What Is A Heritage Orchard?
Have you ever found yourself in your local grocers produce aisle and staring at rows of pristine apples? These apples are picture perfect and always the same. Perfectly arranged Gala, Red Delicious, Honeycrisp, and Granny Smith stare up at you, and for most people the choice of which apple to get for the week is an easy one.
What if we told you that there were literally thousands of varieties of apples that never make it to the grocery store shelves, and that some of those strains of apples are thousands of years old?
The Annurca Apple, for example, is thought to be the oldest apple in the world at 79 BC. That means this apple was around when Vesuvius erupted and Pompeii sank beneath several tons of ash.
So what do we mean when we say we’re a heritage orchard? Our focus is to celebrate the history of these many varieties of apples and honor our cultural heritage across time and continents by ensuring that these breeds of apples continue into the future, and maybe even end up in your kitchen. We hope to provide our local communities with more choices and opportunities to learn more about this seemingly insignificant fruit– after all an apple a day keeps the doctor away.
If you want to see the the varieties we are currently growing click here.
-
Found Apple Project
