Lifestyle 10 pioneer-era apple types thought extinct found in US West

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sparkuri

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10 pioneer-era apple types thought extinct found in US West

Apples collected by amateur botanists David Benscoter and EJ Brandt of the Lost Apple Project, rest on the ground in an orchard at an abandoned homestead near Genesee, Idaho. Benscoter and Brandt recently learned that their work in the fall of 2019 has led to the rediscovery of 10 apple varieties in the Pacific Northwest that were planted by long-ago pioneers and had been thought extinct.
Updated: April 15, 2020 - 10:50 AM
PORTLAND, Ore. — A team of retirees that scours the remote ravines and windswept plains of the Pacific Northwest for long-forgotten pioneer orchards has rediscovered 10 apple varieties that were believed to be extinct — the largest number ever unearthed in a single season by the nonprofit Lost Apple Project.

The Vietnam veteran and former FBI agent who make up the nonprofit recently learned of their tally from last fall's apple sleuthing from expert botanists at the Temperate Orchard Conservancy in Oregon, where all the apples are sent for study and identification. The apples positively identified as previously "lost" were among hundreds of fruits collected in October and November from 140-year-old orchards tucked into small canyons or hidden in forests that have since grown up around them in rural Idaho and Washington state.

“It was just one heck of a season. It was almost unbelievable. If we had found one apple or two apples a year in the past, we thought were were doing good. But we were getting one after another after another,” said EJ Brandt, who hunts for the apples along with fellow amateur botanist David Benscoter. “I don’t know how we’re going to keep up with that.”

 

kaladin stormblessed

Nala fanboy
Apr 24, 2017
17,627
20,132
10 pioneer-era apple types thought extinct found in US West

Apples collected by amateur botanists David Benscoter and EJ Brandt of the Lost Apple Project, rest on the ground in an orchard at an abandoned homestead near Genesee, Idaho. Benscoter and Brandt recently learned that their work in the fall of 2019 has led to the rediscovery of 10 apple varieties in the Pacific Northwest that were planted by long-ago pioneers and had been thought extinct.
Updated: April 15, 2020 - 10:50 AM
PORTLAND, Ore. — A team of retirees that scours the remote ravines and windswept plains of the Pacific Northwest for long-forgotten pioneer orchards has rediscovered 10 apple varieties that were believed to be extinct — the largest number ever unearthed in a single season by the nonprofit Lost Apple Project.

The Vietnam veteran and former FBI agent who make up the nonprofit recently learned of their tally from last fall's apple sleuthing from expert botanists at the Temperate Orchard Conservancy in Oregon, where all the apples are sent for study and identification. The apples positively identified as previously "lost" were among hundreds of fruits collected in October and November from 140-year-old orchards tucked into small canyons or hidden in forests that have since grown up around them in rural Idaho and Washington state.

“It was just one heck of a season. It was almost unbelievable. If we had found one apple or two apples a year in the past, we thought were were doing good. But we were getting one after another after another,” said EJ Brandt, who hunts for the apples along with fellow amateur botanist David Benscoter. “I don’t know how we’re going to keep up with that.”
ok so im a green apple type of guy. not really down with any others

but was apple-pickign with an X and we ran into that apple shown on screen. it was like the holy grail of apples. we couldn't find the tree it came from. just one and done

sevel hells though, it was gooood
 

sparkuri

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ok so im a green apple type of guy. not really down with any others

but was apple-pickign with an X and we ran into that apple shown on screen. it was like the holy grail of apples. we couldn't find the tree it came from. just one and done

sevel hells though, it was gooood
I don't know what type of tree I have, but boy am I glad to have it.
We're still making apple crisp & pies.
Tonight.



I had no idea there were apple hunters.
That's totally something cool.

'I was in 'Nam, after I took a bouncing betty to the nards, I came back home and noticed the last Sweet Tart Hazey Superglow Shinebox apple tree was gone.
I was like "Oh HELLL no", and now I hunt apple trees.
It just kinda took off.'
 

sparkuri

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Apples are cool, east coast apples are better than west coast apples though.
Lol @ this nonsense.
West is the best.
Washington state was named because George Washington Carver chopped down a peanut tree and lied about it, so he decided apples were his thing, invented the cotton gin before Eli Whitney and weaved an apple-picking basket from hemp.
And that's why Washington State has the best apples.
 

kaladin stormblessed

Nala fanboy
Apr 24, 2017
17,627
20,132
I don't know what type of tree I have, but boy am I glad to have it.
We're still making apple crisp & pies.
Tonight.



I had no idea there were apple hunters.
That's totally something cool.

'I was in 'Nam, after I took a bouncing betty to the nards, I came back home and noticed the last Sweet Tart Hazey Superglow Shinebox apple tree was gone.
I was like "Oh HELLL no", and now I hunt apple trees.
It just kinda took off.'
im not sure what the mystery one we found was. i vaguely recall the asian chick calling it a gala apple

i only mention that she's asian because im obsessed with asians
 

sparkuri

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Jan 16, 2015
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im not sure what the mystery one we found was. i vaguely recall the asian chick calling it a gala apple

i only mention that she's asian because im obsessed with asians
Ah yes, the famed "Gala". One of the rarest apples on earth, along with the red delicious and granny smith varieties.
But if she was asian, it was likely the endangered "Fuji" apple.
Did it seem scared?