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Fruit Tree Grafting Workshop and 4th Annual Scionwood Exchange

March 21, 10 am - 4 pm

Willow Crossing Farm
Johnson, VT

Join us for a day of hands-on fruit tree grafting. We’ll begin the day in the classroom understanding the science of grafting, and practice bench-grafting apples, pears, plums, and other stone fruits.

Everyone will have the opportunity to graft their own tree to take home!

After lunch, we’ll go out and tour grafted and 'multi-grafted' fruit trees (including peaches grafted onto plums) and ‘top work’ multiple varieties onto pears, apples, plums, and other stone fruit. We’ll discuss some pruning basics, different grafting strategies for ‘fruit salad trees’, healing damaged trees, reworking new varieties, revitalizing old orchards, enhancing cross-pollination, and space considerations. We’ll also look at and evaluate both successful and failed past grafts.

We’ll contextualize our work in briefly telling some history of our farm and touring our incredibly diverse collection of nuts, berries, vines, nitrogen-fixing plants, and regenerative DIY farm infrastructure. We’ll also explore the incredible history of grafting, the range of grafting possibilities, and practice with professional grafting tools which make for more successful grafts by novices and experts alike.

Each attendant will leave with an apple, pear, or stone fruit variety of their choosing on standard rootstock.

$80 suggested donation sliding scale includes cider and tea, and your own grafted fruit tree to take home. No one will be refused for lack of funds, but everyone must pre-register.

Due to the popularity of this event, you much pre-register. There is a possibility of another event in April, please send an email to express your interest.
Please RSVP by sending an email to Keith@ProspectRock.org.

You must register, as the weather will determine where we park cars, and we will also send you some information about how to best collect scion wood if you want to propagate some favorite fruit trees.

The workshop will be taught by:

Zach Leonard is a master horticulturalist and as been the farm manager of Elmore Roots Nursery for more than a decade. He and his family have created High Hopes Farm, a diverse off-grid homestead.

Nicko Rubin is the owner of East Hill Tree Farm, where he has been growing and propagating hardy fruits and nuts in the foothills of the Groton Mountains. He completed the master’s program for sustainable landscape design at the Conway School.

Dave Johnson is a timber framer with a passion for fruit trees. His competence with sharp tools and wood translate readily into many successful grafts and a legacy of multi-grafted old wild apples throughout the hills of Vermont.

Keith Morris has been collecting and experimenting with rare fruits, nuts, and medicinal plants since 1996, and is professor of ecological design at the University of Vermont. He’s slowly built his family’s farm debt-free with sweat-equity and has contributed to creating resilient and diverse food systems on 5 continents.

Thank you,
Keith
(802) 734-1129

Willow Crossing Farm
Johnson, VT
www.WillowCrossing.org

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