A recent challenge posed to Township of Wellesley Fire Rescue by the Perth East Fire Department’s Milverton station has led the Wellesley fire department to plant a 12-tree urban fruit orchard beside its station in the Village of Wellesley, next to the Wellesley Recreation Complex.
At the Oct. 14 Wellesley committee of the whole meeting, councillors approved a request from the Apple Butter and Cheese Festival (ABC) committee to contribute $1,500 towards the fruit orchard, which had already been planted by the fire department. The orchard includes six varieties of apple trees, two pear trees, two peach trees and two sweet cherry trees.
“On Sept. 29, the festival committee was approached by a member of the Township of Wellesley Fire Rescue to get support for the planting of an urban orchard,” said ABC committee treasurer Theresa Bisch. “This is part of the Apfelbaum Challenge.”
According to Bisch, the Apfelbaum challenge is a social-media-nomination challenge mostly active in Germany. As part of the challenge, a group – often part of a fire brigade – is nominated by another group to take part. The nominated group has one week to plant an apple tree, which is recorded and shared on social media, before nominating another group to do the same.
A short video posted to the Township of Wellesley Fire Rescue Facebook page on Oct. 14 shows township firefighters planting a single apple tree. Before the tree is planted, the firefighters are seen placing some apple butter from Wellesley Brand Apple Products in the hole as a tongue-in-cheek tie-in to a major local apple business in the township.
While the video shows only one tree planted, Wellesley district fire chief Brendan Westmorland told the Gazette the fire department decided to take the challenge one step further.
“We had a very public area of empty lawn behind our fire station that adjoins the Bill Geis Recreation Centre,” Westmorland said. “We also have volunteer firefighters who are involved in horticulture and landscape architecture who came up with the idea of an urban orchard. Our firefighters also have close partnerships with the Apple Butter and Cheese Festival, and we felt that the urban orchard would make a community space that reflects the agricultural heritage of Wellesley and the spirit of the Apple Butter and Cheese Festival.”
Westmorland said the project was financially supported by the ABC Festival, and the Wellesley firefighters will maintain the trees. The trees came from a local nursery, Silver Creek Nursery Ltd., which provided both support and advice for planting and caring for all 12 trees.
Township Coun. Derek Brick, who also serves as a firefighter with the local department and as a member of the ABC committee, told the Gazette the idea to plant additional trees goes beyond taking the challenge posed by the Milverton fire station to the next level.
“As I thought more about the challenge and what tree to plant, I got thinking about pollination and what tree can accomplish this as a singular tree,” Brick said. “In order to pollinate, most fruit trees need a second tree and some bees in order to create fruit. This is where the idea of the urban orchard took shape. The idea evolved quickly into something great.
“ … This project is a great example of the community coming together to create something that we can watch grow and eventually enjoy. Seeing the ABC Festival funds grow into a productive orchard is going to be a great opportunity for the community to watch (the trees grow and produce fruit) right next door to our great recreation complex.”