Gone to seed

Of Nagog Hill Farm, a reader tells us,

 ❝The property belongs to the Town of Littleton. The people who had been operating the orchard didn't renew the 30-year lease. The Town. . .has offered the property for lease or sale.❞ 

(Photo: Neglected apple trees at Nagog Hill Farm in Littleton, Massachusetts.) 

 ❝ This was a fine orchard and the land is deed-restricted for agriculture. The trees, hundreds of them, have been neglected for a few years now.

According to the Town, the apple trees are no longer commercially viable.

These unviable trees, so called, are not particularly old and would bear fruitfully if tended.

They do grow a lot of old varieties including the obscure Black Twig and the wonderful Macoun.

If the Town of Littleton consulted somebody whose idea of "commercially viable" is Honeycrisp, then I suppose the cost of pulling down all these trees and planting saplings (and waiting for them to bear) would be prohibitive.

But such a narrow assessment betrays both a lack of imagination and a profound misunderstanding of the culture of apples in New England. 

Meanwhile

Here are some better-tended trees, up the hill in Harvard:

Apple trees, bearing fruit, all in a row in Harvard, Massachusetts.

I think these belong to Carlson Orchard, a quite "viable" orchard about a mile away. Further along the road, some of the scraggliest trees remain at the site of the late lamented Phil's Apples:

The lighter-green trees in the middle distance are remains of Phil's Apples in Harvard.

I don't know how long these trees have been let go, but Phil passed in 2013. The raised lawn in the foreground was then covered with apple trees. 

The unkempt trees in the middle ground were some of those that marched down the hill behind in orderly rows.

Phil grew varieties like Suncrisp and Enterprise, which are harder to find around here than they should be, and pressed terrific sweet cider. Unpasturized.

The former orchard is houses now.

Give these trees a haircut! (Nagog again.)

It's a lot of work, farming, and a tough business.

Photos taken July 23.