DEAR EDITOR:
Stewardship: Noun; the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.
We are all stewards in some way ... we guard and protect what is of value to us – or another – so that it may live on and benefit others in days or years to come. We guard kids, pets, friends, collections, historical items, etc. Some serve smaller interests while others protect on a larger scale…the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway for instance. One thousand three hundred kilometres beyond the Arctic Circle, in the permafrost, is a massive collection of seeds for more than 4,000 plant species sent there from across our globe to be stored for safekeeping in secure, cold, dry rock vaults. This enterprise is conducted on Norwegian soil for the benefit and survival of all humankind. It is not the sole repository for seed - the seeds kept there are duplicates of seed sample stores in national, regional and international gene banks and this is good news…one shouldn’t keep all their seeds in one basket. We know this.
Seeds…dormant embryos…cloning machines…you plant one and you get more of what it came from. So one would think. But there’s a glitch…this miraculous event is not always reliable…apples will explain what I mean. Slice open a Delicious apple and after you extract, germinate, plant and harvest the fruit of every seed you found within that apple you will find that it isn’t…delicious that is. Dollars to spartans it will be sour and nothing like its parent. And this is why so many enterprises formed in the wake of Johnny Appleseed’s journey throughout the eastern United States. The sour apples of his nurseries – although they couldn’t be eaten pleasantly – could be transformed, by cideries, into a palatable and delightful liquid – apple cider.
So what’s the problem with the recalcitrant apple seeds? God only knows…but man figured out how to get around this unfortunate glitch when he/she/they discovered… grafting. A Pink Lady apple will continue to be a Pink Lady if you ignore her Pink Lady seed and remove a budded branch of her Pink Lady tree and graft it onto, from what I understand, any ‘ol apple tree. The Pink Lady will retain her integrity, her fine taste, her exquisite flesh (while retaining her dignity) and universal appeal–all through the act of grafting… an endeavour that demands slightly more man hours than germinating and planting a seed. It is this endeavour one might call ‘stewardship.’
An example of ‘Apple Stewardship’ (thank me for this moniker) can be found in Yoncalla, Oregon where Nick Botner and his wife Carla have collected different fruit tree varieties for over 30 years resulting in over 4,500 heirloom and rare cultivars, the largest private collection of apple trees in the United States. But the Botners are getting old, and in the spirit of true Apple Stewards they gave the TOC (Temperate Orchard Conservancy project) permission to clone their collection so that it might live on and be preserved in living form…as one must do with apples…because seeds, as we now know, are hit and miss when it comes to edible fruit. The whole reason TOC formed was due to the impending loss of the Botner’s farm, a farm that was long perceived as being of such value that to lose it was unthinkable.
“In January 2011, we began collecting scions and grafting trees. Since then, each winter we have collected more scions and each spring we have grafted, and grafted and grafted. So far, 4,400 baby trees have survived and been planted in the Marion Dunlap Block (the nursery) at Almaty Farm. Another 1,300+ are in one-gallon pots, under shade cloth, getting lots of TLC),” as temperateorchardconservancy.org states.
That enterprise sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? You betcha. Sound familiar? For those of you that know where I’m going with this please bear with me as I explain to the others: we have…here on Bowen Island…a similar enterprise…somewhat smaller in scope (but equivalent in meaning)…an enterprise that should be of value to our entire community (and a source of collective pride) simply because it exists…here. Like the Botner farm in Oregon, Bowen’s John and Josephine Riley initiated their orchard 30 years ago and continued to develop their collection until it became what it is today: an orchard boasting nearly 1,000 distinct varieties of apples, the largest in all of Canada. But, like the Botners, aging dictated that John and Josephine pass on their stewardship. And pass it on they did – to capable new stewards, Christine Hardy and Rob Purdy – capable because Christine previously took an interest in sustainable agriculture enough to study it and equally capable because Rob has an accounting background, an asset that is certain to ensure this challenging enterprise will stay afloat…that skill along with his willingness to provide what it takes to deal with physical gruntwork. (It should also be noted that Christine remains in touch with John so that she might absorb and adopt a thorough knowledge of the orchard that took him 30 years to establish).
You may have noticed that I have used the word ‘enterprise’ throughout this missive. That is because, within the minds of you readers that made it this far, I wanted the word to be firmly associated with apples, cider, Christine, Rob, grafting, orchards and Riley’s Cidery… before I dared mention the word ‘business.’ That is because many enterprises, in order to succeed, are reliant upon volunteers in lieu of financial support. That is because, in all worthy cases, an enterprise of value warrants such support. Perhaps, in the context of humankind, comparing the Norway seed depository to Riley’s Cidery is a tad lofty for some of you, but in the context of what is behind the Cidery’s existence – preservation of apple species through what is sure to be continued grafting so that such tasty beauties might continue to exist on Earth – I would argue the lofty assertion. The existence of the Riley orchard (as an enterprise) supports the existence of the Cidery (as a business), and the Cidery (as a business) supports the orchard (as an enterprise). Symbiosis. In the end both planet and people prosper and benefit.
It is my hope that Riley’s Cidery prospers. It is my promise that I will lie down before any tour bus that tries to gain entry. It is my expectation that, as I lie there, (although I do not know them personally...yet) I will find Rob and Christine on either side of me. And… it is my vision that our community will honour and support Riley’s unique and magical cidery enterprise on this special rock we call home. They belong here.
Peter McLean
