When picturing the nature preserves on the Boothbay peninsula, many of us might envision rocky shorelines and peaceful woodlands, but apple orchards may not come to mind. Yet Boothbay Region Land Trust (BRLT) maintains over 150 apple trees across its preserves, including significant heirloom stands at Oak Point Farm, Penny Lake, and Singing Meadows. These trees are relics of a bygone time when farmland spread across the region and small-scale agriculture was a way of life. BRLT’s Apple Corps has kept busy this spring stewarding and restoring these orchards across its preserves. Early spring is an ideal time for tree care, and this volunteer team has been hard at work pruning and removing dead wood before new growth takes off. This spring the Apple Corps has also managed to plant six new heirloom trees at Singing Meadows Preserve, and graft thirty additional trees for planting in late summer.

At Oak Point Farm where the group has focused much of its efforts, ten new heirloom apple trees planted last summer weathered the winter season successfully. In late-March, Ron Ross and Fred Kraeuter, Apple Corps’ volunteer leaders, worked on clearing out dead wood and pruning the more mature trees across the orchard. Visitors may have noticed evidence of this work in the piles of deadwood at the base of the trees, which will soon be chipped and turned into mulch to support their growth. In late summer, the lower field will be expanded with the planting of roughly ten of the newly grafted trees prepared this spring.

At Singing Meadows, six young trees were planted in April in coordination with Maine Heritage Orchard’s apple stewardship project. Maine Heritage Orchard (MHO) is a ten-acre preservation and educational orchard located at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) in Unity. The aim of the orchard is to preserve a wide variety of traditionally grown apple and pear trees in Maine. MHO’s trees currently represent about 300 heirloom varieties, though the orchard ultimately plans to maintain 500 varieties of heritage trees. Some of these heirloom trees date back as early as the 1600s and many have fascinating stories that illuminate the early agricultural history in the state.

Boothbay Region Land Trust has planted six of these unique heirloom varieties at Singing Meadows Preserve, which include Rubicon, Arabskoe, Gideon, Milden, Susan’s Slab City Russet, and Margaretta—not your everyday apple varieties! The trees planted at Singing Meadows and other sites across Maine provide back-up sources for replacement scion wood should any of the trees at MHO die off. Participating in the apple stewardship project is one of the many ways that BRLT hopes to preserve the history of the orchards that dot our preserves.

Ron Ross and Fred Kraeuter, the dedicated leaders of Apple Corps, have also made it their mission to develop educational programming focused on the apple. Ross is known for his annual Apple Talk and Tasting event, a program hosted by BRLT that brings over a hundred people each fall to learn about heirloom apples, sample heritage varieties, and tour the orchard of Oak Point Farm. "People sometimes ask me why apples,” Ross notes. “Apples are amazing! Besides being delicious, the apple can be a unique portal, or jumping off point, for exploring history, the arts, literature, and science. Consider the art of Cezanne, ‘The Iliad,’ ‘Snow White,’ or managing a sustainable organic orchard and you will see what I mean."

It was Henry David Thoreau, one of the foremost natural historians of New England, who wrote in his essay Wild Apples that “the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.” In Maine, orchards on farmlands that have been maintained since the early days of our state tell the story of early settlement, agriculture and survival. At places like Oak Point Farm, the last remaining salt-water farm in Boothbay Harbor, BRLT hopes that the public will appreciate the orchards not only for their beauty and tranquility, but for the glimpse they provide into our shared history.

Those interested in learning about apple tree care as well as supporting the work of Apple Corps as volunteers are encouraged to contact Lands Manager, Brad Weigel at bweigel@bbrlt.org.