www.commonvision.org
Common Vision arrives at The Alpha Resource Center Monday March 10th. at 1:00 PM to plant fruit trees and do their African drumming ceremony.  The address is 4501 Cathedral Oaks Road about 1/2 mile from Turnpike and Cathedral Oaks. The phone number is 683-2145. Come with tools and help with the planting and join in the fun.  You will also get a chance to meet more of the staff and the clients of the center.

Mapquest link:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&country=US&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&addtohistory=&cat=&address=4501+Cathedral+Oaks+Road&city=Santa+Barbara&state=CA&zipcode =

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  greetings from the road

winter 2008 | issue 5
 
 
Common Vision is happy to announce our unbelievable annual road trip has begun, planting 1000 fruit trees from San Diego to Sacramento with 27 volunteers and the world's largest vegetable oil powered fleet!  Fruit Tree Tour 2008 so far has traveled a collective 10,000 miles on veggie-oil, planted 320 fruit trees, and worked with 4,500 students in San Diego and Los Angeles.

In this letter we are humbled and excited to introduce the volunteers that make this tour happen and to share stories from our orientation and first weeks of tour. Also, you'll meet our new bus, unveiled after months of tireless work, and check out the community plantings near you that are open to your participation.       

We would like to send a very special THANK YOU to the teachers who shared their time and skills with us during this year's orientation: Xylem Maloney, Ian Davidson, Jerry Price, Lauren and Jasmine of CoAction, Joe Sabol, Carrie Staller, and Kat Steele.
 

meet the crew

This year, Common Vision received over 50 applications to join the Fruit Tree Tour 2008 crew.  A magnificent group of 27 got on the bus on the 2nd of February and trained for 2 weeks in drumming, dancing, green theater, how to plant a fruit tree, and how to keep your cool living on a tour bus with 7 other people.  This year's crew has an incredible breadth of talent and includes a native Chumash elder storyteller, a theater intern, 15 returning educators from past tours, and a passion for inspiration that is sure to make this year the most successful tour ever.

> Meet the crew

 
board our newest bio-bus


After a grueling December and January, the pre-tour painting, mechanics, and construction team cast off from the Santa Rosa shop onto Fruit Tree Tour 2008.  Returning veteran volunteer, Jahsun created this music video to introduce the intricate paint job.   The murals share a celebration of farming traditions past, present and future from around the world.  Thank you to the farmers and traditions of earth stewardship that allow us to eat and inspire us to grow food!  If you look closely at the paintings you will see tree planters, and celebrants drawn from the pictures of Fruit Tree Tour participants over the years. The murals on one side of the bus feature peoples from across the world farming their traditional staple crops and the other side of the bus feature urban communities growing food in their neighborhoods.

> Watch the video

 
collaborations
Collaboration with local organizations is a hallmark of  Fruit Tree Tour. This year's tour is abundant with opportunities where Common Vision will support local non-profits in their missions while spreading Fruit Tree Tour inspiration meaningfully into these communities. Check out two upcoming Southern California collaborations and see how Fruit Tree Tour is working with community groups to transform landscapes and build a green movement together.

> Learn more
 

 
getting grafted
 
20 varieties on one fruit tree!

This year's crew was blessed to learn from the enthusiastic Joe Sabel of CalPoly San Luis Obispo and the California Rare Fruit Growers. We studied the art of grafting up to a hundred fruit varieties on a single tree. Fruit Tree Tour facilitators will use these skills to inspire students, develop school fruit tree nurseries, and greatly increase the varieties of fruit growing at each school.         

Check out this wonderfully amusing movie created by Fruit Tree Tour veteran crew member, Brian Flynn. This work of art shows this year's crew grafting 20 different apple varieties on a single tree and learning how to better teach grafting to high school students on this year's tour. Thank you, Joe Sabol!

> Watch the video
 
forward to a friend
 
donate now
 
 plant a tree
 
Dedicate a Fruit Tree Planting

Would you like to dedicate a Fruit Tree Tour tree planting?  We will send a video thank you to the person of your choice, letting them know a tree was planted at an urban school in their honor. Your support makes a big difference in keeping the progam running. Thank you!

> Plant a tree
 
schedule
 
With the growing popularity of Fruit Tree Tour, the largest crew in tour history, and the deepest and most diverse fruit tree spread the tour has ever seen, we have committed to a packed schedule with over 35 schools and 12 community centers. Track the tour and see when we're coming to your community.

> View the calender
 
desert training
 
The Common Vision crew braved the high desert of Joshua Tree to train in the arts of fruit tree planting, green theater, and inspiring the youth of California to care for the Earth. As part of a work trade with the Joshua Tree Retreat Center the crew planted 65 fig, olive, nectarine, pistachio, and pomegranate trees to the beat of ancient planting rhythms. Special Thanks to Lisa Wyatt's amazing photography.

> Check it out
 
organic mechanics
 
Keeping the caravan sailing

The mechanic team is busy most days and nights of the tour gathering grease, maintaining veggie systems, and keeping over 70 tons of vehicle, drum, and crew rolling from school to school.  When an old bus part goes it could be days or weeks before the team can source the part, so they have become masters of "custom modification." In this short video Leo reports on one of these modifications, where years of electric guitar playing inspired a pedal button installation that operates the brake lights and got the caravan back on the road within an hour.

> Watch the video
 
los angeles fruit forest
 
A new LA fruit forest corridor

Last Week, Fruit Tree Tour joined forces with the Green Ambassadors, a group comprised of 60 Los Angeles high school students dedicated to environmental leadership, to plant 70 fruit trees in a school and neighborhood in Lawndale, a Los Angeles neighborhood.  After planting over 30 banana, fig, peach, nectarine, apple, citrus, guava, and avocado trees on the Environmental Charter High School's new campus, the ambassadors and Common Vision tree planters saw another 40 trees into the ground in the surrounding neighborhood.

> Learn more
 
    
 
    
Common Vision: PO Box 2012, Willits CA 95490