On a crisp December afternoon, as the sun slowly fell behind the nearby Sawatch Range, Addie and Jude Schuenemeyer stared at a nearly dead tree, a few apples dangling off its last living branch.
“In that moment, I felt hope,” recalls Addie.
But was this moment when the sun finally set on their nearly 20-year hunt for something many long believed was extinct?…
“We’ve documented over 400 varieties of apples historically grown in Colorado, 50% are now considered lost,” says Addie. “The Colorado Orange was one of these.”…
But, they never gave up. This is what they found.
“A race to save bananas from extinction” (9/8/20) https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2020/09/08/A-race-to-save-bananas-from-extinction-Wageningen-and-KeyGene-join-
See also https://theconversation.com/the-quest-to-save-the-banana-from-extinction-112256
“Bananas have died out once before – don’t let it happen again” https://aeon.co/ideas/bananas-nearly-went-extinct-before-dont-let-it-happen-again
“A Quest for the Gros Michel, the Great Banana of Yesteryear” https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/gros-michel-bananas
I saw this on the news and I thought, Wow! I remember eating an orange apple when I was little (the seventies) but I never knew they were thought to be extinct. I just knew I hadn’t seen them in years and always assumed it was because we weren’t living in the appropriate area anymore (I was a military brat and lived in a totally different climate when I ate the apple).
“A legacy New Mexico apple orchard made a brief, but busy, return to Albuquerque for a two-day sale of their famous Champagne Apples and cider.” https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/dixon-apples-make-sweet-two-day-return-to-new-mexico/
“Now based in Wisconsin, the legendary Dixon’s Apple Orchard brought a truckload of its famous apples and cases of cider to Albuquerque on Sunday, October 11-12.
The orchard originally opened in 1944 near the Cochiti Pueblo, north of Albuquerque. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of people bought apples from the farm, which became well-known for its champagne apples.
In 2011, the Las Conchas fire burned part of the farm. The wildfire led to flooding, which eventually forced the business to close.
Over the last nine years, the orchard has found a new home in Wisconsin’s Chippewa Valley. About five years ago, Mullane planted the next generation of apple trees from cuttings of the original New Mexico trees.”
See also “Dixon’s Apple Orchard dispute resolved; former operators get $2 million” (2014) https://www.abqjournal.com/402979/dixon-apple-orchard-disptue-resolved-former-operators-get-2-million.html
“Dixon’s has announced they will coming back to Albuquerque N.M. with a bonus truck on Oct. 25. They’ll have about 300 half bushels of Champagne apples and 200 bushels of Honeycrisp.” https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/dixon-apples-to-bring-bonus-truck-to-albuquerque-on-oct-25/
See also “WI Family’s coveted ‘Champagne’ apple finally harvested : The Mullane’s waited eight years for their family crop.” (10/8/20) https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/breaking-the-news/wi-familys-coveted-champagne-apple-finally-harvested/89-18ea2a9b-a4a4-4fd1-a405-881dfc3eb267
“Cadott apple orchard reveals its patented champagne apples” (10/4/19) https://wqow.com/2019/10/04/cadott-apple-orchard-revels-its-patented-champagne-apples/ “Mullane said her business has been around for 70 years. It originated in New Mexico until they were forced to leave their ranch after a string of unfortunate incidents; a forest fire in 2011 followed by flooding which ruined her crops.
She said she planted 2,000-3,000 trees five years ago, and they’re finally able to sell the fruit of their labor.
She said she hopes everyone loves her apples as much as the people in New Mexico did.
“We had 60 acres and we would sell out in five days, that’s just how popular they were,” Mullane said. “It was amazing and we never sold outside of our place, everybody came and bought them right out the front door and that’s our dream here.”
The orchardist rescuing fruit trees in New Mexico : Once-diverse apple varieties are declining. Gordon Tooley wants to save them before they are gone. https://www.hcn.org/articles/photos-agriculture-the-orchardist-rescuing-fruit-trees-in-new-mexico
Santa Fe photographer Esha Chiocchio spent 2020 documenting Gordon Tooley’s work on his orchard in Truchas, a project recently featured in High Country News. Tooley moved to Truchas in 1991 and discovered half of what had once been 14,000 different variety of apples had been lost. He and his wife now rescue varieties from across the Southwest and cultivate them in their orchard on their 15-acre farm. “I can’t think of very many species that can afford to lose half of their genus,” Tooley tells High Country News. Chiocchio was drawn to the project in large part due to the regenerative agriculture component Tooley applies. “When I look at all the different climate solutions,” she says, “I keep coming back to regenerative agriculture as not only a solution for climate, but for land and food issues.” https://www.sfreporter.com/news/morningword/2021/07/21/modern-warfare-company-announces-nm-expansion/
Tooley’s Trees, Truchas, New Mexico https://tooleystrees.com/