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Communication Associate: Public Relations | Lori Melton | lmelton@d.umn.edu | (218) 726-8830
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May 4, 2012
Cindy Hale | UMD Research Associate | cmhale@d.umn.edu
Melissa Marasco | Zenzi Communications | 760 635-9320 | melissa@zenzi.com


The Duluth Community Heritage Apple Orchard Breaks Ground on Saturday, May 12 at 9 a.m.

Media Advisory
Help plant the new UMD Heritage Apple Orchard we won!

Duluth Community Heritage Apple Orchard breaks ground May 12

What: The Sustainable Agriculture Program at the University of Minnesota Duluth will receive a fruit orchard consisting of 51 apple trees including 11 different heritage varieties. This newly planted fruit orchard will complement the UMD seedling trial orchard under renovation. All fruit from this orchard will go towards providing fresh fruit to Duluth community members. Please join us for the groundbreaking and planting celebration.

When: Saturday, May 12 at 9:00 a.m.
9:00 am: Project overview and introductions (Sustainable Agriculture Program: Fruit Tree Planting Foundation; Edy's Fruit Bars)
9:20 am – 9:40 am: Ceremonial Tree Planting/Photo Opportunity
9:40 am – 11:30 pm: Tree planting; Edy's Fruit Bars sampling
Noon – 2pm: FREE short course on apple growing

Where: UMD Field Research Studies Center
4709 Jean Duluth Road, Duluth

Why: The Duluth Community rallied around an online voting contest sponsored by Edy's Fruit Bars, in collaboration with the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation. We won and now it's time to plant! The orchard is being planted to provide an ongoing source of fresh fruit to the people of Duluth and will also provide a source for new heritage varieties for the Sustainable Agriculture Program at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Representatives from the Sustainable Agriculture Program, the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation and Edy's will be on hand to plant the trees, with Edy's providing refreshing Edy's Fruit Bars to members of the community.

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Additional Information about the Sustainable Agriculture Program and Orchards
The Sustainable Agriculture Project at the University of Minnesota Duluth formed in 2009 to institute education, research and community engagement around local food systems and food security in the western Lake Superior region. The project was awarded stewardship over 15 acres at UMD's Research and Field Studies Center, including a five-acre seedling trial apple orchard. This revitalized orchard aims to serve northern tree growers in the cold-temperature regions of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan through re-creation of a northern demonstration and trial orchard with an emphasis on the preservation of cold-hardy, heritage fruit varieties and demonstration of the economic value specialty crops offer small and diversified farming operations in the region. The NEW Duluth Community Heritage Orchard will add to the resources for our community.

Additional Details About Communities Take Root
Edy's Fruit Bars and the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation are on a mission to place fresh fruit orchards in scores of communities across the United States. The Sustainable Agriculture Program is one example of how communities and organizations nationwide are benefiting from Edy's Fruit Bars Communities Take Root program, which offers deserving communities across the country a chance to reap the rewards of their own fresh fruit supply with help from voters nationwide.

Deserving communities with the most votes are receiving a fruit tree orchard that will not only beautify their neighborhood, but also help to strengthen the community and encourage healthy eating.

From revitalizing depressed communities to helping to feed the needy, from vocational training for women's shelters to agriculture-based after school programs, each of the orchard sites represents an enormous opportunity for those that they benefit.

Please visit www.communitiestakeroot.com to vote for other worthy neighborhoods to receive an orchard.

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