Join us in creating a center for teaching and practicing small-scale, organic agriculture and sustainable living

Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop

Date: 02/19/2012 (Sunday)
Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Location: Home Orchard just minutes from South Madison
Cost: $15

Many home fruit growers make the mistake of planting a tree, then neglecting it until it begins to bear fruit. Properly trained and pruned trees will yield high quality fruit much earlier in their lives and live significantly longer. Pruning is most often done during the winter, commonly referred to as dormant pruning. By pruning your fruit trees, you stimulate shoot growth, control the size and shape of the tree, and improve the quality of the fruit. Good pruning and training will also prevent later injury from weak crotches (where a tree trunk splits into two or more branches) that break from the weight of fruit, snow, or ice on the branches. If you have not pruned before, don't worry! It is not difficult, and you'll get a real feel for how to do it in this hands-on workshop. We'll talk first, then put on our coats and head outside to the orchard where you'll practice pruning apple, pear, and cherry trees. There will be plenty of time for questions with the experts and you will leave the workshop with a handout to use as a reference at home. Space is limited so register early!

Instructor:
Sean Gere is the owner of Gere Tree Care Inc., a company that believes in giving back to the community through work for multiple organizations around Madison.

Sean has been an arborist for 20 years, is a 6-time Wisconsin arborist state champion climber, the reigning ArborMaster North American skills competition champion, and a former adjunct professor at Mid-State Technical College. He has traveled the world for 9 years training folks about tree care while also appearing in videos and printed publications.

Sean works with the Madison Permaculture Guild, was a core member of the Madison Fruits and Nuts group, has worked on numerous research projects involving nut trees for WI-DNR, Cornell, UW-Michigan, etc and is the consulting arborist for Sustainable Atwood.

His teaching style can best be described as challenging the student to understand the "why" as opposed to just the "how" in order to take the mystery out of fruit tree pruning.

Event Review:

Meeting new challenges, transforming lives

Fitchburg Fields is a grassroots, non-profit and for-impact organization in Fitchburg, WI, just south of the capital city of Madison. We have a small garden and a big vision, and we invite you to volunteer, learn, and contribute to our efforts!

What we do

Grow the next generation of organic farmers and gardeners.
Create new jobs in the local food sector.
Create community bonds.

Why we do it

Recession is causing unemployment and hunger.
Peaking oil supplies necessitate a low-fuel food system.
Global climate change necessitates a low-carbon food system.

How we do it

Teach in our garden.
Teach in community kitchens and homes.
Support the community with food and information.

"A Teaching and Sharing Garden"

Our Garden, 4000 sq. ft. of fertility at the SE corner of Lacy Rd. and Fahey Glen in Fitchburg, WI, is a small plot of borrowed land, but we are enthusiastically using it to teach and learn how to create a local food system in the Madison area. (Click here for map.) We hope to "scale up" our experiences when we purchase a 250-acre parcel just 2 miles away – but that will take a lot of help! (Read about our vision, and see the land that could become a center for sustainable agriculture and living by clicking here.)