North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Richard J.Ossolinski <ossoeo@verizon.net>]

Richard,
Wrote this exactly a year ago in response to your first post Re: Francis Fenton, and just now found it in my "Drafts" folder.  Too coincidental not to share it now:

My kids were still quite young and not too crazy about the 2.5 hr. drive when we first visited the Fentons nearly twenty tears ago.  The walk through the orchard was something that most aspiring Nafexers could only dream about, as Francis was obviously more pleased than annoyed by my interest and litany of questions;  and as we walked we tasted and tasted and tasted some more, I feeling guilty as sin for discarding fruit after taking only a single bite, but this was his m.o.  Besides, there was no way that we could have eaten, in their entirety, the dozens of apples that we sampled that day.  "Have a bite of this one," or, "Here, try this one," were his mantras throughout our tour.  Virtually every variety had to be tasted, if only to be spit onto the ground, simply because stomachs have limited capacities.  It was obvious that he had done this countless times before, but I still marveled at how he could readily identify the myriad varieties we observed and tasted, especially since none of the trees was labeled.
When the tour was over we traipsed back to the farmhouse kitchen where his wife, Dolly Lee(now deceased), had been entertaining my wife, children and mother-in-law and had lavished them with cider and vanilla ice cream drenched in warm applesauce - a scene so warm and homey and aromatic and perfect that it (complete with dog on the kitchen rug) is indelibly etched in my memory and relived often in my mind.

Now I lead visitors through my own orchard and  encourage them to sample every variety that's even close to ripe.  Among my favorites and most nostalgic is the Cox's Orange Pippin, the wood for which I gleaned from Francis back in '97 in exchange for some wood of Black Oxford.  I can't walk past that tree or bite into a Cox's without thinking of our first visit to the Fentons' all those many years ago, except now I realize that Francis enjoyed it every bit as much as we did.  Even my now adult children still have fond memories of that very lovely Sunday afternoon.

Richard
Gouldsboro, ME  Zone 5

On Nov 1, 2005, at 8:41 PM, Richard MURPHY wrote:

> <x-tad-bigger>Hi Guys;</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger> </x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>I have a young orchard in New Sharon, Maine. In the town next to me lives this man named Francis Fenton. He owns an orchard called Sandy River Apples. Some of you may already know this guy............................</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger> </x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>I first met Francis in 2003, right after I bought my land in Maine. My wife and I were going around to local orchards to snoop, to be honest. When we got to the farm, Francis was talking to a couple of customers that were buying apples. We went into his barn, and started picking out some various apples he had on display on wooden boxes that were older that I am, probably. Wealthy, Mollies, Spys, and some other older ones. Some were pretty scabby, but they were all OK to eat. He took us for a short tour of some of his orchard and brought along his pole picker. Looking up into some tree branch loaded with apples. he muttered something about the fact that he hadn't thinned enough, and began whacking at a clump of apples. A big one came down and bonked his dog on the head. It yiped a little, and I heard Francis giggle a bit.</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>    Last year I went back to see what he had for sale, and talk about tree culture a little. I could tell he needed some help pruning because he runs the place by himself, so I asked him if he wanted me to come by some day and help him prune. He politely declined, and changed the subject. Probably didn't want me hacking up his trees..?? Oh well...</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>    Man can this guy talk. He seems to know a little about a lot of things, and if you'll listen, you will too. I enjoy chatting with Francis because he actually listens to what I say, and gives candid answers without reservation. He knows apples as good as anyone I've ever (personally) met, and if I end up with an orchard half as good as his, I'll be delighted.</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger> </x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>Why am I impressed with any of this ??</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger> </x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>Mr. Francis Fenton just turned 90 years old this year. He reminds me a lot of my mother's father. An old Yankee that loved doing his thing, and is lucky enough to do it. His existence seems to be a fairly meager one, but he has everything he needs. So, we were talking and Francis began to complain about the rain and scab and a poor crop and the government' interference with the making of cider and on and on and then I interrupted him and said, "bla bla bla Francis; you love your job, don't you". He said "Yeah, I suppose I do, huh". We started laughing.</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger> </x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>If you go up to Maine, Francis' place is about 35 minutes NW of Augusta.</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>Go look at Mr. Fenton's farm, Sandy River Apples.</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>Say hi to Francis.</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>Watch out for the dog; it’s still alive, but deaf.</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>(Probably after a couple hundred apples off the brow and you'd be deaf, too.)</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger> </x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>I paid for my peck of 20 ounce Pippins, and left.</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger> </x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>Richard Murphy</x-tad-bigger>

On Oct 31, 2006, at 6:28 PM, Richard MURPHY wrote:

> <x-tad-bigger>He's still alive; doing fine for 91..........</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger> </x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>I went to his farm a couple weeks ago.</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>He was outside, and people were putting up Christmas Lights</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger> </x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>I had seen a tree branch, weighed down almost to the ground with bright red apples.</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>It was a Ben Davis.</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>I asked if I could go pick some and Francis said, "Sure....not a real good apple"</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>He was right. Nice looking fruit, slightly acidic, not sweet, bland, ..yawn.</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger> </x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>A Spencer apple, on the other hand is almost a perfect taste balance of what we all like about apples.</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>I bought some of them, and some Winter Bananas and said good-bye.</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger> </x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>Richard Murphy</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger> </x-tad-bigger>_______________________________________________
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