Putting down roots for the future

This fall, Dallas ISD has been planting for education and for the community as almost 100 fruit trees are setting roots in two separate orchards at the STEM Environmental Education Center and at Seagoville High School.

Seagoville students participated in the Urban Orchard Planting sponsored by Dollar General and GROW North Texas. Thanks to the partnership, 50 trees and bushes were planted on the campus grounds, and when they mature and bear fruit, the food will be given back to the Seagoville community during the school’s monthly food drives.

Similarly, the food harvested from the 40 trees planted at the environmental center with the help of Sunset High School students and GROW North Texas volunteers will benefit local food banks, district resource centers and the environmental center’s animals.

“We are planting the orchard to use for instructional purposes,” said Mark Broughton, director of the environmental center. “For example, we will use the orchard to provide students with opportunities to investigate and explain how producers can make their own food using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide through the cycling of matter.”

Among the trees planted at the environmental center are peach, jujube, Asian pear, European pear, persimmon, pomegranate, elderberry, fig, agarita, mulberry, nectarine, plum, pawpaw, goumi berry, and blackberry. The trees will take approximately three years to mature.