Brendan O’Leary writes in The Cool Down about a retired chemical engineer who is using his conservation skills to save apples.
- After learning that commercial growers were prioritizing only a select few types of apples–which was causing many other apple varieties to disappear–Tom Brown decided to take action.
- In the 90’s Brown began collecting these “lost” apple varieties and growing them in his orchard in Appalachia.
- To date, Brown has saved over 1,200 apples from extinction and has no plans of stopping any time soon.
“He would not find himself wondering for too long. Already in search of a retirement hobby, the timing felt right to explore what he referred to as ‘a calling’ to search for lost apple varieties. After connecting with a small community of rare orchard growers and diving into extensive research, Brown began to track down forgotten fruit trees and share their produce again with the world.”
Read the full article here.
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