Today’s highlight was taking a trip over to the Maine Heritage Orchard at MOFGA in Unity to meet with an old friend and supporter who had not yet been able to see what we’ve accomplished in the past 12 years. The Maine Heritage Orchard is the location of our preservation orchard, now numbering close to 350 apple and pear trees all grown historically in Maine. These are cultivars (aka varieties) that we’ve rediscovered over the past forty years and deemed worth saving for present and future generations.

“MHO” as we call it has been the ultimate in collective cooperation and group effort. It’s a great example of the fun adage, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” It’s taken hundreds of people around Maine and beyond to make it happen. We have our two-person team of orchard managers—the ones who keep the trees and hundreds of companion plants alive. (Without them, none of this would happen.) We have the other MOFGA staff who wear many hats but who support the orchard whenever they can. We have the volunteer historians, explorers and data-base freaks who follow leads for new MHO candidates, attempt to identify rare discoveries, document the huge amount of information we gather and connect with other collectors, academics and scientists across the USA and over seas who are all collaborating in this amazing effort to sort out the history of apple around the world and make this treasure available to future generations. Lastly (but not at all least) we have dozens upon dozens of individuals who have led us to old trees and supported the project with their time and donations. It’s fantastic.

Want to be involved? Keep a look-out for old apple trees everywhere you go. You’ll never know when the next lead just might appear.