\u201cTheir colors and tastes were so different from the grocery store apples.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
When Brown learned there was a lost variety from his own neck of the woods\u2009\u2014\u2009the Harper\u2019s Seedling\u2009\u2014\u2009he decided to find it. Brown has since discovered more than 1,200 lost varieties. And yes, he did find the Harper\u2019s Seedling, 16 years after that trip to the farmer\u2019s market. But Brown isn\u2019t fazed by the challenge of tracking down old apples. \u201cI say to myself, if I\u2019m not finding something, it doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not out there,\u201d he says. \u201cIt means I\u2019m not looking hard enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To identify lost varieties, Brown researches where they originated and then travels to those locations. He combs through letters, historical documents and old nursery catalogs. At festivals, he sets up a display where people stop and tell him about a relative who knows about apples or someone who has an orchard. And then Brown will pay a visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s getting more difficult to identify old varieties as the people who remember them are passing away and the trees disappear. Brown has a 10-acre orchard, where he grows more than 700 varieties. \u201cI felt an obligation to do this because nobody else was doing it intensely at this critical time when these apples were rapidly disappearing,\u201d Brown says. \u201cTo me it\u2019s important to preserve the agricultural heritage of communities.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/01_Tom-showing-wife-apples-foundRGB-1024x576.jpg\")
![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/05_Improved-Queen-Apple-Tree-2RGB-1024x576.jpg\")