Creating Fruit Tree Guilds with The Hershey Company
We welcomed The Hershey Company to our five-acre nature reserve just outside Stratford-Upon-Avon to create fruit tree guilds in our recently planted orchard area.
The 11 employees joined us as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility and also wanted an event to encourage staff communication and teamwork as well as getting offsite to enjoy the outdoors and offer headspace from busy working days in the office.
Their sustainability strategy outlines their intention to make a difference through investing in places where we live, employee engagement and volunteerism with their ‘shared goodness promise’ and we were so please they chose to volunteer with us.
So, what is a fruit tree guild? You may be asking yourself. A fruit tree guild is a technique for creating a supportive, flourishing mini-ecosystem by planting mutually beneficial species around the fruit tree. The Fruit tree guilds planted by The Hershey Group consisted of multiple layers that were made up of climbing plants, shrubs, and edible plants.
Not only will the guilds be a beautiful visibly pleasing accompaniment to our fruit trees, they will also supply us with an array of edibles to grow our own food and it all requires very little maintenance.
We give thanks to the hard working group for all their energy and effort on the day to create a positive change to our Field of Life and for helping to support our charity projects.
Feedback from the day...
“We learned about the environment, gardening and sustainable living and enjoyed spending time in nature with colleagues out of the office”
“It was great to learn about different styles of planting, also a great teambuilding activity”
“It was wonderful to look at active initiatives done to keep the environment as natural as possible and us adapting to them”
“It was great to be outdoors and very hands on which was fun”
If you’re interested in our environmental team building events or would like to come and create fruit tree guilds with us, please contact us today!