Evergreen

I recently volunteered at the urban orchard-​in-​progress on Great Northern Way. I won’t go on about the organization and all the good things they do; rather I will simply treat it as any other outing and rate the experience. (I will, though, encourage you to visit their website and look into how you can help out.)
After completing the generic volunteer application, I was contacted via email by the project coordinator. Volunteers were given a choice of days to work and told where to be, what to bring and what we would be doing.
The onsite representative was able to answer my many questions (what kinds of apples will grow, how much water/​dirt/​sunlight etc., what kind of irrigation is needed… what can I say, I’m a curious person!) She is clearly invested in the project and has a lot of passion for it.
It wasn’t easy, shoveling dirt and filling the planters, but it was fun and I met some great people. There were about twelve people helping the night I was there, which, isn’t a lot.
There will be a need for help as the season goes along and I hope that people will read this and get inspired. It’s fun to help out and actually see something grow from your efforts. The location is cool, too, as there are some interesting things going on, such as roof garden experiments and big future plans for the site.
The experience was even better than I expected. The people were friendly, helpful and enthusiastic and the location is easy to access via bike, transit or vehicle. And, it’s free!