconut... Read MoreMoney For Trees From BGE
BGE is trimming and removing thousands of trees in our neighborhoods to protect their electrical wires from damage and destruction. Whatever you think about this... Read MoreUrbanite Poster Competition
Friends, last May the Urbanite invited local organizations to submit poster proposals (graphics and 500 words) to compete for their Healthy Food Challenge project. The... Read MoreIncredible Edible Movement
Pam Warhurst offers up a compelling vision of how we can make the under-utilized and wasted spaces around our homes, businesses and buildings into productive... Read MoreTrees, Wires and Why We Can’t Pit Energy Against Environment Anymore
My op-ed on the need to re-think above-ground wires running from central power stations to individual houses as the best way to deliver secure energy... Read MoreAge-Old Gardens
This blog was created by BOP Intern Morgan Mullaney. The Baltimore Orchard Project picked up a beautiful book yesterday at the historic Johns Hopkins Homewood... Read MoreThe Beams in our Cathedrals
The story is told of the massive oak beams in the ceiling of College Hall at New College, Oxford. New College was founded in 1379... Read MoreTreasures in Waverly
by BOP Intern Sebastian Lim Baltimore City, on the surface, seems to be a congregation of expansive businesses, busy people, and a lively harbor. However,... Read MoreNatural Cities
In his 2011 book, Biophilic Cities: Integrating Nature into Urban Design and Planning, Timothy Beatley (he teaches about sustainable communities at the University of Virginia)... Read More89 Orchards in Baltimore City 100 years ago
BOP Summer Intern Elena Makansi tells of her remarkable discovery: This past Thursday I got to feel like a true historian: buried in the depths... Read MoreOpenings for Fruit Trees
Well, it is happening. BGE, in their understandable desire to keep us safe from extensive power outages caused by unstable, over-grown trees (and encouraged, we... Read MoreOur planting. Our legacy.
I met with the venerable Guy Hager of Parks and People Foundation earlier this week. He told me that during WWII, Baltimore boasted 20,000 Victory... Read More