Possible sites for Urban Orchard Trees

[Becca]

Well, time is really ticking these days on the deadline for the
Sustainability Grant (March 31st!) so I've been thinking a lot about
where to propose putting these trees. There is an organization in
Boston called Earthworks that has had a long history of developing
urban orchard sites and they recommend locating the trees on either
city land and or land that is publicly accessible and owned by a
community minded organization, such as school yards or church grounds.
As it happens, we have quite a few of those sites in our area, and I
went out walking yesterday to try and get a feel fro many of them.
Many of the places listed below have long, narrow strips of land that
could be ideal for planting a row of 3 - 6 trees in what is otherwise
space that is just covered either with grass or other neutral
landscaping.

Possible places:
- Fire station on Woodland (strip of land along side of building and
fence on High St.)
- Maxwell School (small open area along Woodland, closer to Maxwell,
NOT the larger area where the students play games)
- Grounds of Woodland Christian Church (either behind their structure
in the back or even on their land along Kentucky)
- Grounds of Woodland Park (the easiest place I saw was along the
fence line at the tennis courts as this land isn't really "used" for
anything and isn't wide enough to accomodate games...and its along the
sidewalk neighboring busy High St.)
- Grounds of Park United Methodist Church (they have some lovely open
grounds on the side facing Clay Ave, along with a bit narrower of
space along High St.)
- Strip down Transylvania Park (I know this area is commonly used, but
perhaps one corner of the area would be a nice place to designate
several grouped plantings)
- Kentucky Refugee Ministries along Maxwell St. (this is a small lot,
but they might particularly enjoy the sentiment of community
maintained sources of food!)
- Second Presbyterian Church along the side of Ransom (only limited
greenspace here, but it might be possible)
- Open space in front of "developed" condos on Woodland and High,
across from Ramsey's (this is a large green space but I'm not sure
what is to come of this development so it may be hard to aquire
permission)

Others?

Obviously, this is a long list and I really need help in asking these
sites if they are open to the idea. Basically, if we get the grant, we
would have the funds to buy the trees (obviously they could consult on
the type, although they would need to be relatively low-maintenance,
non invasive trees to fit into the mission of the grant). We would
then come on a designated day as a community and plant them, and then
determine a schedule to maintain them. Ideally the location itself
would be involved, which would make most sense at community minded
places, like churches, schools, etc.

Does anyone have any contacts with any of the locations listed above?
Or are there other locations that you think would work that you'd like
to contact?

I could really use some help with this and must confess, its a great
chance to see new things in the neighborhood!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Becca

[Becca]

Oh, after a quick drive around the area and a suggestion from Greg, we
have 3 more sites to throw in the mix.
- Strip of land in front of the Engineering Firm on High St. (Between
Woodland and Arlington)
- Front of he post office on High St.
- Mysterious large field beside the post office (I think its owned by
the city and I know the Y uses it for outdoor games during camps, but
maybe along the front edge bordering the sidewalk?)

[Guenthner, Gregory]

The mysterious large field is owned by the University of Kentucky. I contacted Bob Wiseman (UK's Associate Vice President for Facilities)and inquired about planting trees on the lot. Unfortunately we won't be able to plant there; the University is trying to sell the lot.

--greg