Looking for Lost Apples

Did you know that there was a group of dedicated botanists and nature nuts who spend a lot of time scouring the American northwest looking for lost apples?

Well, I didn’t either!

But there is and I just found out about these folks and the work of the Lost Apple Project by reading an article I found in a friend’s tweet.

It’s by far the most interesting thing I’ve found while web-surfing for quite a while.

It was from reading that article that I learned that North America once had around 17,000 named varieties of apples and that botanists believe that all but around 4,500 had disappeared.

And folks who work with the non-profit Lost Apple Project have been trying to find, identify and preserve as many of those lost varieties as possible.

It came as very welcome news that they’ve had quite a bit of success this year; the article mentioned that they’ve come across at least ten varieties this season that were previously thought to have been lost.

Being the nature nut that I am, this was by far the coolest thing I’ve read in a good long while.

To read the article in its entirety, follow this link.

And here’s a link to the Facebook page for the Lost Apple Project.

“Bulldog Ben” Basile

© 2020 Ben Lawrence Basile

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