Harvest Rhythm

HIgh School Eco Leaders: Fruit Tree TV: Episode #4

2010-03-08T08:49:00.000-08:00

In this episode, Common Vision works with the Environmental Charter High School Students Council. In the morning the Fruit Tree Tour crew trains the high schoolers in tree planting and the art of leading a 'tree group.' In the afternoon, Common Vision and the High school leaders walked together to neighboring elementary school where the high school youth took engaged 100 4th graders in planting an orchard on their campus.

This was one of the most inspiring days in Fruit Tree Tour History.

What an amazing two weeks!

2010-03-05T07:48:00.000-08:00

The first week of Fruit Tree Tour in Santa Cruz, Watsonville, and Fresno was packed with planting and inspiration. Plantings included 3 elementary schools and 4 head start programs.

The second week in Los Angeles has so far been as powerful and impactful as any in Fruit Tree Tour history. On Monday, we work with the Green Ambassadors and Environmental Charter High School where Common Vision served as mentors for 40 high school leaders. After 2 hours of tree planting training, the high schools and the Fruit Tree Tour crew walked to a local elementary school. The high school students then led the tree planting with a group of 100 4th graders. Fruit Tree TV episode on this planting is coming soon.

The last three days have included 3 elementary schools, 1,100 students, and 55 fruit trees planted in Compton and Pacific Palisades.

Here is a slide show with highlights from the from the tour so far.

Step into the Freezer: Fruit Tree TV Episode #3

2010-03-03T22:16:00.000-08:00

Fruit Tree TV: MA Center | Episode #2

2010-02-24T21:04:00.000-08:00

Fruit Tree TV: Episode #1

2010-02-24T17:34:00.000-08:00

Coming Soon ~ Fruti Tree TV

2010-02-23T10:42:00.000-08:00

Best 8-second Interview Ever

2010-02-02T16:48:00.000-08:00

After a planting at a San Francisco Boys and Girls Club in Hunters point, a girl with hands dirty from planting a Pink Lady apple shares her feelings. Wow!

If the flash audio player is not working on your browser you can Click Here .

Century-old fruit trees

2010-01-13T21:11:00.000-08:00

At 3000' in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains there once were gold mining towns of 2,000-4,000 people scattered throughout the hills. These towns had orchards to feed the people apples, pears, plums, cherries, and figs.

100 years later, the people are gone, few structures remain... But scattered throughout the area, hundreds of these trees remain. Today, Michael Flynn had the good fortune to tour the area with Amigo Bob, a long time leader in the organic movement and a dedicated fruit historian.

What does this have to do with Fruit Tree Tour?

We cut scion from these old trees and Common Vision will be propogating hundreds of trees to plant at schools across northern California. From the oldest trees in the United States of these varieties to the youngest fruit tree planters in the state, Common Vision is honored to be a bridge for this history and sweet fruit.

The 100+ year cherry tree with a rainbow behind is one of these grandma trees we climbed today.

Fall Fruit Tree Tour

2009-11-25T16:42:00.000-08:00

Fall Fruit Tree Tour was an epic 8-day journey through Mendocino county. 105 fruit trees in the ground. It began with 2-days of collaboration in Covelo working with the local elementary school, the local high school, and the tribal health center. The journey continued to through Philo, Fort Bragg, Ukiah, and Willits!

San Francicsco Benefit Event - GreenFest After Party

2009-11-15T15:51:00.000-08:00

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 14th, 8pm-4am

AN OFFICIAL GREENFEST 2009 AFTERPARTY
The Regency Ballroom SF, CA

HAMSA LILA
w/ Special Guests: AIRTO MOREIRA
Sitting in as special guest with Hamsa Lila and performing

>>Planetary Pulse - Prayer of the Drum ~ an opening drum ceremony/jam with The Master's of Rhythm featuring Airto & Rasaki

>> Rasaki (King Sunny Ade's talking drum master)

>> LYNX & Janover

>> DJ Jef Stott (6 Degrees Records)

>>DJ Dragonfly

EARLYBIRD TICKETS ON SALE NOW!!!! > Get Tickets
Tickets: $16 earlybird / $22 in advance / $28 day of show / $50 VIP

CO-SPONSORED*** BY: Earthdance Network / 6 Degrees Records / Global Exchange / Harborside Clinic

Ukiah Area Benefit Event!

2009-11-14T08:52:00.000-08:00

Nevada City Benefit Dinner and Music

2009-10-17T18:02:00.000-07:00

North Columbia Schoolhouse ~ Friday October 23

6pm: 4-Course Organic Dinner -menu below- RSVP (includes music) - $60
8pm: Music Youssoupha and Mystic Rhythms - $20

Please join us in celebrating and supporting Fruit Tree Tour 2010. It is only due to the support of the Nevada City community that each year over 10,000 students from low-income schools across California transform their schoolyards into abundant orchards. Let us come together once again to make it possible to send veggie bus loads of inspiration to communities in need.

ORGANIC 4-COURSE DINNER:
Our dear friends Leo and Holly have put together an epic organic 4 course meal featuring some seasonal fruits. Hope to see you there.

• Grilled Fig w/ Chevre and a Balsamic Reduction
• Butternut, Celery Root, and Pink Lady Bisque w/ Ginger and Carmelized Onion Cream Swirl
• Polenta Stack w/ Herbed Canellini Beans, Roasted Chanterelles, and White Wine Braised Greens, topped with a Saffron Cream Sauce, Syrah Reduction, and Pomegranate Arils
• Pear Upside Down Cake w/ Caramel and lavender Whipped Cream

For Reservation email: info@commonvision.org

YOUSSOUPHA & MYSTIC RHYTHMS:
Youssoupha’s musical career began in his home of Senegal, West Africa, where he trained as a Kora player at the National Music Conservatory of Senegal. Since his arrival on the international music circuit, Youssoupha has recorded and performed, with artists such as India Arie, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Midnite, and Matisyahu. He will be performing with his trio, Mystic Rhythms a unique and powerful combination of drum, bass and Kora, jazz, rock, and world music.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

Vital Landscaping is a family owned and operated landscape company in Northern California. The owners have lived in Nevada County with their 2 sons for almost 15 years and wholeheartedly believe in organic living. Now their goal is to bring their knowledge of organics and sustainable farming to not only the local community but worldwide.

Biodiversity is a company built on the knowledge that the population of soil micro-organisms in your soil are what defines your crops health and yield. Biodiversity carries products that create an abundant and diverse soil food web.

Thank You MA Center!

2009-10-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

The residents of the MA Center made tremendous sacrifice to make the "World Leaders in Sustainability" course series possible. Thank you!

Common Vision Benefit Events

2009-10-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

See below for details on each event.

World Leaders in Sustainability

2009-07-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

Common Vision is thrilled to introduce "World Leaders in Sustainability", a series of workshops happening this summer/fall in the East Bay Area. Some of the most esteemed sustainability teachers in the world will be teaching. We’re excited about this educational opportunity. We hope we’ll see you there.

August 10th-14th:
Soil Food Web Intensive with Dr. Elaine Ingham PhD

September 11-13th:
Fruit Forest: Orchard as Ecosystem with "The Apple Grower" Michael Phillips

October 2-4th:
Permaculture Design Intensive with Darren Doherty

> Learn more & register

Runnin' on Veggie! Music Video

2009-05-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

Common Vision’s veggie powered fleet hit the road again this year as an example of one creative alternative to burning fossil fuels. Each vehicle on Fruit Tree Tour covered over 3,800 miles and together, they displaced 1870 gallons of diesel with cleaner, greener recycled Vegetable oil. Here is a music video celebrating the veggie experience, and the team of folks that keep the busses running. We hope you enjoy the music of The Human Revolution.

"Childhood Matters" Radio Features CV

2009-04-27T17:48:00.000-07:00

98.1 KISS FM in the Bay Area featured Megan and Leo on "Childhood Matters" talking about how Fruit Tree Tour was making a difference in the lives of children.

If the flash audio player is not working on your browser you can Click Here .

2009 Performance Eco Hip Hop Finale

2009-04-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

Each day on Fruit Tree Tour Common Vision brings a Green theatre performance that gets students stoked on planting trees in their communities. Here is a snippet from one of our performances at a benefit party in Chico. Over 11,000 students experienced this at their schools this year!

Common Vision on "America in the Morning"

2009-04-16T19:58:00.000-07:00

Common Vision was featured nationally on the "America in the Morning" radio show. We hope that the millions of listeners were in some way moved into service for the planet in their own neighborhoods. Thank you Jan Sluizer for coming out to the planting to share the vision with the country.

Cube Art Comes to Fruit Tree Tour

2009-04-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

A new phenomenon has come to Fruit Tree Tour: Mural Art... Cubed. Kevin Buckland has been working with fellow collaborators to create fabric cubes, each side six square feet, that become the blank canvas for children and adults to express their vision for a sustainable future. The size of the cube represents the volume of Carbon Dioxide released from burning one gallon of gasoline. This premise challenges artists to envision a different world, one where less carbon dioxide is produced and where trees are more abundant. Kevin joined forces with Fruit Tree Tour during our stay in Sacramento and the cube became the main focus of our Expression Session workshop which also encourages the youth to be solution focused, envision the world they want to see, and express it through various forms including art, hip hop, and poetry.

The results were phenomenal, the kids enjoyed it and expressed themselves through some beautiful art while learning about environmental issues and searching for solutions. There was also an opportunity to paint a mural on a wall of Joyce Elementary School during an after-school program. With all this art making the Fruit Tree Tour crew was still excited to work on painting our own cube after long school days and had fun coming together to express our visions. Then Kevin left tour in order to bring the cubes that had been completed to a Sustainability Conference in Portland, Oregon where they were well received. Kevin returned to tour for the last week during our stay in the Bay Area. We expect to see the mural cube on future tours!

Master Drummer Joins Tour!

2009-04-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

We have the great fortune of having with us on tour a Master Drummer from Guinea, West Africa, Aly Diabate. Aly has joined us for the last three weeks of tour to share his culture and music from Guinea in the drum workshop at schools and in drum classes with the crew. We have also incorporated some West African drumming into our performance. A few crew members who have been studying West African drumming are very excited to have a master drummer on tour and other crew members are discovering for the first time the joys of African drumming.

Aly has also gone back to his roots as a dancer for the Ballet African and taught a few dance classes for the crew. Aly was originally a dancer for Les Ballet Africains, the national dance company of the Republic of Guinea, and then began to drum for the ballet. He also has been a drummer for Le Merve de Guinea dance and drum group and toured with these groups through out Europe and the US. Aly also has nine years of experience teaching drumming to kids in New York, Burlington, New Haven, Chicago, and Fort Wayne. Aly is happy to share his culture and music from Africa with people here in America and Common Vision is happy to have Aly on board with his talented drumming, and charming and relaxed personality.

Fresno Community Planting

2009-04-01T16:19:00.000-07:00

While in Fresno we had an awesome community planting at the Boys and Girls Club of Fresno in collaboration with three other local organizations - West Fresno Health Care Coalition, Tree Fresno, and Volunteers for Change, a nonpartisan group of Barack Obama supporters who came together for a Day of Service. In three hours the kids from the Boys and Girls Club, Common Vision Crew, Tree Fresno friends, and Obama supporters were able to transform a weedy overgrown garden into a neat and clean space and plant 14 fruit trees inspired by a soul music soundtrack by dj Jahson and then live West African drumming with master drummer from Guinea, Aly Diabate.

Common Vision on NPR ~ March 2009

2009-03-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

This NPR show on Fruit Tree Tour really captures the magic of the daylong program with the schools. NPR visited Nuview Elementary a school program sponsored by Amway's Nutilite and the One-by-One Campaign.

If the flash audio player is not working on your browser you can Click Here .

Amway's Nutrilite - This company does it all

2009-03-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

Never in the history of Fruit Tree Tour has Common Vision experienced such a thorough collaboration as we have with Amway's Nutrilite and the One by One Campaign. At every step of the way, from contacting schools, organizing program logistics, providing additional trees, and offering long-term orchard care the staff of this amazing company has shown impeccable dedication to their local community. It is through the One by One Campaign that Nutrilite and Amway sponsor and get involve in community events. Since 2003, One By One Campaign has impacted 6 million children through employees and distributors contributing 1 million employee volunteer hours and donating more than $70 million.

Nutrilite, a global company with local roots organized and sponsored 3 schools in Southern California this year. Riverside County’s Nuview Elementary School & Nuview Bridge Early College High School, and Buena Park’s Beatty Elementary School have three new orchards for a collective 70 fruit trees.

Experienced farmers from Nutrilite will work directly with parents and teachers to manage their new orchards, mulch and install drip irrigation. The diverse new orchards at these schools are destined for lots of yummy fruit for years to come. Thank you Nutrilte! If you can't view the below show, click here.

Orchard Care Collaboration

2009-03-15T11:27:00.002-07:00

During our time in LA we spent a Saturday engaged in a day of orchard care continuing the 5-year annual collaboration between Common Vision's traveling caravan and Community Services Unlimited's local nonprofit in South Central LA. Started 30 years ago as a branch of the Black Panthers focused on bringing healthy food to the neighborhood, CSU has been active in South Central building gardens, educating youth and creating community. In 2004 CSU completed a Community Food Assessment that analyzed the socioeconomic factors that led to insufficient accessibility to nutritious food in their neighborhood. Common Vision’s collaboration with CSU began in 2005 when the veggie oil caravan came through and helped to install two schoolyard orchards. The rest is history. . . Find out more in this short film . . . .