I meet some interesting folks at the Dane County Farmer’s Market. Derek’s family runs The Flower Factory stand, a couple blocks down from my stand.
Derek stopped by one Saturday last year and we got to talking. Turns out we have similar interests in permaculture and have read some of the same books, including Restoration Agriculture by Mark Shepard.
Mr. Shepard talks about starting apple trees from seed, which is always going to be interesting because apple trees from seed are always a hybrid of their two parents. If you want a known variety of apple tree, you need to graft it onto another tree or rootstock.
Derek mentioned he had started several apple trees from seeds, but wasn’t sure if he would find space to plant them. I had been thinking about planting apple trees, as my son and I love to eat fresh apples every day they are in season, and pigs love apples.
A plan was born to trade apple trees for meat, we just had to wait until spring. Well that time came last Sunday as you can see by the photos. 16 apple trees planted next to our pig pasture.
My Dad even got in on the act, hauling water on his ATV.
Derek, like me, is a curious person. We look forward to eating some of these hybrids. Maybe we’ll have the next great apple. Even if we don’t, I’m sure me and my son and the pigs will enjoy!
Hi Matthew,
As promised, here’s the list of the apple trees that we planted at your farm. I have the maternal line as a D number, and then the apple variety that I collected seeds from after it. It will be interesting to see how much variation is within a maternal line.
Going North to South
Antonovka
D30 – Wolf River
D27 – Hudson’s Golden Gem
D34 – Turley Winesap
D30 – Wold River
D34 – Turley Winesap
D13 – Caville Blanc d’Hiver
Antonovka
D34 – Turley Winesap
D28 – Pink Perl
D35 – Buford’s Red Flesh
D30 – Wolf River
D26 – Snow
D26 – Snow
D26 – Snow
Antonovka
Curiousfarmer 
Good to see you planting some apple trees Mathew, you know that’s what I like doing. I even have some of those varieties that seeds came from. Trees grown from seed will be standard size trees so they get big and tall. Those trees you planted will be new varieties that you can name yourself, how cool is that.
Hey Gordon, do you have any recommendations for books on fruit trees? One day I’ll plant some.
Hi Bret, I just purchased The Holistic Orchard by Michael Phillips. I’ll try to remember to let you know how it is after reading.
Thanks guys, I’ll give him a go. I also note that Phillips has some relevant videos on the youtube channel where I learned a huge amount about the grazing system I use. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RMB-QBsabQ&list=PLCeA6DzL9P4vctpq5YaqCDlwi15BBMJ1d
The book Mathew recommend is the one I would also recommend.
Thanks Gordon! I want to visit your orchard someday.
I hope you do someday, I would enjoy that
Plant trees, Plant future of next gen !🌳☘🌿🌾🌱🪴👏👌👍
Great for pollinators too! Our apple trees don’t seem to produce well, but it’s fine since our pear trees do. Hope yours bear fruit!
Thanks, Doug!
What a cool apple adventure!