ProvidenceMA Ministries: A Vision for Kate’s Kitchen Holyoke, 2014 A Vision For Kate’s Kitchen
2014
Thank you to.... Our Clients:
Our Sponsors and Collaborators: The Wauregan The City of Holyoke Jeff Dawson Andrew Faust Maria Salgado-Cartagena Maurice Taylor Jade Alicandro Mace Tom Silliman Mike Nord Alejandra Maya 2014 FEAST Alumnae and ...
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Providence Ministries: A Vision For Kate’s Kitchen
Table of Contents 1. About Permaculture FEAST 2. What People are saying 3. Teaching Team and philosophy 4. Teaching Team continued 5. FEAST in the classroom 6. FEAST out of the classroom 7.Teachers Perspective: Water in the Landscape 8. Teachers Perspective: The Power of the Permabliz 9. Design Application 10 -11. 2014 Design Client: Providence Ministries 12 . Design Goals 13-15. Site Analysis and Assessment 16 -23. Design Alternatives and Details 24. Permaculture Design Client Presentations 25. Open Gallery Party 26. Next Steps
image credit David Holmgren
The teaching team would like to say a special thank you to Alejandra Maya and Maurice Taylor for use of their photographs, Amy Jeffrey Dawson is an ecological designer and 2014 graduate of The Conway School of Landscape Design where he received an MS in Ecological Design. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic, where he studied social movement strategies, education, and writing. Jeffrey is passionate about engaging people with the landscapes they live with and exploring ways to connect people to places and their stories. Jeffrey is an active participant in the Bay State Village Association, a neighborhood organization that works to build a sense of community and desirable place to live. He also coordinates efforts with the Mill River Greenway Initiative to activate and promote recreational opportunities along the river in Bay State Village. Jeffrey endeavors to integrate people and places in meaningful ways that balance interaction and integrity. His two children are the sixth generation to live in their home in Northampton, MA.
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Permaculture mimics ecology to design systems that meet human needs while promoting health and equity
About Permaculture for Ecological and Social Transformation: We believe that a just-healthy world is possible. That we can meet human needs of food, energy, shelter, purpose and companionship without destroying the earth or each other in the process. Permaculture, which is based on indigenous knowledge and principles of ecology, gives us a pathway to engage in that work. To say this is what we want, this is what a socially just ecologically regenerative world could look like and here are some tools to design and build it. We offer a yearly weekend permaculture design certification course in Holyoke, MA that moves from principles and patterns to details in a supportive, respectful and collaborative atmosphere to promote rapid learning of whole systems design. The course centers around experiential learning and hands-on skill building, including local field trips where we will see theory in action. The course concludes with participants completing a permaculture design for a real world client. For more information contact us at www.permaculturefeast.org or visit us on facebook
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“After the course, we were able to immediately apply the skills and knowledge we learned ” 2011 FEAST Alumni
“This course changed my life” 2014 FEAST Alumni
“This course gave me a hopeful picture of what kind of world is possible, and the role I can play in making it happen” Receive a 2014 FEAST Alumni Permaculture Design
Certification for 90 hours of
inspiring and life changing fun
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Providence Ministries: A Vision For Kate’s Kitchen
About US
Teaching Team
Permaculture FEAST uses an innovative collective team based teaching approach. We focus on participatory learning and use permaculture principles, as well as critical thinking in our teaching pedagogy.
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Lisa DePiano, MRP is grounded at the intersections of public art, economic development, participatory design and social justice. Coming to Permaculture from a background as a community organizer working against Mountain Top Removal and for global justice she sees permaculture as a tool to create solutions based visions for the world we know is possible. She is a certified permaculture designer/ teacher, and faculty member for the Yestermorrow Design/ Build School, the University of Massachusetts and a research fellow at the MIT Media Lab. She has extensive experience in regional planning and worker cooperative development including co-founding the Montview Neighborhood Farm, one of the first worker-run human powered urban-farm and edible forest gardens in the country and establishing the bicycle powered compost program while riding with the worker-owned collective Pedal People. For the last 15 years she has taught permaculture to hundreds of students in dozens of courses in the United States and abroad. She runs the Mobile Design Lab which specializes in participatory permaculture design and installation and serves as a board member for the Permaculture Institute of the Northeast.
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Jonathan has been learning, thinking and teaching ecologically for two decades. He’s co-created dozens of thriving farms and gardens in the CT River Valley. He helped start and is a board member of the Apios Institute, is a farmer with Nuestras Raices, Inc., and contributing author of the award winning book “Paradise Lot: Two Plant Geeks, One-Tenth of an Acre, and the Making of an Edible Garden Oasis in the City”. Additionally he is a founder and design teacher with Permaculture FEAST. Jonathan loves sharing his passion for life with friends and family, and working with folks to better the world we live in. You can learn more about him, and his regenerative business at FoodForestFarm.com
Javiera Benavente is an artist, popular educator and cultural organizer who has been organizing around a variety of social justice issues for over two decades. A movement-based performance maker and storyteller, Javiera is interested in the relationship between physical movement, intuitive ways of knowing and creative expression. She received her theater training at Double Edge Theatre, where she also worked as an associate artist creating performances, touring and training students. She is currently a cultural organizer with the Arts & Democracy Project and a worker-owner at Food for Thought Books Collective, a not-for-profit collectively-run bookstore in Amherst, Mass. She is originally from Santiago, Chile and lives in Holyoke, Mass. Cynthia Espinosa prior to enrolling in AUNE to study environmental education, Cynthia worked at Nuestras Raices, Inc on Holyoke, Massachusetts, as the Farm Program Manager, where she discovered her passion for educating the community about food justice movements, gardening, and Latino cultural connections to food. She designed her B.A. in Sustainable Food Management at University of Massachusetts Amherst and was highly involved in the empowerment of women in higher education through Greek life. She enjoys learning about the food systems and traditions of other cultures through cooking. Her passion lies in empowerment of the community through food and environmental projects in Holyoke, MA. Her ultimate goal is to teach at a community college part-time and run a self-sustaining farm with permaculture gardens and principles.
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FEAST In... This class involves lectures and design time where we get to learn the techniques and principles of permaculture and then apply them to a real world design projects.
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The course covers: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Permaculture principles & ethics Reading the Landscape Understanding Natural Cycles Urban Homesteading Forest Gardening Water Harvesting Soil Regeneration Creative Waste Cycling Micro-livestock Energy & Building Systems Social Justice Food Systems Planning Cooperative Economics Design for Climate Change Community Building Aquaculture Soil Regeneration & Land Restoration Design Projects, Methods, & Tools
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FEAST Out... The class tours various sites that embody permaculture principles. The sites are located throughout the Pioneer Valley, from Holyoke’s urban core to sprawling green country hills. The best way to really get Pemaculture is to experience a permaculture site. Actually getting out and seeing, smelling, tasting and experiencing the principles in action. To see what it looks like to catch, store and sink water in a landscape to restore our precious aquifers and re-seed rain clouds.
We learn both what is working and what would be done differently, directly from the designers and care takers of these sites •
Paradise Lot, featured in the books Edible Forest Gardens, and Paradise Lot with 2oo species of edible and useful plants, a bioshelter and nursery business
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Wildside Gardens, a rural homesite with green roofs, swales, passive and active solar design, rice paddies and a nut grove
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Nuestras Raices, an urban community farm, with farm based business incubators and cultural programing
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Mobile Design Lab, a suburban site with a tiny off grid house, outdoor rainwater shower, and hugelkultur beds
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Teachers Perspective: Water in the Landscape One spring day, I watched as a downpour of rain collected and careened down the neighbors’ roof, puddling in our yard, some soaking into the ground, a lot more running away. I thought that with some simple materials I could redirect that water and use it in our garden. It took some searching, but within weeks I had all the parts I needed: old plastic gutters found in someone’s trash, and a fifty-five gallon drum picked up at a local salsa factory. Free materials bound for the landfill, refashioned to collect life-giving water for our garden. Water, to be borrowed from the neighbors’ could now be used in our garden. Along with collecting water in containers, we also conserve water by building thick, rich, mulched garden beds. The mulch suppresses weeds, and as it rots down, builds soil. Over time earthworms have multiplied by the millions and have turned our garden beds to little hills of worm poop. The worm poop is crumbly, allowing air to move down to plant roots. Worm castings are filled with a diversity of life, stabilizing and enhancing soil chemistry. This fluffy, diverse matrix has amazing water holding capacity. Along with the mushrooms that thrive in this matrix, the soil transforms into a resilient water battery. I try to remember that water is a borrowed element. It has been moving through our environment and our bodies for billions of years. We can either ignore how humans are part of this cycle, and flush water away, or we can slow it, spread it, sink it, using it as it moves through our landscapes and lives. - Jonathan Bates
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Teachers Perspective: The Power of the Permablitz I like to say that a Permablitz is like a flash-mob only tastier. Years later you get to come back to a site you blitzed and literally taste the fruit of your labor, see how it has grown and changed and know that your are a part of that. It is an important tool in social permaculture, as it illustrates the power of doing things collectively that if done individually would take longer, and not be nearly as fun. You get to feel what it means that the whole is really more than the sum of its parts. I love the moment at a blitz where everything just clicks and everyone is buzzing around like honeybees finding their niche and having a blast while doing it. The Permabltiz is not new concepts but is based on traditional community work parties where people come together for mutual aid like the Amish “Barn Raising”, the English “Rearings” and the Cherokee Nation’s “Gadugi”. Permablitz (noun): An informal gathering involving a day on which a group of at least two people come together to achieve the following: • • • •
create or add to edible gardens where someone lives share skills related to permaculture and sustainable living build community networks have fun
The course gets to do a permablitz to learn how to lift the design off the paper and practice or hone certain key skills. You get to work with your hands as well as use social skills of how to work collectively in a group setting. Depending on the site you will practice planting, water catchment, building compost piles and natural building. It also illustrates the permaculture principle of multiple functions. Not only are you transforming your yard into a permaculture paradise but community members are getting to know each other, building trust and skills. -Lisa DePiano
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Design Application Work on real world client-based projects. Students engage with a client to generate permaculture designs where they get to apply the theory, permaculture principles, and techniques they have been learning in and outside the classroom. They can do a community project in Holyoke, or choose a site of their own that they bring to the class. Together in small design teams they navigate the multi-layered design process in a creative and supportive environment. Our students have worked at institutional as well as homestead and farm scales. Permaculture as a design system can work in any scale. We use ecological principles and a design process that focuses on building relationships between existing on-site resources. We then reccommend simple yet powerful design interventions, often in phases, that lead the site to regeneration, abundance and back into ecological and social harmony. diagram by Ethan Roland
“FEAST was able to show me many untapped resources and helped me to see our site with new eyes,� 2013 design client
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Fall 2014 Client, Providence Ministries: is a non-profit organization located in Holyoke, MA. The organization was founded by the Sisters of Providence in 1980. The organization’s mission is to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and clothe anyone who needs it.
The site is home to the following programs and partners:
Broderick House a Single Room Occupancy supportive, sober living environment for low income men and women.
Nuestras Raices a community garden site
Loreto House & Kates Kitchen a 24 hour transitional housing site for homeless men Kates Kitchen serves a noontime meal to anyone no questions asked 365 days a year. Kate’s also offers a brown bag supper on Wednesdays from 5-6 pm.
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The property historically was a convent and church. The church site became the current garden operated by Nuestras Raices, while the convent became a school, then went through a series of miscellaneous uses until being utilized by Providence Ministries after the loss of their prior building 15 years ago (1999) due to fire damage. The property is diverse in function and purpose. The main building that this assessment will focus on serves as a soup kitchen known as Kate’s Kitchen for those in need, serving lunch daily at no fee with no questions asked 365 days a year, nonstop, since 24 December 1980. In 2013, Kate’s Kitchen served 60,000 lunches. Recently the Kitchen has been serving one brown bagged dinner per week, with aspirations to reach 3-5 dinners per week to accommodate families that cannot make the lunch, served from 12-2pm. The structure itself hosts multiple facets of Providence Ministries, with the upper floor being used as housing for men who have been homeless and are getting back on their feet. The central floor serves as the administrative offices, while the lower level is Kate’s Kitchen. The basement currently is under construction and hosts a group known as Foodworks, which is a culinary school that gives life skills to people in need, with the goal of a living wage, and a better life. The site occupies the entire city block; however the address is 51 Hamilton Street, Holyoke, Mass. The site is bordered to the southeast by South East Street, to the northeast by Cabot Street, to the northweast by Clemente Street, and to the Southwest by Hamilton street. The site is 1.9 acres in size, with 1.1 acres of that being under impervious surfacing, such as asphalt, building envelopes, or concrete. The southeast border is 433’, the northeast is 235’, the northwest is 442’, and the southwest is 145’ in length.
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Design Goals 1. Improve site accessibility, parking and flow
Design goals help to focus our site analysis work. It also anchors the design with keywords that we can refer back to as we move through the design process. These keywords serve as touchstones to keep us on track as we craft design solutions. We incorporate the permaculture design principles and ethics in our process to create mutually beneficial relationships between elements on the site. This includes a design that works both for the users of the site, the environment and the larger economy.
2. Catch, store, and sink rainwater on-site
3. Create outdoor gathering spaces
4. Generate a sense of place, ownership, and security
We focus on the function of what we want rather than the form itself. This lets us be more creative and open to the myriad of possibilities.
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Site Visit
The class visits the site, meets and engages with the clients, stakeholders, and teachers to begin compiling the site assessment and analysis.
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Assessment and Analysis Students continue to work independently, in small groups, and class wide to discuss and discern the client’s project goals and complete assessment and analysis of the site. Students present their findings to the class and instructors for feedback and rapid, comprehensive understanding with many eyes on the same site. Students learn an effective site analysis tool using the “scales of permanence” to isolate data to better understand what is going on. We then put it back together with a deeper sense of what is happening on the site, so what does it mean and now what are we going to do with it. Some of the data layers that we use include : landform, drainage, access, circulation, zones of use, micro-climates, vegetation, and wildlife, land use history, sense of place and buildings and infrastructure.
Some conclusions from the site assessment and analysis at Providence Ministries include: Infiltrate the over one acre of impervious (paved) surface. Capitalize on over 1,200 ft of sidewalk frontage. Promote biodiversity, invasive species are present. Plan for specific high volume times. Safety and security are always critical. Respect and privacy for residents. Lots of unused landscape. Create safer parking lot.
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Summary Analysis • • •
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Hardscape
Pavement dominates the landscape, with over one acre of paved area. A lack of signs makes it difficult to clearly navigate the site. There are not clearly defined areas or barriers that separate pedestrians and vehicles.
Analysis Map
Neighbors
Neighboring buildings create a “fishbowl” effect, diminishing a sense of privacy. The Loretto House faces the popular Vega Park
Frontage
There is 1,200 feet of sidewalk frontage, almost a quarter of a mile. Bags hang from the fence, providing a place for recyclaables to be collected.
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LEGEND Impervious Surface Sidewalk Frontage
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Student Design Concepts Kate's Commons
Design Goals: • “Hands in the dirt” work opportunities for residents. • Adequate parking and boundary markers to both welcome the public and also maintain staff and client privacy and security. • An integrated site with a shared sense of community space amongst it’s many stakeholders.
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Park In The Lot
Design Goals: • Improve site accessibility, parking and the flow of vehicular traffic. • Provide opportunities for outdoor recreation and relaxation. • Create a welcoming and beautiful environment that encourages wildlife and provides opportunities to experience the natural world. • Generate a sense of place, ownership, and security in the surrounding community.
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Waste Not, Want Not
Design Goals: • Prevent runoff from contributing to CSO (combine sewer overflow) using swales. • Prevent excess nutrient runoff from gardens from entering waterways. • Grow native pollinator plants and living mulch/bioacccumulators for Nuestras Raices gardens to improve soil fertility and productivity. • Grow medicinal herbs for men and women recovering from addiction. • Facilitate positive interactions between residents, gardeners and neighbors and beautify underutilized space.
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A Place for All
Design Goals: • Catch, store, and sink rainwater on-site • Improving the visitor experience. • Creating outdoor waiting/gathering spaces. • Storage space.
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Student Design Details Social Providing meaningful gathering space for residents and visitors was a recurring theme throughout the design alternatives. Many of the residents are skilled in various trades and the idea of getting hands in the dirt seemed to be important. In these cases hands on the hammer might be more appropriate. The design to the right also incorporate reusing items such as the tires for swing seats and barrels for rain storage.
This design uses an ancient Japanese technique called Shou Sugi Ban. This technique chars lumber such as cedar and finishes it with a natural oils to preserve and fireproof the wood and reduce the need for paints and other forms of siding.
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Infiltration
Bioswales are defined by Merriam Webster Online Dictionary as, ”A long, channeled depression or trench that receives rainwater runoff (as from a parking lot) and has vegetation (such as grasses, flowering herbs, and shrubs) and organic matter (such as mulch) to slow water infiltration and filter out pollutants.”
Holyoke was the first planned industrial city in the United States. Much of the industrial infrastructure remains in place today and the majority of the downtown area is impervious (paved) surfaces. Du ring large rain events the storm water drains into the city’s combined sewer system or the canal system. The combined sewer system drains into the Connecticut River through a network of combined sewer overflows during large rain events, and the canal system is fed by the river and weaves its way through downtown and back into the river. Students explored a variety of tools, techniques, and technologies that could improve the sites ability to slow, store, and sink storm water
Grass Pavers shown in
the images to the left and below showcase grass pavers, these products are from Invisible Structures, Inc. Grass pavers can reduce the amount of paved area, while still providing adequate parking during peak times.
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Infrastructure The Providence Ministries site is an entire city block, with 1,200 ft. of sidewalk frontage, over an acre of paved surface, and two historic brick buildings. The Loretto House was built around 1860 and the Broderick House was built around 1870 and still retains its original slate roof. The combined square footage of the two buildings is over 29,000 square feet, with over fifty rooms ranging from residential bedrooms to Kate’s Kitchen. Knowing that the organization is constrained by finances, students explored ways that infrastructure could be a valued asset for the site and organization. One idea is creating a composting facility/ greenhouse that utilizes “waste” materials from the site to produce a useful resource, compost; while also using excess heat from the compost to heat a greenhouse sited on the second floor. This model also provides more opportunities for on-site skill building and potential revenue.
The image above is the 2012 Solar Decathlon winner, canopea house by the Rhone Alps Team, featured on www.designboom.com
The domino pathway on the left is a prominent feature in Little Havana, highlighted in an article featured on The Cultural Landscape Foundation website titled: Little Havana: A vernacular mélange of Latin American influence, written By Corinna J. Moebius.
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Plants Plants can provide both short and long term benefits to the people and environment at Providence Ministries and the greater City of Holyoke. Improvements range from increasing the tree canopy cover to individualized window box planters. Plants can also provide the solution to thorny issues, an edible hedge using raspberries, blackberries, or other brambles can provide nutritious berries and create a barrier deterring people from specific areas. Plants provide shelter for wildlife and an attractive landscape for birds, butterflies, and other animals can engage people with nature and provide a meaningful connection to their environment. Plants can also provide food, medicine, and natural resources like lumber. A thriving, well-maintained, lush landscape can be an integral part to people’s time spent at Providence Ministries.
Sofrito Window Box Garden contains: • cilantro • onions, • tomatoes • ajies dulces.
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The black raspberries pictured above provide a prickly barrier and screening for privacy; with the benefit of bearing highly nutritious fruit.
A copse, or coppice grove, is a managed woodland that is used for coppicing. Mature trees are cut down and grow offshoots, which are sustainably harvested and used for firewood, building material, fencing, basketry, and many other purposes.
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Permaculture Design Client Presentations Following an iterative design process based on the clients goals and the site assessment and analysis students develop final design alternatives and present to the client. Students learn tips for public speaking and presenting and practice presenting in front of the class 3 times during the course. Each student group has 20 minutes to pitch their final design ideas to the client and the rest of the class. The presentations are composed of design goals and objectives, a group design concept and individual detailed designs from each student. Each group gets feedback from the instructors and guest critics.
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Open Gallery Party Following the design alternative presentations, the public was invited to view the class’s work in an open gallery event at the Wauregan Building on Dwight St. Student’s engaged with family, friends, and interested people about their design proposals for the site which generated great feedback , excitement and further connections to help make these visions a reality. Our public open galleries have drawn over 75 people to view what the students have been working on.
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Next Steps
Future Partnerships
Major Takeaways • •
• • •
Providence Ministries is already doing a lot of work in the community. Developing longterm community partnerships is key to carrying out these plans. Reduce pavement in designated areas to mitigate CSO events, and urban heat island effect, increase air quality and create a more user friendly atmosphere and act as demonstration site for the larger community. Develop clear entrance sequence Engage and empower community by dedicating space and resources to better utilize residents current skills and build new ones Develop programing around food to engage opportunity to integrate Nuestras Raices gardeners and Providence Ministries Community
Westfield Vocational School Dave Dion, d.dion@schoolsofwestfield.org Holyoke Community College Kate Maiolatesi, kmaiolatesi@hcc.edu Insight Design Cathy Reis Neal Insite3info@gmail.com City of Holyoke Andrew Smith, Conservation Director smitha@holyoke.org
Funding and other Resources New England Grassroots Environmental Fund Solidago Foundation The Kresge Foundation City of Holyoke’s Urban Forestry Program Conway Schools Complete Streets Handbook (2014) Conway Schools Placemaking Guidebook for Holyoke (2014) Holyoke Green High Performance Computing Center, Rain Garden Holyoke Public Library, Rain Garden depaving to make way for a new orchard
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