TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
The colorized photo of Red June in Apples of NY (1905). It is the spitting image of Jay Kenney’s UAF#3.
Today I put on my apple identification hat and made a case before the Historic Fruit Working Group for why the apple discovered by Jay Kenney of Clear Fork Cider in Paonia, Colorado and determined by DNA profiling to be UAF 3 (Unknown American Founder #3) should be declared to be the true Red June. (See Orchard Report for 08/18/2024). The phenotypic evidence is pretty clearly a match with the historic descriptions, and the Working Group was convinced. Two historic apple collectors from North Carolina are coming up to Maine Apple Camp in a week and will bring with them what they call Red June (it originated in the South); it will be very interesting to see what they bring. We know we’ve found Unknown American Founder #3; we just aren’t 100% certain that UAF #3 is Red June. At this point, I’d say it’s 99%.
I also toured our orchards, clipboard in hand, to see what was ripe. I collected specimens for a small display of odd selections for tomorrow’s writers event. There will be a lot to taste for the first time this year.
Today’s photo: