Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

General information and discussion about cultivating fruit-bearing plants, trees, flowers and ornamental plants.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old August 18, 2007   #1
spyfferoni
Tomatovillian™
 
spyfferoni's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Utah
Posts: 675
Default Historic Fruit Orchards

We stopped at Capital Reef National Park on our way home from our family vacation. They have a historic district that they maintain including the orchards that the pioneers planted. They are trying to keep the same varieties growing that were first planted there, and they have added a few newer varieties. It was really neat to see. We got to pick apples. The kids loved it. The setting is amazing! I'm really glad the Park service is trying to preserve the orchards. We also visited a one room school house and saw Indian Petroglyphs. It was really neat. When we found the apples that were ripe and ready to pick they were just delicious! I don't know the variety. They were a pale green/yellow color and some of them had a little blush and the flesh was a creamy color, almost pale yellow. The texture was amazing---so crisp. They have a variety there I would have liked to try called Capital Reef Red---it wasn't quite ripe though. I'll try to get some photos uploaded soon.
spyfferoni is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 18, 2007   #2
redbrick
Tomatovillian™
 
redbrick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Lebanon PA, zone 6
Posts: 45
Default

That sounds awesome! I'll have to do a search on that. Thanks for the tip!
__________________
"Any man may count the seeds in an apple, yet who can know the apples in a seed?" --Chinese Proverb (paraphrased)
redbrick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 19, 2007   #3
Ruth_10
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: MO z6a near St. Louis
Posts: 1,349
Default

That's great that the National Park System is preserving the orchard and that you took the time to visit it and enjoy it. I'm sure the park system pays attention to how much interest something like that generates. Orchards and gardens true to the period are just as much a part of history as a wagon or a chair or a house.

I grew up in an area where orchards accounted for a big chunk of the agriculture in the area (west Michigan). The orchards are really struggling these days with the cheap (below cost) juice imports from China. The number of varieties of apples grown has shrunk dramatically over the years because people have gotten used to seeing and eating only a few varieties. That's a loss because each variety has its own strengths and best uses.
__________________
--Ruth

Some say the glass half-full. Others say the glass is half-empty. To an engineer, it’s twice as big as it needs to be.
Ruth_10 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 21, 2007   #4
redbrick
Tomatovillian™
 
redbrick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Lebanon PA, zone 6
Posts: 45
Default

How about from over five thousand varieties to less than five hundred in one century? Of course, a lot of those lost varieties were suitable for cider or animal fodder and not much else, but not all, by any means!

Of course, the best tasting apple is worthless commercially if it's rotten when it reaches market.
__________________
"Any man may count the seeds in an apple, yet who can know the apples in a seed?" --Chinese Proverb (paraphrased)
redbrick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 29, 2007   #5
spyfferoni
Tomatovillian™
 
spyfferoni's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Utah
Posts: 675
Default Photos of orchard.

Here are some photos. I also included a photo of the petroglyphs across the road from the orchards.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg orchard 1.jpg (212.7 KB, 6 views)
File Type: jpg orchard 2.jpg (255.5 KB, 5 views)
File Type: jpg orchard 3.jpg (254.2 KB, 5 views)
File Type: jpg orchard 4.jpg (249.2 KB, 5 views)
File Type: jpg orchard 5.jpg (137.6 KB, 8 views)
spyfferoni is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 12:31 PM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★