Heather Ainsley
ECB Publishing, Inc.
On Jan. 20, in observance of Florida Arbor Day, city officials and staff, as well as volunteers from the local community came together to plant eight beautiful new fruit trees, the first of many that will eventually become a public orchard. Members of the community looked on as the trees were carefully nestled into the ground and planted with a mixture of soil and Bio-tone before receiving a generous watering. The future orchard will be a place where members of the Monticello community will be encouraged and welcome to come spend time in the garden, gather fruit and contribute to the health and care of the trees. City officials even hinted at future opportunities for additional park features, including grape arbors, bench seating areas and flower beds for wildflowers.
New Mayor Gloria Cox was the first of several to speak, and she began with a warm welcome to all who came out to observe and help out.
“Good morning everyone,” she exclaimed. “Isn't it a beautiful morning to be out here!? Last year, we were freezing! But we are so thankful for a great day, and for such a great cause. So, we welcome everyone here and we are so excited to launch this orchard, right here in town, in the great city of Monticello. We want to give special thanks to our partners, Jefferson County Health Department, Lee Terzis and the Van Peck family of Tallahassee for providing all of these fruit trees.”
Amidst cheers and clapping from the crowd, Cox welcomed various speakers to address the group.
Kim Albritton, director of the Health Department, spoke first.
“What a wonderful day to be able to have an Arbor Day celebration right here in our very own beautiful Monticello,” she began. “Some of you may think, 'well, why is the health department involved in something like this?' Well, part of one of our jobs is to promote healthy activities and promote health in our citizens, and this is just one such initiative that we have become involved in. Not only are we increasing the built environment here, and improving that in Monticello, we are also increasing access to healthy food options for our residents. And it's not just for one particular population, it's for everyone, and that's the unique thing about this. One of our initiatives is with our Health Equity Plan, and part of that is to increase access to food and this is exactly what this is doing. I do want to thank the City, for their partnership in this. It is so wonderful to have such a great relationship with them like we do. We have worked on numerous initiatives, and this is just one of them. I want to thank Emily for her leadership in this, and I also want to thank our very own Margaret, who is our Preparedness Planner, and who has been very instrumental in spearheading this with her insight. We just appreciate all that everyone has done. I am excited to see these trees grow, and for all of the volunteers that are going to help us nurture these, and to see the fruit come to fruition! It's going to be very exciting, and for years to come, this is going to be a great location for us to all come together and enjoy our built environment.”
From there, the Jefferson County Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent, De'Anthony Price, stepped forward to address the crowd.
“It is a beautiful day,” said Price after introducing himself. “Today is Arbor Day, and the whole purpose of Arbor Day is not only to celebrate all of the benefits that we get from trees, but also to plant trees. So here today, I think we are doing something very beautiful, not only planting trees but also planting fruit trees. Community food systems are very, very, very important. Everybody should have access to food, so the fact that we are here, to really help that issue is a great thing. So always remember, every tree you plant gives shade to someone who doesn't have shelter, and every fruit tree you plant gives food to someone who doesn't have food. My job, as the Agricultural and Natural Resources Extension Agent, is to help educate the community more about those fields. So, I would love if you called me to help plant trees, or garden, or anything at your property.” He finished by encouraging anyone who wished for some help in those areas to reach out to him.
Kim Jones of Florida Georgia Citrus stepped forward to speak next, followed by several volunteers and members of the community, each one taking a turn to speak about the orchard and what its significance for the community would be.
Volunteer Tom Conley offered his sentiment, “I'm glad there's so many people here. This whole project has got me really excited. I love going into small towns and seeing community gardens and how it brings everyone together. I'm just looking forward to helping this thing thrive and bringing everyone together. I do this because of the connection you can make to the Earth and with the soil, and the community involvement. I get a kick out of gardening so I'm happy to help any way I can.”
City Councilman Troy Avera spoke as well.
“I just want to thank everybody for being here today, and I'd like to thank you for doing something that this area is famous for, and that is growing stuff. This citrus will be a wonderful asset to the city, this will be a nice park for it, so thank you all for your efforts. But I'd like to thank you also for the support you've given us, for Monticello being an Arbor City for the last 32 years. We are one of the oldest Arbor Cities in the state of Florida, so thank you all for your support in helping us keep our trees along our streets like we would like to have them.”
Mayor Gloria Cox then introduced City Clerk Emily Anderson to the group, and Anderson spoke about the planning that the city had been undertaking for some time about the unused plot of land, and how swiftly things seemed to come together to make the orchard idea possible. Additionally, she mentioned possible future additions to the orchard, and future amenities for the park including additional landscaping and the installation of irrigation. She finished by reading the traditional proclamation that the council passes each year on Arbor Day.
From there, Vice Mayor Julie Conley offered a finishing statement, saying, “I just want to give a shout out to the city manager and all of the city crew, who got the site prepared and have made this possible. We couldn't have come out here and dug these big holes and brought in the new dirt without their help, so thank you!”
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