Teisha's Orchard

Located in the heart of urban Lewiston, between three schools, a sledding hill and many acres of forest, is an edible arboretum where community members can access fresh fruit for free during harvest time. It’s called Teisha’s Orchard, after Teisha A. Loesburg, a Lewiston High School student who passed away in a tragic airplane accident in 2006. She didn’t just love gardening — she was also passionate about teaching families how to grow their own food and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Teisha’s Orchard exists as a continuation of this aim, as a place that proves that food can be grown in one of the most urbanized areas in Maine, and as an outdoor classroom for residents to learn the ins and outs of taking care of fruit trees. Planted in 2020 by ReTreeUS and students from nearby NEXT Step High, Teisha’s has been carefully stewarded by a diverse array of stakeholders organized by Gather to Grow Maine (Formerly known as the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center), which includes students, community members and volunteer groups from local nonprofits and businesses.

The Edible Arboretum is made up of a mix of apples, pears (European and Asian), peaches, plums, grapes, blueberries and red raspberries, with the recent additions of a number of native North American edible bushes like red chokeberry, serviceberry and flowering raspberry. Through a combination of Eurasian and American fruit trees, we are creating an environment that is nourishing to the people that enjoy the orchard and its fruits, as well as the wildlife that uses the orchard and surrounding forest as habitat.