Good morning neighbor! I have good luck overwintering potted trees so I might have some goodies for you as well. I’m all set for what I will graft next spring but I’m already thinking of 2027 where I want to graft more pears. Start thinking of what you might like that I can graft for you. Fireblight resistant cultivars and maybe ones that are better for drying. Middlebury Co-op is are go to grocery store.
NAFEX had a talk this year on how to create community orchards, if youre not a member maybe join up and watch the talk!
https://www.phillyorchards.org/ could be worht reaching out to see how they do it 
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Thank you!
Thank you Johnsgard, you have given me a good amount of material to study. I appreciate it.
Here are the points that I have been using with the hope of getting support to start a community orchard, a commons, for townsfolk and create collective ownership.
#1 Food security. A community orchard could be part of supplying healthy food and food security for townspeople. I believe we need to protect and improve our approach of the production of our food. We need to be more thoughtful of where our food comes from and how it is grown. A community will be more resilient if we take steps to produce more of the food that we eat.
#2 Education. I have enjoyed the tree plantings that I have done with students. I think they benefit from engaging with nature and the planting of trees. Tree planting could be an enjoyable event for students as well as witnessing the plantings over time.
#3 Carbon sequestration. Trees absorb carbon, every tree planted helps. Climate Change is here, we need to do more and tree planting can be part of reducing the damage that we have done.
#4 Building Community. People interact and volunteer with their community in different ways. With this project we have the opportunity of adding diversity to the ways people can be involved in our town.
#5 Exercise. Creating a tree planting with walking paths where people can get enjoyment and exercise as they experience nature would add to the benefits of a community orchard.
#6 Tree Ark. The plantings that I have done I think of as Tree Arks. Plantings that others can benefit from in the future as a source of seeds or cuttings to propagate. When a community has ownership of a tree planting there is greater protection going into the future.
#7 Creating a sense of place. I believe it is important to cultivate a sense of place, a sense of ownership, a commitment to where we live. Most people that grow up in our rural Vermont town have moved away. Fostering a connection to their earlier home will send them off into the world as better citizens. I also hope that being part of a community project will create a desire for former resistants to come home and see the fruits of their labor.
There is an amazing diversity of food producing trees and shrubs, it’s not just apples and pears. I’m harvesting Apples, American Persimmons, Paw Paw, Hazelnut, Chestnuts, Medlar, European and Asian Pear, Buartnut (hybrid butternut), Cornelian Cherry, Sweet and Pie Cherry, Walnuts and Mulberries. In the coming years my Pecans and Pine Nuts might produce. Every year I plant at home something new and over the years I will observe how well they preform. I have failures along the way and have learn what doesn’t do well and what I won’t recommend. I believe that establishing a community orchard in our town will be a great asset. I look for your support and excitement in making it a reality.
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Send in some photos of the area and what you plant. I have limited space. I don’t plant anything I can’t eat.
I tried wildcrafting trees. Deer shredded and killed them all. I never talked to anyone about it. I’m old, time and energy are limited. I work on my own property or sometimes forage, especially for abandoned fruit trees at the beginning of my interest in fruit trees.
Here, lots on YT about it…
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Very commendable of you!
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How do you pack so many trees in 1 acre? Do you keep them small?
The vast majority of our trees are citrus (we are supposedly in USDA Zone 9b). Given our repeated hard freezes here, they end up being pretty small (most less than 4-5’ tall). The February 2021 freeze (we dropped to 9 F) froze them all back to about 12-18” height! Tree spacing is about 6’. Only our peaches, plums, and persimmons are larger and have greater tree spacing.
FYI, here is a photo of a selection of our citrus last December:
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