Today in the orchard
Today was an all-day, apple exploring adventure that focused on Maine’s Franklin County. Along the way we made stops at Colby College (the ancient tree by the Rugby Field), Oakland (the two amazing huge Fallawater trees) and Belgrade (the Spice Sweet tree that got hit by a tractor-trailer truck a decade ago and is now on its last “legs.”) Then we detoured into Somerset County to collect a bag of fruit off the Norridgewock Sweet, my provisional name for a true sweet (low-acid) apple that begs to be identified. (It might be one of the Northern Sweets.)
It was late morning when we finally headed west on Route 2 into Franklin County. The first stop was the incredible Tolman Sweet tree in New Sharon. (You can see a photo of the tree in the Art of Detection, p. 353.) Hellmut Bitterauf met us at the tree; then we checked out two more of Hellmut and Karen’s oldest trees, both of which have fruit this year. I will attempt to ID them in the next few weeks.
We continued on Rte 2 through Farmington and headed due north up Rte 4 into the heart of Franklin County where we met David King in the parking lot of the Sandy River Shop ’n Save in Phillips. David guided us to three local sites. The first two were interesting, but the third was a winner: the ancient remnants of what was once a huge tree, now nearly dead but still with one small vibrant living branch. There was no fruit; however, there were enough leaves for a DNA profile. Score.
Then it was up Tory Hill to visit the four, thought-to-be-Deane trees. Michael Rothschild, Wendy and Chee gave us a long tour of their farm. We took leaves from one of their Deane trees to be submitted for DNA analysis. An earlier test with leaves from the Maine Heritage Orchard “Deane” tree matched the Wisconsin apple “Milwaukee.” I’ve been wanting to get leaves directly from the Phillips trees, and this was my opportunity.
The day ended at the Farmington Grange where I handed out Franklin County Wanted Posters, sold books and apples and gave a presentation on the apples of Franklin County. During the Q and A I learned that there’s a very good chance that the long-lost Sarah apple has been found. This may have been the most exciting news of the day. I’ll obtain scionwood this winter and graft it in the spring. I’ll also get leaves for a DNA test. Long after dark we were back on the road for the foggy drive back to Palermo. What a day.