Vintage Virginia Apples

The back orchard at Rural Ridge.

Organizations

http://www.southernexposure.com/HHF/index.html Heritage Harvest Festival, held annually in September at Monticello's Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at Tufton Farm. This year's event is on Saturday, September 6, 2008, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Vintage Virginia Apples is one of the sponsors and participants in this event.

www.nafex.org North American Fruit Explorers.

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/ark/heritage_apples.html Slow Foods USA has as its goal to identify and promote the best-tasting, most traditional American apples.

www.crfg.org California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG) has a general interest in all aspects of fruit growing with a primary focus on semitropical fruits and on fruits and vegetables.

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dailey/byfg.html Backyard Fruit Growers provides an exchange of information for amateurs and others in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Horticultural Information Sites

http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=53581500 The National Clonal Germplasm Repository at Corvallis, Oregon,is a genebank that preserves invaluable plant genetic resources of temperate fruit, nut, and agronomic crops.

http://www.ars-grin.gov/ars/NoAtlantic/Geneva/ The USDA - Agricultural Research Station PGRU helps conserve and utilize genetic resources of apples and other fruits, and is located on the Geneva Campus of Cornell University.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=53-50-00-00 The USDA-Agricultural Resarch Station Tree Fruit Research Laboratory was the first fruit research laboratory to be established in the heart of the apple producing country of North America, and is an integral part of the Washington State University Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/trfruit-index.html North Carolina State University's fact sheets on fruit growing.

http://hortweb.cas.psu.edu/ The Penn State Horticulture Department has a wealth of information. Visit the faculty biographies to meet Rich Marini, a presenter at the 2008 Orchard Planning and Planting Workshop hosted by Vintage Virginia Apples.

http://www.ballyshannonfund.com/index.html The Ballyshannon Fund, dedicated to the promotion of rural economics and creative means to appreciate, conserve, and maintain working farmland and professionally-managed timber land. It also supports educational endeavors designed to encourage greater understanding of rural living, the ethos of commercial farming and timbering, and the responsible use of natural resources, including hunting and fishing and gives funds to projects or programs that help achieve these goals. The Fund sponsors the Ballyshannon Fund Forum at Piedmont Virginia Community College.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1427.html Trellis Espalier System for Supported Apple Trees

http://www.virtualorchard.net/ The Virtual Orchard is a dedicated World Wide Web site for sustainable apple production. It provides a forum for research and extension projects dealing with commercial apple production and marketing issues.

http://www.ento.vt.edu/Fruitfiles/VAFS.html Fruit Production in the mid-Atlantic region.

http://www.caf.wvu.edu/kearneysville/wvufarm1.html West Virginia University's Kearneysville Tree Fruit Research and Education Center is devoted to research plantings, with numerous orchard blocks established specifically for investigations in the areas of horticulture, entomology, and plant pathology.

http://www.virtualorchard.net/rce/default.html Tree Fruit Topics from Rutgers Cooperative Extension and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station.

http://afrsweb.usda.gov/ Appalachian Fruit Research Station (AFRS) studies critical problems of temperate fruit production.

http://www.goodfruit.com/ Pacific Northwest publication on various fruit topics.

http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/hort/fq/ This publication is a joint effort of the New York State Horticultural Society, Cornell University's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva, and the New York State Apple Research and Development Program.

http://www.foodhistory.com/foodnotes/leftovers/antiqueapples.htm Article: “A is for Antique Apples” by Patricia and David Mitchell.

http://mtvernon.wsu.edu/frt_hort/apples.htm The Washington State University's apple research site, with excellent information on varieties, diseases, and disease-resistent strains.

http://www.applejournal.com A wonderful online publication, Apple Journal: A Passion for Apples, from Minnesota.

http://www.homeorchardsociety.org/article/16/ An article on Estimated Tree Vigor for apple varieties, by Ted Swenson.

Fruit Catalogs and Libraries

http://www.brogdale.org/ Brogdale’s “A World of Fruit,” home of the National Fruit Collection for the UK. This site has descriptions for over 2,000 varieties of apples, many with pictures of the exterior and interior of the fruit. The National Fruit Collection is located at Brogdale Horticultural Trust, Brogdale Farm, Faversham, in the heart of the fruit growing area of East Kent. This ‘living’ Collection of temperate fruit varieties is of international renown and is seen as one of the treasures of England for its scientific, horticultural and historic importance. The Collections are important because they conserve the genetic diversity present in cultivated temperate fruit genera.

http://library.missouristate.edu/paulevans/index.htm Missouri State University’s Paul Evans Library includes references on pomology, as well as the Fruitful Heritage image collection. Includes text and color plates from The Apples of New York, by Spencer Ambrose Beach, 1905, which catalogs many antique varieties.

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/suttonelms/apple5.html A picture collection of English Apples.

http://www.treesofantiquity.com/ A comprehensive catalog with descriptions and uses for antique apple varieties.

http://www.apple-works.com/perfect.html#index.html Pictures and descriptions of many heirloom apple varieties.

http://www.tullens.co.uk/ Quality British heirloom apples and apple juice are produced at Tullens Fruit Farm in Sussex, England. The site includes a pictorial catalog of the apple varieties grown there.

Cider

http://www.albemarleciderworks.com Our sister site, exploring the Cidery and Tasting Room at Rural Ridge Orchards. The site presents the history and production of fine cider at Albemarle CiderWorks.

http://www.foggyridgecider.com A beautiful site with a wealth of information about the apple varieties and techniques used in hard cider production. In colonial America, fermented cider was the drink of choice. John Adams attributed his health and long life to a tankard of cider before breakfast. Thomas Jefferson was famous for the champagne-like cider he created from the Virginia Hewe's Crab. Foggy Ridge Cider is reviving this time-honored tradition.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/andrew_lea/homepage.htm Wittenham Hill Cider is Andrew Lea's Web site.

http://talisman.com/cider/index.html#Digest Links to Dick Dunn's Cider Digest.

Sites of Local Interest/Places to Stay in Central Virginia

http://avenue.org/ An online community network serving Charlottesville and Albemarle County. It includes links to a comprehensive list of community services, community events and tourist attractions, places to stay, and other resources.

http://www.monticello.org/ Explore Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's mountaintop home, gardens, and plantation. Monticello is owned and operated by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation in Charlottesville, Virginia.

http://www.crossroadsinn.com The Inn at the Crossroads is less than a mile from Vintage Virginia Apples and offers attractive accomadations and rates for those attending our events. The recently-renovated guest house at Rural Ridge Orchard is available through this site. Make your reservations for one of our upcoming events. Highly recommended.

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