On Sunday, February 26th a group of 20+ Fruit Nutz arrived at the West Asheville Park to maintain the Edible Planting on the hillside just beyond the outfield of the baseball diamond.  We were greeted by healthy trees, a warm breeze and shining sun.  What a beautiful day to move some mulch!!

There is a wonderful diversity of fruit and nuts at the site including; hazelnuts, mulberry, peach, paw paw, elderberry, strawberries and a smattering of pollinators plants tucked into the beds.  There are some freshly painted signs made by students at Rainbow Mountain that look absolutely fantastic.  If you have yet to see this site, get on over and check it out!


We played a number of games throughout the day including; move the mulch, pull the weeds, transplant the strawberries, and or course HAYRIDING!!!!  If you have yet to experience hay riding, it is a climate change activity that can be done in place or sleigh riding.  All you will need is a piece of cardboard, a grassy hillside, and a friend to push you.

After the fun and games it was time for a little teaching session on water, a prevailing topic at this site.  The Club is in the process of working with the city to gain approval to implement a rain garden and swale that will capture and divert the water that is currently rushing down Morris St and eroding the hillside that leads into the park.   Sherry Ingram taught the group about the importance of capturing rain water and allowing it to percolate into the soil and provide much needed moisture to plants and trees.  Urban areas tend to use storm drains to divert water directly into streams and rivers which can cause  many problems such as flooding and pollution of waterways.  Bill Whipple then presented his plan on how to implement the rain garden and swale.  Dylan Ryals-Hamilton then taught the group how to use an A-Frame Level (Permometer) to find the contour of the land and flag out the projected path of the swale.

After getting our learn on we had to get right back to what this group is becoming famous for, having a good time.  So with cardboard in hand we hiked to the top of the hill for another round of hay riding.  What a day!  After we gathered up our tools and wished the plants farewell we headed over to Ramin's house for an after event potluck and scion swap.  Another wildly succesful Fruit Nut's Event for the record books.

We even had some press coverage for this one!  To see the article in the Mountain express follow the link:

http://mountainx.com/article/40739/Volunteers-working-with-Asheville-city-staff-on-runoff-in-park#

Elderberry Swap, Potluck and Tree Care Skill Share

Just a reminder that this Saturday is the First Fruit and Nut Club event of the year!  We will be meeting at the Montford Rec Center on Saturday, January 28th at 11:00 a.m.  Come prepared to learn the ins and outs of caring for fruit and nut trees this time of year.  Bring a sack lunch, gloves, pruners, a pitchfork, shovel and wheelbarrow if you have them.  If you can make it please RSVP to Tom Knaust at tknaust@gmail.com.  

There will be an after event Potluck dinner at my house at 15 Conestee Place starting at 6:30 P.M.  At the potluck we will be doing an Elderberry Stake Swap.  The idea is that we will all bring different varieties of elderberry and swap them.  Then go home and drive them into the ground where they will root and grow, increasing the diversity of elderberries in the places we live.  To harvest "stakes" simply cut 18inch or longer sections of elderberry.  Be sure to make an angled cut on the "bottom" of the cutting so we know which end to drive into the ground.  I hope to see you all on Saturday!

Meeting Minutes 1/18/12

Fruit Nutz, 
We had a great meeting on the 18th with 27 attendees.  We collected the 
$10.00 membership fee for 2012 and had 18 people sign up, generating 
$180.00 for projects and materials.  We touched on our accomplishments 
of 2011 and moved right into projects and events for 2012, setting 
dates for three upcoming events.  After a short break we raffled off 
door prizes of strawberry and raspberry plants, honey, seeds, homemade 
almond milk and the infamous maidens medicinal elderberry syrup.  We 
were then graced with two short presentations; one on the wonders of 
elderberry's and another describing the front-end-fluff.  Overall it 
was a very productive and promising sap rising meeting. 

The events that we put on the calendar are:
1. North Asheville Tree Care Skill Share Saturday, January, 28th
2. Stephens Lee Pruning day and Scion Swap Saturday, February 4th
3. West Asheville Park Primping Saturday, February 25th 

So mark your calendars and get ready for a good time!  More Details on
the these events to come. 

If you would like to become a member of the Buncombe Fruit and Nut
Club (which is not mandatory, but will help pay for events, projects
and field trips)  please bring $10.00 check or cash to one of the
upcoming events.  If yo would like to be added to our mailing list to please 

e-mail Tom Knaust- tknaust@gmail.com.