Since 2012, Lawrence Fruit Tree Project has been sharing the fruits of its labor — from pawpaws to persimmons — with the local community.
As its late summer harvest comes to a close, the LFTP team is celebrating the season’s bounty with a Fall Party, being held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 29.
The Fall Party will be hosted at the Lawrence Community Orchard, the project’s main hub of activity at 830 Garfield St. Among the rows of more than 30 species of fruit trees, attendees will enjoy games, potluck dishes, hand-pressed apple cider and live music from acoustic band Megafauna.
Skyler Adamson is co-founder and coordinator of the project, which is under the umbrella of the nonprofit Sunrise Project. He says the premise of his work is simple: Plant trees, eat fresh fruit and make friends along the way.
“If you have a tree that’s loaded with fruit and it’s in the public domain, it becomes a little hub for meeting strangers. I experience that all the time,” Adamson says. “I’ve been tending this orchard for 13 years. I’ve met a ton of people and seen a lot of young people grow in their knowledge about plants.”
Beyond the community orchard, LFTP helps other local partners to plant and maintain their own. The project has brought the joy of fruit to community organizations such as the Lawrence Public Library and Home Works USA, a village-style transition home for young adults who have aged out of the foster system.
“It’s a lot of fun when people get that ‘aha’ moment when they understand how to plant and care for their trees better,” Adamson says. “There’s a special type of joy that everybody can have when experiencing an orchard or garden.”
One of the stars of the Lawrence Community Orchard is its forest of pawpaw trees. The pawpaw is the only tropical fruit native to Kansas, with a taste that’s often described as banana-mango custard. Some of the orchard’s other fall-harvest fruits include persimmons, which have flavor notes of honey and cinnamon; amber autumn berries, which are tart and zingy; and jujubes, which have a syrupy taste and apple-like texture.
After more than a decade of growing these varieties, Adamson has noticed how the changing climate has impacted the amount and timing of harvests.
“Our fruit season is winding down much faster than normal this year,” he says. “There won’t be any left, more or less, by the time September is over. If people want to experience taste-testing with some ripe fruit, try to come down here quick.”
The Lawrence Community Orchard is free and open to the public for anyone who wants to come pick fruit. The LFTP team also encourages people to get involved at its volunteer workdays.
“We’ll have volunteer opportunities into November, generally on Monday evenings starting at about 6 p.m. Our people will be here, so anybody can show up and help do maintenance,” Adamson says. “We’ll do the same thing for a few hours on one or two Saturdays a month, and especially around March, there are special events when volunteers can help us do planting in other parts of the city.”
The LFTP operating budget comes from grants, donations and fundraisers.
The team is hosting a pie auction fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 12 from noon to 3 p.m. at the Sunrise Project headquarters, 1501 Learnard St. People can also donate directly via the Sunrise Project website. Follow the project on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with its work.
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Jordan Winter (she/her), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since August 2021, is a 2019 KU grad with degrees in journalism and political science.
Check out her work at jrdnwntr.com. See more of her work for the Times here.
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