North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Phil Norris <COUSINPHIL@ACADIA.NET>]

Lon and all,

Just in case other Nafexers don't know who John Bunker is let me write a 
little capsule.  John lives in Palermo, Maine in a self-constructed log 
cabin powered by solar panels and heated entirely by wood.  He many 
years ago filled every available nook and cranny of his farm with fruit 
trees of every description and then went on to plant nurseries off the 
property.  But it only begins there.  John is the driving force behind 
Fedco Trees, a co-operatively run supplier of fruit trees in Clinton, 
Maine and as such he commissions the planting and raising of thousands 
of young trees every year.  To say that John is a fruit explorer is like 
saying that John Chapman planted some apple trees.  Every fall John 
criss-crosses the state of Maine looking up old-timers who might have an 
interesting tree or a bit of information about a lost variety and every 
fall he holds court at the Common Ground Fair where people from all over 
the state bring him armfuls of apples to identify.  John is credited 
with rediscovering the Starkey apple which almost was lost.  He has been 
written up in Maine newspapers and is widely known as Maine's foremost 
expert on apple lore and obscure varieties.

I had the good fortune to accompany John on one of his fruit exploring 
adventures to North Conway, New Hampshire where we visited the orchard 
of the late fruit explorer Ira Glackens.   John had an orchard map and 
we were able to identify most of the trees.  I'll never forget the 
wonderful Ribston Pippins we tried there.    John is 50.

Phil Norris
East Blue Hill Maine Z4


> In the Early Spring 2002 issue of Gardener's Companion from Old Farmer's
> Almanac there is a picture of John Bunker.  Good, wide smile on his 
> face.
> And an interesting resemlence to a young version of Elmer Swenson (at 
> least
> in the photo).
> -Lon Rombough


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