John Bunker is an American orchardist, pomologist, and "apple explorer". An expert on American apples and their history, he is the founder of the mail-order nursery Fedco Trees, a division of the cooperative Fedco Seeds. For most of his life, he has worked to preserve rare old apple varieties from across Maine and the New England region. In 2012, he founded the Maine Heritage Orchard in Unity, Maine, a ten-acre preservation educational orchard of Maine's historic apple and pear varieties. His focus is primarily on Historic Apples of New England, but he will highlight apples in our area. He will also speak about “fruit exploring”, the exciting new DNA research he is doing on historic apples, and the importance of cider in the colonization of New England. In back yards, old homesteads and abandoned farms throughout Maine, ancient unidentified apple trees are dying off. Now is the time to track them down and preserve them for future generations. You can help! See: outonalimbapples.com

9:30 am Coffee social, 10:00 am Program (open to guests), 11:15 am Business Meeting