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TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
It won’t be long.
Big crowd on the farm today mostly packing up the apples for the CSA. I met with MOFGA’s new development person and others to discuss funding for the Maine Heritage Orchard. Later in the afternoon Cammy and I harvested beans, tomatillos and other odds and ends in anticipation of the First Frost, due tonight or tomorrow night.
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Job opportunity??
We received some much needed rain: 1/2”. We’ll take it. I did a pile of ID’s, and later did some reading in prep for my trip to the UK in November. Several of the people we’ll be visiting are authors, and I thought it would be fun to find out what they have to say before we meet. I started with Gabe Cook’s “Ciderology.” It’s wonderful! I’m already a third of the way through and thoroughly enjoying it. At one point he even quotes Confucius, “Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work again!”
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Sweet apple, Presque Isle, Maine
Cammy and I drove up to Presque Isle in Aroostook County to attend an apple seminar at Northern Maine Community College. We stayed at one of the farms where the Hayford Sweet was historically grown. A year ago Sean Turley and I visited the farm and collected fruit from one of their old trees. It was a true “sweet” apple. Whether it is the Hayford Sweet or not is an ongoing project. On Saturday I took part in a panel at the seminar. I went first and gave an overview of Aroostook apple history. The second speaker talked about Henry David Thoreau’s wonderful essay, “Wild Apples”. The third speaker talked about growing and cultivating apples. I thought we made a great team.
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Cubbyhole Wow, possibly Walbridge, 10/03/2024
Today I spent much of the day doing apple ID’s. There is a backlog! I spent more time with the apple Todd Little-Siebold found on North Haven Island on 09/28/2024. I like the phenotypic match with Bussey’s description of Walbridge. I'm especially drawn to the distinctive stripes which make sense since Walbridge was once known as Redstreak. It’s almost as distinctive as St. Lawrence. As far as hardiness, North Haven Island is in Penobscot Bay which is milder than many parts of the state. This fits with Bradford’s statement that Walbridge is not hardy. I have offered to do a presentation of the apple later this fall to the working group. Todd left a dozen or so apples with me, and I still have 8 of them to identify.
Later I collected several varieties from the Finley Lane orchard that are now ripe, including the French bitter-sweet cider apple, Launette, and the English sharp, Skyrmes Kernel. I also picked the remaining Norton Greening which I’ve been making into an excellent sauce. I’ve become very enamored with Norton Greening
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Spent the morning with Todd identifying apples from old trees that he had visited on North Haven Island this past weekend. We were able to ID some of the more common heirlooms: Baldwin, Yellow Bellflower and Ribston Pippin. Several were mysteries. One may be the long-elusive Walbridge which apple colleagues from around the US have been attempting to locate for decades. That would be exciting.
Meanwhile Laura did a fireblight check and branch removal in the SCF orchards. There were some lingering strikes near the arbor and in the Finley Lane Nursery but not an alarming amount. The two of us picked several bushels of a russet growing in Chris Wildrodt’s orchard in Whitefield. The russet has been DNA profiled and, so far, has no match. So many mysteries.
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Old “Deane” tree, Franklin County, Maine
I gave a talk in Wilton at the Senior Plus Center focusied on the apples of the town of Wilton and Franklin County. Wilton was an important apple-center for many years, and several apples originated there or in the surrounding towns, including the Deane apple in Temple. Two of the attendees at the talk were members of the Cyrus Deane family. That led to a long discussion about the Deane apple, DNA profiling, and the questions that arise as we attempt to identify these old cultivars. The Deane tree in the Maine Heritage Orchard has tested as “Milwaukee”, an apple that was not documented to have been grown in Maine. How could that be? Was the apple simply missed 120 years ago? Was the reference tree to which our DNA was compared incorrectly identified ? Or was “Milwaukee” a synonym or re-naming in Wisconsin of the Maine apple, Deane? The mysteries are endless.
Apple ID’s in progress
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Time to sit down and focus on the bags and boxes of apples that people have been sending my way. Today was devoted to apples from northwest Connecticut where the landscape has been largely left undeveloped, the farms have been spared the bulldozer, and the old apple trees have been spared the chainsaw. This means that the area remains an important sanctuary of old, potentially endangered, cultivars. One of the apples looks promising in that respect. It was labeled “Ives 2” and is one I don’t think I’ve seen before.
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
We attended the Apple Festival at the Valentine Farm in Bethel, Maine. We set up a display of 100 apples currently growing at SCF. Most people assumed that we had included every apple grown in Maine so they were shocked to learn that these 100 barely scratched the varietal surface. We didn’t include the huge Wolf River in the display since we don’t grow it; it is always the apple everyone gravitates toward. Today the apple that caught everyone’s eye was the beautifully striped St. Lawrence. It was a small but steady and enthusiastic crowd all afternoon. Nearby to our apple display was a beautiful pollinator garden that included several herbaceous perennials that look as though they should be introduced into our orchards. These included, Angelica silvestris (Vicar’s Mead), Verbena bonariensis (Vervain), and Chamaecrista fasciculata (Partridge Pea). Some of them might possibly reseed themselves once planted in the orchard. We’ll obtain seed this winter.
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Alex, Emma and Dash at the Great Maine Apple Day, 2001
This evening I did something I rarely do - gave a talk with a power point presentation on a big screen at the Gem Theatre in Bethel. It focused on Black Oxford and the apples of Oxford County. I spent many hours searching through photos and historical references in order to prepare, but it was fun to do and well-received. The highlight was when an audience member (mycologist Greg Marley) identified the children on a slide as his son and two of his friends. I had never known who the children were and had never shown the slide before. Hi son was about 9 when the photo was taken; he is now 30. The wonders of life.
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
CGF Apple/Pear Nerds: John, Todd Little-Siebold, Dave Fulton, Sean Turley and Lauren Cormier.
The last day of the Common Ground Country Fair and another huge crowd. The apple display of 250 apples and 38 pears continued to attract curious and excited fair-goers. Our team of identifiers was engaged in a steady eight-hour conversation about apples, old apple trees, apple history, apple challenges, and bits of apple everything with the occasional interesting pear tossed in. It was an excellent Fair. The one thing that was missing—all would agree—was that there were NO apples for sale! We’ll have to remember that for 2025.
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Today was the first day of fall and the second day of the Common Ground Country Fair. There was a huge crowd as always on a Saturday. The weather was mild and overcast, and the apple display continued to attract a steady stream of curious fair-goers. It was a perfect day for sitting outside and talking about apples. The second apple tasting featured a surprise winner: Wealthy. (Ribston Pippin took second and Canadian Strawberry came in third.) Because of the sparse apple crop throughout central Maine, there were not a lot of apple-mysteries to solve at the Fair, although the apple team at the display tent was busy all day with questions and possible leads for new discoveries.
Sean and John and the apple cutting crew at the tasting
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Day 1 of the Common Ground Country Fair at MOFGA in Unity, Maine. We attended along with about twenty thousand others. There were many highlights. The apple display put together mostly by Laura Sieger and Lauren Cormier is fantastic. The apple tasting emceed by Sean Turley and I was a big hit. A couple hundred people voted Canadian Strawberry (aka Roy Slamm) as the winner. The apple crew at the display tent had many conversations with fair-goers. We’re looking forward to conversations and apples to ID all weekend.
The best tattoo of this year’s Fair so far: Baldwin
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Collected the last few apples for the Friday and Saturday tastings at Common Ground Fair. I will emcee this year’s tastings with Sean Turley. We’ll taste about 10-12 different apples each day and vote for our favorites. It’s a wild and fun event. Hope to see you there.
The Common Ground Fair apple tasting cutting crew, 2017
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
I collected apples at Sandy River and at Murph’s orchard in New Sharon for the apple display at the Fair. The display is the number one attraction for apple lovers at the Fair every year. Come join the apple geeks of Maine. Stay all day! It’s fantastic.
The small 1993 apple display at the Common Ground Fair. It's gotten bigger every year.
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Today Laura and I collected apples for the huge apple display at the Common Ground Fair. We hope that we’ll see you there. A number of us apple nerds will be hanging out by the display all three days, talking about apples and attempting to ID the many mysteries that fair-goers bring with them. The apple display is in its own tent this year, next to the Hayloft Ag speaking tent and right near the Fedco tent. Look for the Hayloft or Fedco and you’ll find us.
Later, Laura, Cammy, Sean and I tasted several new selections sent to us by apple breeder Ike Kerschner of North Star Orchards in Pennsylvania. This was the second batch of apples Ike has sent us this fall. We tasted seven numbered selections. The clear winner was #81. It has a distinctive flavor, reminiscent of Frostbite (MN 447). The apple is also perfectly textured, beautiful, multi-colored, russetted and lumpy. Just my kind of apple. Maybe we’ll see it growing at Super Chilly Farm sometime in the next few years.
Tasting Ike Kerschner’s apples (#81 in front corner of table)
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Today Laura, Khris and I picked apples at the Apple Farm in Fairfield. We picked Chestnut Crab, Canadian Strawberry and King of Tompkins County. Later Laura picked Wealthy at Sandy River Orchard in Mercer. Most of the apples will be distributed through the CSA. Chestnut and Canadian Strawberry will also be featured at the Common Ground Fair tasting. Both tend to be just about at peak flavor on Fair weekend, and they often duke it out for first and second place. You can taste both in your CSA share or at The Fair on Friday and Saturday afternoons. Come find them (and us) at the Hayloft Tent.
Two of the four old Canadian Strawberry trees at Roy Slamm’s farm in Solon Maine
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
The 2024 apple pie taste-off, September 14
This weekend was the annual pie taste-off at Camp Merryweather in North Belgrade. Twenty-five pie “experts” each sampled small pieces of three single-variety pies and then voted on their favorite. The three varieties were Milton, Milwaukee and Munson. Milton is a McIntosh x Yellow Transparent cross from the NY experiment station breeding program in 1923. The Milton crust collapsed, and though the flavor was decent, it was too soupy, just like a Mac. The Milwaukee, from an old tree in our Finley Lane Orchard, is thought to be a Duchess seedling. The Milwaukee fruit held up well in the oven, but the flavor was too tart for many of the tasters. (It was excellent with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.) The Munson, an old Massachusetts apple, is from a tree discovered by Russ Libby. The Munson had both good flavor and texture. The after dinner excitement built up to a frenzy, and when the ballots were cast, Munson was the clear winner with 14 of 24 votes. It’s a beautiful apple and looks to have a big future ahead of it in the oven.
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Identified as Transcendent crab tree, Cornwall CT, 2024
The CSA crew packed up the rest of the apples for the first week of the CSA and loaded the ones for pick up in Portland, Brunswick, Trenton and Belfast into our trucks. Tomorrow those shares will go to the drop-off sites while the rest will be set out in our barn for share-holders to pick up here. Meanwhile I did apple ID’s. The apple ID’s included the small fruit from two huge, old trees in NW Connecticut and a medium-large, rosy-red fruit from Idaho. The small fruit is probably Transcendent Crab, a classic old cultivar of uncertain origin. The Idaho fruit will remain a mystery for now.
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Bunk loading apples, St. Lawrence tree in the background
Today Cammy and the crew packed up apples for the first week of the CSA: Red Gravenstein, Milton and Zestar. In the afternoon Laura and I went to the Apple Farm in Fairfield and picked fourteen bushels of St. Lawrence and a bushel of what we provisionally call, “Munson.” We picked the St. Lawrence from two of the very old trees still remaining in the orchard. Both trees were loaded, and we could have picked another ten bushels off the two trees. The weather was clear and cool. It was a fantastic day to be out in the orchard picking apples.
TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Yesterday we discovered that our barrel of cider from fall 2023 was leaking all over our basement floor. No wonder the house smelled like cider. So today we bottled it. We had pressed the blend of 30+ varieties last November 16th, and it was fermented to dry (SG 1.0). It was a productive day although it might have been more fun being outdoors since the weather was clear and cool. When the bottling was finished I went to Maine-ly Apples in Dixmont and picked up Zestar for the CSA. Khris and Lizzie Hogg met me there to help. Tomorrow is the first day of packing for the CSA. The crew is readying for action.
A partial list of apples included in the barrel we pressed November 16, 2023