On
Thursday, October 30, Sam Van Aken was our third mystery guest of the year. Sam
created, using grafting, a tree that can bear 40 different kinds of stone fruits.
The children asked their yes/no questions and quickly determined Sam had come
to share something about trees. But then we challenged them, in the remaining
minute, to figure out his specific interest in trees. Asher, one of our older
students, had his hand raised for a good 30 seconds before Sam called on him. Asher
nailed it by asking Sam, “Do you cut a part of one tree and add it to another
one?” Sam proceeded to explain how he got started six years ago. After learning
about an orchard at the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, which
was home to over 200 varieties of plums and apricots, he began experimenting
with "sculpture through grafting." We will take all the children to
SU’s campus in the spring to view one of Sam’s trees planted on SU’s quad. We can’t wait to see the tree in its
multi-colored splendor. Some of us will return in the summer to sample some of
its fruit!
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