Why No Trees? The Story Behind Our Orchard Logo
We’re The Academic Orchard — but if you’re looking for a tree in our logo, you won’t find one. And that’s intentional.
Our on site orchard began with soil rehabilitation, water conservation systems, and wildflowers chosen specifically to restore the land. The trees could only come later, once the environment was ready to support them.
Our logo reflects that philosophy: build the foundation first, and sustainable growth will follow.
The Academic Orchard spent over a year without a logo. That might seem odd, but with my brain, when something is right, it’s perfect. When it isn’t, I just can’t accept it.
The same applied to our logo. It’s been on my mind for over a year: You need a logo. A real school needs a logo. Get it done. But no ideas truly clicked, and the program itself was still evolving.
As time passed, the need for a logo became more urgent. I now need a letterhead, student IDs, and all the official pieces that make a school feel “real.” And a real school, of course, needs a real logo.
But what should it be? One thing was clear. I wasn’t going to slap a tree on it and call it done. I wanted something that actually captures who we are and what makes us different.
I didn’t want a tree.
Because here’s the truth: an orchard is not a single tree. Our orchard system was professionally designed with permaculture and water conservation at its heart. And from the very beginning, the focus wasn’t on the trees themselves. The soil itself needed to be healed first. The health of the foundation determines the health of everything that grows from it. Right now, our soil is still healing, still being restored so it can one day support a thriving, diverse network of trees.The land here wasn’t ready to support a diverse, thriving orchard. So we planted wildflowers — succession plants chosen specifically to rehabilitate and rebuild the soil. These plants protect the ground, add organic matter, fix nitrogen, and slowly transform damaged earth into something capable of sustaining the next stage of life: fruit trees, herbs, vegetables, and more.
The wildflowers aren’t just beautiful. They are healers, preparing the land for the future.
Over time, with their help and careful observation, the soil improved. Over the years, we’ve nurtured wildflowers, rebuilt soil structure, and slowly, successfully, coaxed a few trees into survival. But none of that happened by accident. It took enormous energy upfront — physically reshaping the land to capture every drop of rain, observing how water moved, how the land responded, and adjusting constantly to meet the needs of the system itself. Only when the system is strong enough can individual plants, and now increasingly trees – begin to thrive.
That’s the heart of our logo.
We don’t just plant trees and hope they survive. We build the foundation first — the roots, the systems, the invisible structures that collect resources and sustain life. We invest in the unseen work that makes all future growth possible.
And the bridge? That’s us supporting our students crossing from childhood into adulthood. We are the bridge that carries them through.
And so the absence of trees is intentional. Because everyone expects a tree. And I also never want to do what everyone expects. We are here to build something different.