Paper short abstract:

The Bloomington Community Orchard is a community building project founded in Indiana, USA, in 2010. Sustainability and food security are prominent in the design of the Orchard, while aesthetics, ritual, and creative expression inform the vision of resilient community (writ large and small).

Paper long abstract:

Bloomington's Community Orchard, in Indiana, USA, began as an idea in the mind of Amy Countryman, an undergraduate student at Indiana University. The idea was brought to the City of Bloomington, where it was supported. Through the enthusiasm of volunteers and grants received, the Orchard is being shaped into existence by a broad array of participants. While the ethos of sustainability and local food security are prominent in the design and manifestation of the Orchard, aesthetics, ritual, and creative expression inform the vision of resilient community (writ small and large). From the spring of 2010 through 2012, I conducted observer-participant fieldwork at the Orchard. I also interviewed key players who took part in the early stages of creating the vision for the Orchard, designing the layout of where trees would be planted, how the work would be implemented, and how the various skills, talents, and energy of volunteers could be engaged to create a site that would become a sustainable orchard providing fruit for Bloomington community members for years to come, and providing a template for others who might want to emulate the project elsewhere. The implementation of the work has been carried out in a deeply communal process that reflects other gardening trends in Bloomington, Indiana, and further afield. In a time of environmental crisis, political tensions, and world unrest, the orchardists of the Bloomington Community Orchard are quietly responding collectively and individually, with an eye towards community present and local, as well as global and imagined.