Apple Core Project + JEDI
Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
It is important to acknowledge that nearby Nucla, we find evidence of dinosaurs roaming this lush valleys and remnants of the homes of the Ancestral Puebloans who lived in this region.
And, where we stand to pick apples off 100-year-old trees and now plant new trees, is the homeland of the Ute people who likely migrated to this area by 1300. Drastic encroachments by settlers on Ute land ensued through a series of treaties and land cessions until the Uncompaghre Utes were forcibly removed. The Weenuche Ute maintained a portion of tribal land in southwestern Colorado, the Ute Mountain Reservation, which some descendants from this area call home today.
Our JEDI Work
Our journey is to tell the real story. The trees hold our ancestral stories but they do not tell the entire story. Fruit trees that Native Americans planted from the East Coast to the West Coast were cut down by the Calvary and some settlers. Then, new fruit trees were planted to stake their claim. Our work is to determine what story our next generation of orchards will tell. We hope it will be one of truth, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Equity Continuum
The Apple Core Project is a member of the local Food Security Cohort. We have borrowed the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger's Equity Continuum (see below), a practical tool to self-assess our organization's progression in shifting policies, practices, programs and measures to advance equitable outcomes. In addition, we donate apples to the Backpack Program as well as offer to donate fruit trees to various non-profit organizations and always favor those that practice JEDI within their own organizations. We will be donating Chipeta apple tree proceeds to the Ute Indian Museum near Montrose, CO.
