A list of resources for the novice fruit grower or cidermaker, the industry professional, and those who simply wish to visit Vintage Viginia Apples & Albemarle Ciderworks and dip their toes in the pool of fruit-related knowledge.
Topics:
- Organizations
- Horticultural Information Sites
- Scionwood Resources
- Fruit Catalogs and Libraries
- Cider
- Sites of Local Interest / Places to Stay in Central Virginia
Organizations
- Heritage Harvest Festival
http://www.southernexposure.com/HHF/index.html
Heritage Harvest Festival, held annually in September at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Vintage Virginia Apples is one of the sponsors and participants in this event. - North American Fruit Explorers
http://www.nafex.org/about.php
North American Fruit Explorers "is a network of individuals throughout the United States and Canada devoted to the discovery, cultivation and appreciation of superior varieties of fruits and nuts." Organized in the 1960s as a round robin letter correspondence among fruit enthusiasts, NAFEX meets annually in different parts of the country to explore topics of interest. It includes interest groups on many fruits, but apples remain a major theme. It's journal, POMONA, is published online. - California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG)
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. - Backyard Fruit Growers
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dailey/byfg.html
Backyard Fruit Growers provides an exchange of information for amateurs and others in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. - Slow Food
http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/programs/ark_product_detail/american_heirloom_apples/
Slow Food's catalog of apple varieties included in the Ark of Taste for preservation awareness
Horticultural Information Sites
- Penn State Extension
http://extension.psu.edu/plants/gardening/fphg
Penn State Extension “Fruit Production for the Home Gardener has been developed as a resource for people who wish to produce fruit on a small scale (one acre or less) and who are not legally licensed to use pesticides.” - Virginia Fruit
http://www.virginiafruit.ento.vt.edu/apple-hort.html
The Virginia Fruit web site: Fruit production in the Mid-Atlantic, hosted at Virginia Tech - Cornell
http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/tree_fruit/GPGeneral.html
Cornell publication on the production of tree fruit - The Virtual Orchard
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. - USDA - Agricultural Research Station PGRU
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. - North Carolina State University
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/trfruit-index.html
North Carolina State University's fact sheets on fruit growing. - Penn State Horticulture Department
http://plantscience.psu.edu/directory/rpm12
The Penn State Horticulture Department has a wealth of information. Visit the faculty biographies to meet Rich Marini, a presenter at the Orchard Planning and Planting Workshop hosted by Vintage Virginia Apples. - University of Arkansas Extension, treatise on Cedar Apple Rust: http://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/PDF/FSA-7538.pdf
- The Ballyshannon Fund
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. The Fund sponsors the Ballyshannon Fund Forum at Piedmont Virginia Community College. - Trellis Espalier System
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1427.html
Trellis Espalier System for Supported Apple Trees - West Virginia University's Kearneysville Tree Fruit Research and Education Center
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. - Appalachian Fruit Research Station (AFRS)
http://afrsweb.usda.gov/
Appalachian Fruit Research Station (AFRS) studies critical problems of temperate fruit production. - Good Fruit Grower
http://www.goodfruit.com/
Pacific Northwest publication on various fruit topics. - New York State Fruit Quarterly
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. - A is for Antique Apples
http://www.foodhistory.com/foodnotes/leftovers/antiqueapples.htm
Article: “A is for Antique Apples” by Patricia and David Mitchell. - Washington State University
http://www.tfrec.wsu.edu
The Washington State University's apple research site, with excellent information on varieties, diseases, and disease-resistent strains. - Apple Journal: A Passion for Apples
http://www.applejournal.com
A wonderful online publication, Apple Journal: A Passion for Apples, from Minnesota. - Estimated Tree Vigor
http://www.homeorchardsociety.org/article/16/
An article on Estimated Tree Vigor for apple varieties, by Ted Swenson. - Fireblight/Resistant Varietals
https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/BP/BP-132-W.pdf
Purdue Extension Services list of fireblight resistant apple varietals - VCE: Assessing the Economic Feasibility of Growing Apples for Hard Cider Producers https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/AREC/AREC-46/AREC-46.html
- Bee-friendly Practices in the Orchard, a downloadable pdf from the MSU extension
https://www.google.com/url?q=http://msue.anr.msu.edu/uploads/resources/pdfs/Minimizing_Pesticide_Risk_to_Bees_in_Fruit_Crops_(E3245).pdf&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwiGpruE8sDXAhUEKWMKHZjLC-MQFggOMAQ&client=internal-uds-cse&cx=004362534597721632266:fid84gdqt_g&usg=AOvVaw2s44v1Fxbb6bYgO-rrZjRX
Scionwood Resources
- Big Horse Creek Farm
http://bighorsecreekfarm.com/apple-scionwood/
A Family-owned orchard and nursery in the mountains of Ashe County, North Carolina focused on preservation of heirloom apple varieties. - Maple Valley Orchards
http://www.maplevalleyorchards.com/Pages/OrderingInfo.aspx
A large selection of scionwood from antique apple varieties from a nursery in Gillett, Wisconsin. - Satyr Fen Farm
http://satyrfenfarm.com/?page_id=902
A farm in Willis, Virginia raising heriloom sheep, geese, horses and - of course - apples. - Fedco Trees http://www.fedcoseeds.com/trees/?item=801
Fruit Catalogs and Libraries
- Brogdale
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. - Missouri State University’s Paul Evans Library
http://library.missouristate.edu/paulevans/index.htm
Missouri State University’s Paul Evans Library includes references on pomology. - Orange Pippin
http://www.orangepippin.com/apples
A comprehensive directory of orchards, apple varieties and special events around the world. Includes information about cherries and plums. - Trees of Antiquity
http://www.treesofantiquity.com/
A comprehensive catalog with descriptions and uses for antique apple varieties. - Apple-Works
http://www.apple-works.com/perfect.html#index.html
Pictures and descriptions of many heirloom apple varieties. - Tullens Fruit Farm
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. - Celebrating America's Unique Apple Diversity: Selected Literature
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/srb1002.shtml
This bibliography is a selected compilation from the rich pool of information resources at the National Agricultural Library about heirloom apples.
Cider
- Virginia Tech Extension & Cider Research
http://www.arec.vaes.vt.edu/alson-h-smith/treefruit/horticulture/hard-cider/
a wonderful resource for cider hobbyists and commercial cideries alike.
- Cornell University Cooperative Extension
http://tioga.cce.cornell.edu/agriculture/cider-making
some of the most cider-centric research on the east coast, with a great list of resources. - Economic Feasibility of Growing Apples for Hard Cider Producers
https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/AREC/AREC-46/AREC-46.html
- Cidernomics
a wonderful blog on the economics of all things cider, by Eleanor Leger of Eden Specialty Ciders
- Of Apples and Cider http://www.ciderworkshop.com/links.html
website for Claude Jolicoeur, author of The Cidermaker's Handbook
- The Wittenham Hill Cider Portal
http://www.cider.org.uk/
All about cider-making, from Andrew Lea, author of Craft Cidermaking - Washington State University Extension
http://extension.wsu.edu/maritimefruit/Pages/Cider.aspx
University of Washington cider and fruit resource - Virginia Cider Producers
virginiacider.org
Listing of cider producers around the state
Sites of Local Interest/Places to Stay in Central Virginia
- Artisan Center of Virginia
https://www.facebook.com/ArtisansCenterofVirginia/ - Visit Charlottesville, Virginia
http://www.visitcharlottesville.org/
Destinations and events around the Charlottesville area. - Bed and Breakfasts
http://www.bedandbreakfast.com/charlottesville-virginia.html
A few lodging choices - Monticello
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. - Crossroads Inn
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.
