Endless Orchard Stewardship Event 11/13/16

What did we do?
Cian, Mark, Effi, and I helped Endless Orchards with their Tree Adoption event. The event started at 12 and we began with watching a walkthrough of how to plant a tree and how to take care of it once it is planted. A couple key points that were highlighted are that the root flair must not be covered as it causes decaying and to loosen the roots so the plant does not choke itself. We then assisted in carrying trees and mulch to adoptees cars. Once the trees and mulch were loaded, we then planted our own trees. We planted 3 black cherry trees behind Gladfelter naming them Hooty, Leo, and Kate.
Course Concepts
I saw many course concepts in action including how important it is to plant correctly as any mistake in the process would end up hurting the tree. We discussed why it is important to not include fertilizer  in the planting process as this would not allow the tree to adapt to the ground it is near which would affect the tree in the long term. Another concept that was applied was planting location and how we had to make sure that the tree would get the appropriate sun light and nutrients from the soil in its surroundings

    What factors create these community needs?
I believe factors that contributed to the need for urban greening and more specifically urban tree planting is the lack of greening occurring in cities. While Temple certainly has lots of green on campus, the lack of green around campus makes it much more important for Temple to be active in urban greening on its campus and in Philadelphia as a whole. It is also worth noting most urban greening is done by non-profits so while it may seem like there should be more urban green spaces and many people believe that, acquiring the capital to carry out an urban greening plan is very difficult.
 How can you continue your involvement with this urban greening issue
I could continue with this urban greening issue by either volunteering with Endless Orchards or by planting trees myself. The people who ran Endless Orchards were all very welcoming and showed us many other ways we could Endless Orchards. Adopting my own tree would be more of a task as taking care of the tree would be difficult as I live in Harrisburg but I may take it into consideration after school.
 How do you see your role in this project?
I see my role as a very small piece as I volunteered once but it is important as these kind of projects live and die by volunteer turnout. If the community is not involved then these kinds of projects will be difficult to bring together as the necessary capital to incentivize someone to do this work is simply not there as capital is spent on supplies and resources.