The Malden Court Community Orchard
"Together We Can"
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About the Malden Court Community Orchard (MCCO)The MCCO began as an idea from community members that reside in the Lents neighborhood. A parcel of land just off the corner of SE 87th Ave and Flavel, right on the Springwater Corridor bike trail, is a notorious trash dumping sight. Dissatisfied with the conditions of the land and the context surrounding its use, the community members attended neighborhood association meetings expressing a desire to build a space more suitable for the community. As discussions evolved, members of Green Lents and the Lents community bore the idea of renovating the land and creating a community orchard. After receiving approval from Green Lents board members, Green Lents adopted the project.
Green LentsGreen Lents is a nonprofit that started in 2009. They promote community sharing and environmentally safe practices around the Lents neighborhood. Green Lents currently operates a tool library, the Malden Court Community Orchard, a pollinator habitat, and various watershed projects. In 2011, they received a 501-c-3 to better support these projects.
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Mission StatementTo create and maintain a community orchard that reflects the needs, desires and dreams of our diverse community.
GoalsGrowing Food & Harvesting
Building Community & Collaboration Creating Learning & Skill Building Opportunities Improving Watershed Health Sharing Abundance My Goals
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Reflection
Before moving to Oregon, I had little to no idea what permaculture was and how a community orchard could benefit the community. I have always held a desire to help people and their communities, but never knew where I fit in. When I was introduced to the orchard project, I felt an instant connection. My own life and the neighborhood of Lents held many common threads.
The Malden Court Community Orchard (MCCO) is located in what many consider a food desert, with limited access to healthy fruits and vegetables. The neighborhood is overwhelmed by fast food and convenience stores. Food deserts are often located in lower socioeconomic communities. This may be a correlation to why Lents has some of the highest rates of diabetes in Portland. Despite having access to healthy food, I grew up in a household where fast food and precooked meals were often the main course. My family never talked about it, but I know now that the unhealthy eating habits of my household contributed to my father's diabetes and his death at the age of fifty-seven.
The Lents neighborhood also has some of the highest crime rates in Portland. Nicknamed the felony flats, the MCCO is located in an area known for prostitution and drug use. Subject to the gentrification of Portland, the Lents community and SE Portland all-together has become one of the most ethnically diverse areas in Portland. While previously rich ethnic communities such as the Alberta district and North Portland continue to cater to the wants of Portland’s growing middle class, many families struggle to keep up with rising rent cost and are forced east, to the underdeveloped and poorer communities. Relating to this notion of being pushed out, I have experienced the metaphorical parallel of this concept in my heart. After making some bad life choices, I experienced feeling pushed out of the community I grew up in. Change in my life eventually came from a community that met me right where I was at. This is what I see the MCCO doing in the Lents neighborhood.
The orchard has been inviting and inclusive to all their neighbors. Whether a community member has a good job, no job, a nice house, or no house, I have witnessed this project welcome all members of the Lents community. We have gone from a few to many, now averaging fifty guest at each work party. The lot the orchard is built on, is being transformed from a trash dumping site, to a parcel of land that will boast a riparian meadow, beautiful fruit and nut trees, and multiple varieties of berries and fruits. The permaculture theme of the MCCO is a semi-self-sufficient model of urban food forestry that will produce healthy food and a safe community space for neighbors to gather in. My experience with the MCCO has been one of growth, both on the personal and community level.
The Malden Court Community Orchard (MCCO) is located in what many consider a food desert, with limited access to healthy fruits and vegetables. The neighborhood is overwhelmed by fast food and convenience stores. Food deserts are often located in lower socioeconomic communities. This may be a correlation to why Lents has some of the highest rates of diabetes in Portland. Despite having access to healthy food, I grew up in a household where fast food and precooked meals were often the main course. My family never talked about it, but I know now that the unhealthy eating habits of my household contributed to my father's diabetes and his death at the age of fifty-seven.
The Lents neighborhood also has some of the highest crime rates in Portland. Nicknamed the felony flats, the MCCO is located in an area known for prostitution and drug use. Subject to the gentrification of Portland, the Lents community and SE Portland all-together has become one of the most ethnically diverse areas in Portland. While previously rich ethnic communities such as the Alberta district and North Portland continue to cater to the wants of Portland’s growing middle class, many families struggle to keep up with rising rent cost and are forced east, to the underdeveloped and poorer communities. Relating to this notion of being pushed out, I have experienced the metaphorical parallel of this concept in my heart. After making some bad life choices, I experienced feeling pushed out of the community I grew up in. Change in my life eventually came from a community that met me right where I was at. This is what I see the MCCO doing in the Lents neighborhood.
The orchard has been inviting and inclusive to all their neighbors. Whether a community member has a good job, no job, a nice house, or no house, I have witnessed this project welcome all members of the Lents community. We have gone from a few to many, now averaging fifty guest at each work party. The lot the orchard is built on, is being transformed from a trash dumping site, to a parcel of land that will boast a riparian meadow, beautiful fruit and nut trees, and multiple varieties of berries and fruits. The permaculture theme of the MCCO is a semi-self-sufficient model of urban food forestry that will produce healthy food and a safe community space for neighbors to gather in. My experience with the MCCO has been one of growth, both on the personal and community level.