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Last week, students at The Athenian School shoveled soil for a good cause. In partnership with The Urban Farmers, volunteers created a campus fruit orchard that will benefit the Contra Costa Food Bank.
Students developed the orchard on a slope next to the school’s baseball field with approximately 125 trees. The apples, pears, persimmons and olives from the trees will be collected throughout the year by students and Urban Farmers volunteers.
Led by social studies teacher Matt Zahner, Athenian’s finance and operations director Bob Oxenburgh and UF’s Siamack Sioshansi, volunteers planted terracing, built gopher cages and erected a deer fence to prepare the orchard site.
The orchard will also bring lessons to life. Last fall, Matt Zahner’s seventh grade social studies class harvested 966 pounds of olives and produced olive oil as part of its study of Greek history.
The orchard project is the school’s latest environmental/community service initiatives and confirms research that one of the best ways to combat hunger in urban areas is to grow more local food.
Way to go Athenian!!! The Urban Framer is a wonderful organization and we’re so happy that the school is not only educating its students but helping the community as well!
Olives? Shouldn’t it be something you can pick distribute and eat ?
Didn’t Athenian ruin a beautiful scenic hillside by putting giant solar panels on it? Hideous!
Why don’t you guys plant some trees in front of that so we don’t have to look at it?
Ah, yes — and by contrast, the sights and sounds, and especially the natural bouquet of an oil refinery appeals to ALL the senses! Please, dear Athenians, won’t you consider putting-up a little refinery, or at least one of those grasshopper pumps, next time?
Cardinal,
There’s no reason to build anything that ruins the scenic beauty of a state park.
It’s Athenian’s property, so they have the right to do it if they choose. But why not be a good neighbor and hide it behind some trees?