On a chilly morning with a light drizzle and fog spreading over the North Lawndale neighborhood, a small group of people had gathered in a community garden on the corner of 16th Street and Hamlin Avenue in the Westside of Chicago at 10 a.m. The group gathered in this inclement weather to prune the trees from the community garden in preparation for the incoming spring season that is quickly approaching.
The event was hosted by NeighborSpace and Treemendous Lawndale, in the effort to continue NeighborSpaces “City in an Orchard” program. Their effort is city wide where they “plant and support of 200-300 fruit and nut trees across multiple community sites. Pruning is the action of trimming dead or overgrown branches. The event was also an effort to continue the teaching of proper tree care and maintenance. The goal of tree pruning is to allow sunlight to reach leaves and fruit buds, allow airflow, manage disease, and produce higher quality larger fruit.
“It’s easy to plant a tree, and today we are learning the long term care that is required…” said Noah Frazier, 30, community orchardist. He continues “Getting to form a connection with these trees other than just shade, harvest and windbreak. Food is a function… Learning to tend to these species helps bridge between the problems we have.”
The group of volunteers were a mixed bag of experience, with some individuals who were expert and some whose first time it was doing this. The event’s organizers were helpful in teaching those who were inexperienced the proper techniques and lent tools to those who did not have their own the day of.
Ferdinand Davis, 20, an intern urban agriculturalist, it was his first time pruning trees. He said that the event was helpful and that it provided information anybody can use if they want to start planting their own trees in their yard or to care for the ones in the community. He said it was beneficial for the community that there is free food produced that only needed to be cared for.
According to researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Concordia University, Studies shows that it is beneficial for trees to grow in urban areas. The canopy provided can help reduce the temperature in the inner city by ten degrees due to the shade. According to Tree Equity Score, Chicago, IL has a 58% percent of population living in a heat anomaly. Moreover, a study done by the University of Chicago Healthy Region and Policies, show how the neighborhood of North lawndale. not only have high surface temperature percentile, but also have low tree canopy density. Which both in effect would create a warmer climate for the residents of that community.
“It spurs on that connection in them, and they get a curious, and that will hopefully bring them into more of those spaces and engage with them. So, I think it’s a reflection to the community… And we should all be, investing our time, energy, and love into trees more than, as much as possible.”
The event lasted two hours and when it was over empanadas and hot cinnamon tea were provided to all the attendees. This was one of many tree pruning events that NeighborSpace will be hosting this winter. Their website contains more information about upcoming events around the city, with further explanation on their “City in an Orchard” initiative.
J’s Journal 