The Boston Tree Party: Planting Trees and Growing Community

I grew up in an "apple" town.  Orchards were abundant, every fall a day was set aside for apple picking, and every spring we celebrated the blossoms.  I played town soccer, our logo was a soccer ball, shaped like an apple with a bite out of it.  We loved our apples.  Honestly, as much as I love living in the city, and consider myself a pretty well acclimated "city girl", I still sometimes miss living in an area where trees are abundant, and the simplest things in life, like a perfect apple, are still appreciated.  When I received an invitation to the Boston Tree Party Inauguration, held this weekend, I was thrilled to be a part of such a great celebration.

The Boston Tree Party is an organization formed to help introduce apple trees back into our landscape here in urban Boston.  They plan to plant 100 pairs of heirloom apple trees across Boston and throughout its communities.  Delegates from all over this area have signed up to plant a pair on their grounds, and care for these young trees as they mature.  The first two were planted on the Rose Kennedy Greenway yesterday, and over the next several weeks others will begin to pop up as well.  Delegations include, the Belmont School, Carney Hospital, Harvard University, Shape Up Sommerville, Roxbury Community College among many others.  Four years from now, our city will be brimming with delicious fruit, from all parts of our community.

As I sat in attendance during yesterdays festivities on the Greenway, and listened to the impassioned speeches from Boston Tree Party organizers and Pomologists, the true goal of the Boston Tree Party was obvious.  Sure the expected bountiful fruit will be nice, however the goal here is to enrich our community.  People and representatives from organizations all over the area were present- cheering for each other, committing their time and resources, and finding ways to help each other out. That really is the beauty of apples.  As we learned yesterday, apple trees need each other to produce fruit.  They cross pollinate, and so without other trees nearby, a tree won't bear fruit.  It is an amazing analogy for life.  Without neighbors and friends, a community in which to grow, our lives would lose such meaning- so the planting of these pairs of trees is so much more than another reminder that slow food is better, or that local food is best.  These trees will represent a need within the city to foster community, and support diversity.  

I know that I can't wait to walk through the Greenway and watch our new tree grow, and remember the spirit in which it was planted.