ReTreeUS

Join Us in the Orchard! 🌳🍎

Pruning season is here, and we have several workshops this weekend (plus one happening today!). Late winter is the perfect time to care for fruit trees. While they’re dormant, we can shape strong structure, support tree health, and set orchards up for the growing season ahead.

It’s a wonderful time to gather outside and learn together. Come join us in tending to the trees that nourish our communities!

Today, March 13, 12–3 PM
Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop
Teisha’s Orchard, Lewiston
Hosted with and

Tomorrow, March 14, 10 AM–1 PM
Wake Up the Trees – Pruning Workshop & Orchard Work Party
Boyd St Orchard, 58 Boyd St, Portland
Hosted with

Tomorrow, March 14, 1–3 PM
Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop
, 1220 Maine St, Poland
Hosted with the Poland Garden Club

Sunday, March 15, 10:30 AM–12:30 PM
Apple & Peach Pruning Workshop
Burchard A. Dunn School, New Gloucester
Hosted with 207 Permaculture

A foot of snow? No problem! ReTreeUS Community Tree Steward Sean Tomas O’Connell and a group of fourth graders from the Edgecomb Eddy School took the classroom outside, discussing late winter pruning and how students of all ages can care for our trees year-round. Afterwards, O’Connell and Orchard Caretaker Sarah Currier had an in-depth pruning workshop, preparing Edgecomb Eddy’s 12 fruit trees for the growing season.

We had a great time at the “Put the Orchard to Bed” event at Great Salt Bay Community School in Damariscotta last week. Students weeded around the trees, amended the orchard soil with Coast of Maine compost and finished with a blanket of wood chip mulch.

Through doing this the students created a feast for the FBI (fungi, bacterial and invertebrates) and talked about soil ecology including the nutrient cycle and the role of mycelium in tree soils.

Thank you to Orchard Caretaker Hedda Scribner, Mr Sal Azzaretti’s 6th Grade class and our Regional Program Manager, Rachel Lyn Rumson, for coordinating this event!

AND Thank you to the Growing Good program with for generously donating the stellar compost with the help of Damariscotta Hardware. 

Questions about putting your orchard to bed this winter?? Reach out! We love to talk trees!!

Outdoor classroom enthusiasts, mark your calendars for this upcoming FREE Webinar on Thursday November 13th!

Join ReTreeUS and for an interactive session exploring how school orchards and gardens can transform outdoor learning.

Together During the Webinar We Will:
-Explore the benefits and challenges of school orchards
-Share tested best practices for planning, teaching, and sustaining orchard projects
-Connect educators to ready-to-use curriculum resources aligned with NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards
-Create space for reflection and peer learning in break out discussions.

Whether your school already has fruit trees and gardens or you’re just starting to dream of the possibilities, this workshop is for you!

Date: Thursday November 13, 2025
Time: 1:00-2:00pm
Where: Online via Zoom
Register Now (it’s free!) → Link in bio!

From Berkshire Botanical Garden in Western Massachusetts to Indian Township in Northeastern Maine. Spanning the edges of New England in one week to plant trees of fruit, seeds of fruit and support food sovereignty. Let’s go!

Today, the ReTreeUS crew was in Portland, ME, teaming up with our friends at ! Prisca, one of our amazing service members has been working with us and Cultivating Community, and this space has been her home base. We got right to work in the heart of the city at Boyd Street Community Garden and the Edible Arboretum we’re working on here. We planted 4 Asian pears, 4 peaches, 2 mulberries, and 3 Nanking cherries — adding even more fruitful abundance to this community space.