Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumWhy Your Supermarket Only Sells 5 Kinds of Apples
EVERY FALL AT MAINE'S COMMON GROUND Country Fair, the Lollapalooza of sustainable agriculture, John Bunker sets out a display of eccentric apples. Last September, once again, they covered every possible size, shape, and color in the wide world of appleness. There was a gnarled little yellow thing called a Westfield Seek-No-Further; a purplish plum impostor called a Black Oxford; a massive, red-streaked Wolf River; and one of Thomas Jefferson's go-to fruits, the Esopus Spitzenburg. Bunker is known in Maine as "The Apple Whisperer," or simply "The Apple Guy," and, after laboring for years in semi-obscurity, he has never been in more demand. Through the catalog of Fedco Trees, a mail-order company he founded in Maine 30 years ago, Bunker has sown the seeds of a grassroots apple revolution.
All weekend long, I watched people gravitate to what Bunker ("Bunk" to his friends, a category that seems to include half the population of Maine) calls "the vibrational pull" of a table laden with bright apples. "Baldwin!" said a tiny old man with white hair and intermittent teeth, pointing to a brick-red apple that was one of America's most important until the frigid winter of 1933-34 knocked it into obscurity. "That's the best!"
A leathery blonde from the coast held up a Blue Pearmain in wonder. "Blue Peahmain," she marveled. "My ma had one in her yahd."
Another woman got choked up by the sight of the Pound Sweet. "My grandmother had a Pound Sweet! She used to let me have one every time I hung out the laundry."
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/04/heritage-apples-john-bunker-maine?page=1
pscot
(21,024 posts)Thanks for posting, Xema Sab. You might consider reposting in Good Reads or R&F. This deserves a wider audience.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)I know of two Wolf River trees, and I've eaten countless apples from them, but have NEVER seen them anywhere else.
Sadly, I know longer have access to the property containing the trees. Perhaps I need to go visit Maine!
postulater
(5,075 posts)This orchard has em. Dwarves on Bud 9 and P2 rootstock.
I just planted a Connell Red and a Crimson Crisp from them.
From Gillett WI.
Still not too late for this year!
And one Wolf River apple might make you two pies with some left over.
http://www.maplevalleyorchards.com/Pages/Apple_Trees.aspx
Scuba
(53,475 posts)pansypoo53219
(21,034 posts)freckleface
(57 posts)Never had the good fortune of experiencing any of these beauties. Thank you!
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)Watch on Hulu or Netflix or FREE online at PBS.
The apple part, especially, is interesting and related to this OP
Program: Botany of Desire
Episode: Full-Length Program
Featuring Michael Pollan and based on his best-selling book, this special takes viewers on an eye-opening exploration of the human relationship with the plant world, seen from the plants' point of view. The program shows how four familiar species -- the apple, the tulip, cannabis and the potato -- evolved to satisfy our yearnings for sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control.
http://video.pbs.org/video/1283872815
Lilyhoney
(1,985 posts)I am currently under the spell of the Honey Crisp apple. I eat one every day. At $4.00 a pound I spend quite a lot on this particular apple. The season will be coming to an end soon and I will have to wait until fall for more. I will try other apples over the summer and will like some of them, but I will long for the Honey Crisp.
Lilyhoney
AnotherDreamWeaver
(2,856 posts)a few have blown over in storms over the years. I have grown several from seed, but only 3 or 4 are good apples. Some get ripe in summer and others not until late fall. We make cider when there is a good crop. We met a gal who was born on the property in 1920, and she said her dad knew Luther Burbank. I have tried to graft onto rootstock, but haven't had much luck, as the rootstock outgrows the grafted material.