Students and adults turned out for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day of fostering the narrow field of about 70 apple, plum and pear trees adjacent to the Blue Heron Middle School parking lot.

Seth Rolland of Quimper Community Harvest, which planted the original 20 trees nine years ago and another 50 trees in 2013, has enlisted students and his fellow gleaners every MLK Day since then to tend to the trees.

Rolland has tried to make the event coincide with the federal holiday, which was observed Jan. 21.

Rolland said this year’s workers benefited from 50 cubic yards of wood chips and mulch donated by Hermann Brothers Logging and Construction of Port Angeles; 20 cubic yards of washed cow manure provided by Roger Short of Short’s Family Farm; and 1 cubic yard of biochar donated by Francesco L. Tortorici of Olympic BioChar.

Rolland explained how biochar absorbs the nutrients from other types of mulch, then releases them over time.

“The good stuff can run off in storms, but this holds it in,” Rolland said.

Tortorici added biochar is a byproduct of the Port Townsend Paper Corporation.

“They’ve made it for years but didn’t always have a use for it,” Tortorici said. “We’ve donated biochar to all the area school gardens. Our first use of it was at the Port of Port Townsend to help them remove heavy metals.”

Rolland also expressed his gratitude to the Port Townsend Food Co-op, which supplied a matching fund of $500 for the orchard. He said that may cover their expenses for the next year.

“We also had the soil tested this year, which adds to the cost,” Rolland said.

Anyone interested in contributing to the matching fund may contact Rolland at 360-385-5068 or sethrolland@gmail.com.

Rolland said the orchard eliminates “food miles” by putting the fruit right next to the kids, enabling them to pick it themselves and be introduced to sustainable, organic agriculture.

“It’s been shown through school garden programs that kids are more likely to eat and enjoy produce when they see it growing,” Rolland said.

Rolland estimated the most recent harvest yielded about 1,000 pounds of produce, and he predicted it’s still five years or so away from achieving its full potential.

“This is a relatively young orchard, so its output should be more and more every year,” Rolland said. “It’s not at its peak production yet.”

Rolland said the trees were planted with all-organic materials and fenced without plastic or pressure-treated woods.

Blue Heron teachers have used the orchard for scientific observation and experiments, and as a place for students to write, meditate or simply enjoy picking fruit.

“It’s an ideal place to study the entire cycle, from pollination to harvest,” Rolland said.

While the majority of young people in attendance were middle or high school students, Blue Heron Principal Theresa Campbell was joined by her two sons, one of whom is enrolled in college.

“It’s amazing to see the whole community come together to help out,” said Campbell, who took part in her first MLK Day tree-tending at Blue Heron. “It’s well worth the the labor for the reward. I already got to taste some of that from the previous harvest.”

A pair of graduating seniors developed a website for the orchard four years ago, complete with spreadsheets for tracking fruit growth and diseases.