In the future, if 100 year old you was able to cut off an arm and grow a completely new, young and rejuvenated you to roam the Earth for another 100 years would you choose to do it? I know I would! Unfortunately, human somatic cells do not have the inherent ability to de-differentiate and re-differentiate in order to produce a whole new human being. However, most plants can undergo this process and an entirely new plant can be grown from just a small fraction of its predecessor. The propagated plant would hold the same genetic makeup, be an exact clone of the original, and retain all of its original heritable traits! In this context, a plant could technically live forever given the right conditions and management.

Gambier Island, a beautiful off the grid island just shy of the B.C. coast is home to several 100 year old heritage apple trees that were once part of a healthy, fruitful, and functioning apple orchard. The apple orchard dates back to the early 1800’s when apples were grown by farmers for commercial use, contributing to food security for the residents of the island by offering a source of food and income (Sea Ranch History, n.d.). Today, most inhabitants on the island are seasonal, part-time residents with the 330-acre apple orchard having been partitioned among 66 lots. Of these lots, 300 acres are shared among the Gambier Island Sea Ranch (GISR), a Strata community situated on an ocean-front acreage consisting of shared orchards, gardens, and livestock. In collaboration with members of the GISR and the Land and Food Systems faculty, five students in LFS 350 have the pleasure to engage in a Community Based Experiential Learning (CBEL) project with a focus on Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) and play a part in helping to rejuvenate this historical apple orchard. Our aim, as a collaborative team, is to propagate and graft the already existing apple tree scions (young branches) onto a healthy rootstock and plant these grafted seedlings in designated spots throughout the island. We will also document the grafting and planting process, making it available to all residents of the island as a means to offer knowledge for them to perform the tasks themselves in the near or distant future. Information as to the maintenance of the apple seedlings (fertilization, watering, weed and deer control) will be researched and also provided to residents to ensure well-rounded information is available in order to maintain a successful and sustainable apple orchard. If we are successful in grafting the seedlings and with the continued involvement of the GISR community, the heritage apple trees will continue to thrive and produce apples for many more years to come!

Rosalie Boulter and David Darvill are members of the GISR with a vision to enhance this multigenerational island community and are dedicated to preserving the heritage orchard. We LFS 350 students share this vision and, with the aid of both Rosalie and David, we aim to help develop and rejuvenate the apple orchard by offering our collective skills and knowledge as students from UBC with a focus on building upon what assets the island and its community already possess. Working alongside members of this community we aim to shadow their values of thoughtful stewardship while at the same time respecting their cultural diversity and being accountable and responsible for our own actions.

In a Ted Talk titled “Shut Up & Listen,” Ernesto Sirolli speaks of certain successes and failures throughout his ongoing career as a stakeholder in many NGO projects aimed to help communities around the globe. He states that the main factor that distinguished success strategies from failure was simply listening to the people who were a part of the community and not simply trying to implement change. It is the members of the GISR community that know what’s best and by taking an Asset Based Community Development approach we will thrive to focus on what they already know, build on what they already have by developing on their assets. By following these guidelines we aim for this project to be a success!

Rosalie and David already have a vision to enhance the beautiful apple orchard on Gambier Island and we are very pleased to offer our collaborative skills to help build upon what this passionate, dedicated, and culturally diverse community has envisioned for themselves. By the end of this project, our team of LFS 350 students will have gained great knowledge in the science behind grafting apple trees with the help of UBC professor Dr. McArthur, a talented horticulturalist and wine connoisseur. We also aim to have increased food literacy among the GISR community members by passing on this knowledge for future generations. This will allow them to perform the same tasks and be able to maintain a healthy apple orchard further enhancing their food security.

We have only just passed the starting line of this project, but after doing some research about the GISR and talking with both Rosalie and David we are all very excited and look forward to working within the community and engaging in this community based experiential learning project! Please join us on our journey and keep an eye out for our next blog post coming out February 12, 2016.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

References

Mathie, A., & Cunningham, G. (2003). From clients to citizens: Asset-based Community Development as a strategy for community-driven development. Development in Practice, 13(5), 474–486.

Sirolli, E. (2012) Ted Talk: Shut Up and Listen. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/chXsLtHqfdM

Sea Ranch history: About. (n.d.). Retrieved from Gambier Island Sea Ranch website: http://searanch.ca/about/