December 2019 - 29

FARM MARKET & AGRITOURISM
Ashmead's Kernel and Blushing
Granny. Bunker said they're all
unique, like children are to a parent,
and declined to identify a favorite.
Bunker's not the only one with this
interest in rare, strange and unique
apples.
" There is a renewed interest
among farmers to be out looking for
seedlings and be naming them, " he
said. Though he said modern apple
varieties shouldn't be abandoned,
" more and more community orchards
in Maine are dabbling in odd
varieties and heirloom varieties. "
Maine's interest in apple growing
peaked more than a century ago, when
a higher percentage of the population
was rural, farms were small and many
grew quite a variety of crops.
" The model that was most typical
for Mainers was a small, self-sufficient,
diversified farm, and in that model,
every farmer would have had an
orchard, " he said. " There were apples for
cider, of course, and for pies, and apple
butter, and molasses, and applesauce,
and baking, and a few apples for dessert,
for fresh eating, but most of the apples
were cooked, because most people
worked from home and ate their large
meal at home in the middle of the day. "
Today, customers eating some of
the same apples pay $165 for a share
in the CSA program. Bunker said
From left, John Bunker, Maine Gov. Janet Mills and Commissioner Amanda Beal.
Photos: Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
he based his apple CSA program on
that of his friend, Ike Kershner of
Pennsylvania's North Star Orchards.
For enrolled shareholders, Bunker
promises 20 or more varieties of rare
apples. Those apples are delivered five
times, every other Tuesday from Sept.
17 to Nov. 12, with 10-12 pounds of
apples in each delivery. Apples are
delivered to several drop-off places
around the state. Each variety comes
in a labeled bag, and there is a mix of
dessert and culinary apples. He also
writes a regular newsletter for the CSA
subscribers describing the apples they're
getting. There's also the option for
subscribers to buy in advance an extra
quantity of storage apples - " keeper "
varieties like " Northern Spy, Roxbury
Maine heritage apple varieties tasted at a
Blaine House ceremony.
Text of the plaque presented to John
Bunker by Maine Gov. Janet Mills:
" As Maine's own Apple Whisperer, you have cultivated numerous
varieties of rare and historic apples at Super Chilly Farm, founded the
Maine Heritage Orchard and installed a heritage apple orchard at the
Blaine House with varieties from all 16 counties. Your leadership and
dedication as a farmer, historian and educator is truly commendable. "
Russet, or Stark - or maybe even a few
Black Oxfords, " according to Bunker's
website www.outonalimbapples.com.
" It exposes them to varieties they
wouldn't see otherwise, " Bunker
said. " People love it. They want these
unusual varieties. We've trained them
in a way, to be excited about the
apple that looks odd and tastes odd,
and has russet, and isn't the perfect
shape, and isn't one flat color, and
isn't crisp and juicy and sweet and
sub-acid and all that. They want the
odd ones, you know? " FGN
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December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2019
