Heritage apples have survived only due to the diligence

of some dedicated orchardists and apple lovers

I would like to share a little something about three of them with you

Lee Calhoun

About six years ago, I started to order apple and pear trees from an orchard in North Carolina that specialized in old Southern varieties.

My research lead me to the Century Farms website. I spent a lot of time looking at the different varieties and the stories of when and where the variety was first discovered. This lead me to visit Century Farms in 2019 where I was fortunate to meet Lee Calhoun.

I happened to mention to Dave, the owner of Century Farms, that I was enjoying Lee’s book Old Southern Apples. Dave let me know that Lee would be at his orchard during the pick up, and that I should bring his book with me in case I had the opportunity to get it signed by Lee.

I did just that, and spent some wonderful time with Lee discussing old Southern varieties of apples. I later learned just how important Lee was in the field of researching and preserving both the history and the apples themselves. Many apple varieties have been lost to time, but fortunately Lee and those like him felt it worthwhile to dedicate their lives to this task. For that, we should all be grateful. In Old Southern Apples, Lee details over 1,600 heritage apples with over 1,400 orginating in the south.

Sadly, Lee has passed away, but his legacy lives on in his work and the apples he saved. Lee’s personal orchard has been preserved at the Southern Heritage Apple Orchard at Horne Creek Farm in North Carolina.

Lee’s note in my bookI

Nick Botner

Nick Botner and his wife Carla lived in Yoncalla, Oregon where Nick indulged his passion for collecting different fruit tree varieties. For over 40 years, Nick pursued his passion of fruit collecting, and his hobby resulted in over 4,500 different apple varieties, many heirloom and rare cultivars. In addition to the apples, he had a large number of cherries, plums, pears and grapes.

Nick Botner

At the age of 84, Nick gave the Temperate Orchard Conservatory permission to clone his collection and welcomed the opportunity to have it preserved for the future. Over 5,000 varieties have planted in the orchard spot at Almaty Farm in Molalla, Oregan.

Tom Brown

Tom Brown, a chemical engineer by trade, first encountered heritage apples at a stand run by Maurice Marshall at a farmer’s market in 1998. They discussed rediscovering lost apple varieties which were no longer in commercial production, piquing Brown’s interest.

The first apple Tom rediscovered was of a variety known as “Yellow Potts”. Tom discovered the apple in Iredell County in the year after speaking with Marshall. Since 1999, Brown has found some 1200 “lost” apple varieties.

He has displayed his rare apple collection at many apple festivals and events in Appalachia.

One a day keeps the doctor away. Join us on this week’s PreserveCast, as we talk with Tom Brown who is on the search for “Lost” heritage apple varieties. Listen in as Tom shares his decades-long journey to rediscover heritage apples and what it takes to preserve these “Lost” breeds

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-bij3z-1382ccc