Tree of 40 Fruit Workshop To Be Held In New Harmony
A community  workshop will be held from 10 a.m. to Noon on Saturday, April 8. The first 25 participants to arrive will be given their own starter tree.
Sam Van Aken, the artist behind the Tree of 40 Fruit, will be working on the hybrid trees planted in the orchard by New Harmony’s Atheneum. This free workshop is a part of his biannual visits to ensure stability of the two trees.
Anyone who attends will be able to watch Van Aken graft onto the planted trees in New Harmony. Van Aken will lead the workshop and teach how to fuse branches onto an existing tree. The first 25 participants to arrive will be given a small tree that they can graft fruit branches on during the workshop. After the workshop, participants can take their tree home to plant it.
“It is our hope that community members will learn to graft and then take the trees back to their homes and plant them,†said Garry Holstein, director of the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art. “We will be working to reestablish the heirloom fruit varieties to the region.â€
Hands on grafting is limited to those who are 18 and older, but all are welcome to see the process and meet the artist.
About the Tree of 40 Fruit:
The Tree of 40 Fruit is an ongoing series of hybridized fruit trees. Each unique tree grows over 40 different types of stone fruit including peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, cherries and almonds. Every spring, the trees will blossom in multiple tones of pink, crimson and white and in summer, the trees will bear a multitude of fruit. Sculpted through the process of grafting, the process of fusing wood from an existing tree onto a branch of another tree.
This event kicks off a fun day of other activities in New Harmony. If you go:
- The workshop begins at 10 a.m. at the orchard adjacent to the Atheneum.
- The New Harmony Art Stroll is taking place from 4 to 7 p.m.
- The day concludes with an Under the Beams concert featuring Ginkgoa at 7:30 p.m.
