Photo: Natalie Grainger | Unsplash
Tom Brown, a retired chemical engineer,has devoted his retirement to savingAppalachia's lost heirloom apples.To date, he has reclaimed about 1,200 varieties, and his two-acre orchard, Heritage Apples, contains 700 of the rarest. Thousands of varieties probably still exist, but saving them is a race against time. The people who hold clues about their locations are typically in their 80s or 90s. Each year trees are lost to storms, development, beetles, and blights. When I explain what I'm doing, most people are really receptive, says Brown. When Brown finds a tree, he takes clippings and returns during fruiting season to identify them. He compares leaves and apples to catalog entries, and uses photos to correspond with experts for further verification. Saving an apple from the brink of extinction is a miraculous feeling, says Brown. It's incredibly rewardingand incredibly addictive!
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