Johnny Appleseed may not have originally planted his apple trees in Western New York, but Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension now has an original Appleseed tree on its grounds thanks to a donation from Albion native Eric Andrews.
On May 28 and 29 Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension hosted Conservation Field Days, where every sixth grader in the county cycled through various ecologically themed stations. Andrews presented at one of the stations May 28, introducing the students to the life and legend of Johnny Appleseed, then headed outside to have each class help dig and plant the apple tree.
“Our original idea was to create a scholarship program with these Johnny Appleseed trees as the award. First we wanted to see if there would be any public interest in the project, so we thought of Orleans CCE as a central location for planting the first one,” explained Andrews, a local history and botany enthusiast, with a focused interest on heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables.
“Eric is so passionate about the history and preservation of these heirloom varieties. He grows acres of some of the most obscure varieties of fruits and vegetables, saving seed each year to make sure these varieties are not lost,” said Louisa Shiffer, Andrews’ long-time partner and co-presenter at Conservation Field Days.
Andrews purchased the tree from Raintree Nursery in Morton, Washington. The nurserymen at Raintree were able to trace the roots of this particular variety all the way to an old homestead in Ohio, where the original tree was planted by Johnny Appleseed sometime in the 1820s. Cuttings were taken from this original tree and grafted onto rootstocks to enable exact copies of the variety to be sold to anyone interested in a piece of the history and legend of Johnny Appleseed.
“We live in one of the best areas in the world for growing apples, and we should be proud of that,” continued Andrews, “We thought with this project that we could generate interest in something that we do really well in Orleans County. Technology, computers, movies can happen anywhere, but we can grow the best apples in the world right here in Western New York.”
The tree is planted in a recently renovated area of a garden just east of the OCCCE office on Route 31 in Albion. A plaque describing the history of the tree will be placed next to it so fairgoers and participants can get a glimpse of the legacy of an early American icon.
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