Donate to WERU Today!Host: Holli Cederholm
Editor: Clare Boland
Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond.
This month:
Apples are a common feature in Maine’s landscape: from lone trees growing on field edges to cultivated orchards. The fruit was introduced to the region in the late 16th century and became a major part of Maine’s farm economy by the early 20th century. Over time, these early apple varieties — each with their own unique culinary use and flavor profile — have been largely replaced by a handful of commercial varieties bred for packability and shipping across the globe. As a result, Maine’s heritage apples were largely relegated to obscurity — with many facing extinction. In this month’s episode of Common Ground Radio, we talk with historian and fruit explorer Todd Little-Siebold about the Maine Heritage Orchard’s efforts to preserve rare apples for future generations. The Maine Heritage Orchard is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2025.
List of subjects:
– Apple history
– Rare apples
– Apple exploration
– Apple DNA and ancestry
– Maine Heritage Orchard
Guest/s:
Todd Little-Siebold, professor of history at the College of the Atlantic
FMI:
– Maine Heritage Orchard — mofga.org/our-community/the-maine-heritage-orchard
– Seed Swap & Scion Exchange — mofga.org/trainings/annual-events/seed-swap-and-scion-exchange
– “Forgotten Fruit, forgotten farmers: North America’s earliest apple history” presented by Todd Little-Siebold at the Heritage Orchard Conference — uidaho.edu/cals/sandpoint-organic-agriculture-center/conference
– Great Maine Apple Day — mofga.org/trainings/annual-events/great-maine-apple-day
– Organic orcharding — mofga.org/trainings/orcharding
About the hosts:
Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of “The Good Life” authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and a lo0ng-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA.
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