New Canton landscaping will include a community orchard

Planting with purpose

The community orchard project will be adjacent to the Riverview Farm and Garden and will begin in the spring with a two-step phase initiative. The first phase will consist of basic infrastructural needs such as ADA compliant sidewalks, power and water to the sites, public restroom building, covered pavilion installation for classes and workshops and mapping out the planting sections on the site.

A removable storage shed will also be built onsite, as per ordinance, as the area is in a flood plain. The first phase will also consist of establishing partners for the maintenance of the orchard as well as prepping the space itself for planting. The building of the structures will be done in kind by the town of Canton.

The second phase will be the installation of the individual fruit tree guilds, which will make up the community orchard. The fruit tree guild is a process of planting mutually beneficial species of plants around a fruit tree, creating a thriving and self-contained ecosystem with pollinators, nutritional sources, shrubberies with pest and disease control. The root systems will also provide erosion control to the area, as the area is prone to flooding.

The planting will consist of a variety of apple, pear, peach, pawpaws, elderberry and cherry trees of the dwarf variety as the yield is far quicker than standard varieties. Shrubberies and other seasonal plants such as strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, herbs and vegetables will be added as the project develops via seasonal planting. A pollinator garden is already onsite via the gardening club, this past season.

At the governing board meeting Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers called the club “a part of the Canton family.”

“You’re creating something great that will be very important to the town,” Smathers told the garden club members attending the board meeting. “There’s been a challenge of how to bring in new ideas and not change who we are. What you are proposing is in line with what we’ve always done.”

Alderman Tim Shepard agreed:

“People get used to how areas look,” he said, noting the recreation park has a monotone landscape. “But what you’re doing will change the way the park looks — make it a more interesting place to walk and visit.”

Marti Yates and Carroll Jones, members of the Pigeon River Garden Club and two of the presenters at the meeting, have been instrumental in the progress and development of the projects.

Yates, a master gardener, said the garden club began around three years ago as an “initiative to get more projects started in the Canton area.”

The club is working with Haywood Waterways Association on erosion management and bank restoration at the site.

Other project partners for the project who will contribute either time, material, labor or support for the project are Canton Public Library, Town of Canton, Champion Credit Union, Canton Business Association, Canton Middle, Pisgah High School and other local churches and organizations.

According to Yates, the community orchard will eventually be an “open harvest,” meaning that community members can come, sit and enjoy the space while also enjoying the fruits of the community’s labor.

Programs such as bee keeping and honey production, educational and public classes for gardening and plant starting, permaculture and specific holiday event celebrations such as Arbor Day and Earth Day will eventually be held onsite for all of the Canton community to enjoy.

Funding for the project will be provided in grants by the Food Justice Planning Initiative, via the Dogwood Trust as well as the Cruso Endowment. Future fundraising events will be held by the PRGC to ensure the project's success.

Every once in a while, Smathers said, “You get to be part of a project that will outlive you. I commend you for doing that and going big.”