Press Manchester Journal
Author Danielle M. Crosier
Published Nov 20, 2024
DANBY — This fall, the “Living Lab” at Smokey House Center has welcomed students from Currier Memorial School, Sunderland Elementary, Flood Brook School, Long Trail School, The Dorset School, Red Fox Community School, Northshire Day School, and Maple Street School.
“There was magic in watching the school buses arrive and unload at Smokey House this Fall. Kids would inevitably get off the bus in awe of the natural beauty that surrounded them. They were immediately connected.” said Lauren Kelly, youth education coordinator at Smokey House Center. “When we asked if they knew what they had come to learn about, many emphatically answered ‘apples!’ What they didn’t realize in those first moments was that they would be contributing to real life science and research; helping to support our local farmers, the land, and ultimately our planet.”
Student visitors to Smokey House participated in collaborative, hands-on research that focused on cataloging and characterizing the many wild apple varieties growing across Smokey House’s 5,000 acre property.
“Smokey House’s valley is home to an impressive variety of wild apple trees – some big and tall, others small and craggly; some sweet, some sour; some great for eating and others perfect for cider and vinegar making,” said Walker Cammack, program director of Smokey House Center.
Visits involved touring Smokey House’s wild apple orchards, collecting apples for Yoder Farm, and participating in lessons on apple ecology and wild apple tree identification.
“Yoder Farm, one of Smokey House Center’s partner farms, collects many of these apples to sell and make into value-added vinegar products,” explained Cammack. “By involving students in the process of collecting these many varieties and cataloging their traits through taste tests, we’re building a deeper understanding of these wild varieties and discovering which might be well-suited for climate resilience and future production.
Next Spring, Smokey House will DNA test the highest graded varieties to map their genome and better understand their varietal ancestry. It is through this approach that apple breeders will be able to develop apples that can better withstand the changing climate and are more resilient to temperature alterations, blights and diseases, and perishability.
Over the last century, the diversity of apple varieties sold nationally has significantly dwindled, with a few dominant varieties like Granny Smith and Red Delicious now making up the bulk of apples sold annually in the United States. However, these popular varieties have not been selected for traits such as resilience or adaptability in the face of climate change.
According to New England Apples, a nonprofit organization that promotes the New England apple industry through educational events and projects, poor weather during any portion of the growing season can produce catastrophic results.
For example, cloudy and rainy weather patterns during pollination season reduced the region’s apple crop by half in 1998 – the McIntosh apple variety was the most heavily impacted, with McIntosh previously comprising nearly ⅔ of the total annual New England apple harvest. In 2009 and 2010, numerous New England apple crops were lost to hail events.
While weather events in the past have contributed to apple crop loss – the deep freezes in the 1830s and 1850s, the harsh winters of 1903-1904 and 1933-1934 that killed many of the trees, and the “great hurricane of 1938,” which uprooted entire orchards – recent trends indicate that unpredictable weather events are occurring at a rate unsustainable to the industry. Whether it is too warm, too wet, too dry, too windy, or too cold, the weather is becoming more and more mercurial, and is not conducive to crop security.
According to Danielle Zimmerman, communications coordinator at Smokey House Center, as interest grows in incorporating perennial crops like apples into climate adaptive farm operations, farmers and researchers are working to develop new apple varieties that can thrive in a changing climate.
This is where the work of the researchers at Smokey House’s Living Lab becomes essential, and where teaching the next generation about adaptability is vital.
“At Smokey House, our middle schoolers were able to put into practice what they'd learned about traits and reproduction,” said Cory Mayer, seventh and eighth grade teacher at Dorset School. “Students brought their newfound knowledge about apple agriculture back to the classroom along with many new questions about their world.”
While visiting Smokey House, students conducted taste tests to explore flavor and texture characteristics, learned how to test for sugar levels using a Brix refractometer, and gathered data in groups on appearance and weight of different varieties found on the grounds of Smokey House.
Each school then voted on their favorite apple and anointed their selected variety with a name. Winning names included Currier Galaxy, Smokey Fox, Maple Crisp, Tiger Apple, Dorset Delicious, Dorset Divine, LT Brix, the Long Trail Crispy Chips, and Sonny Delish.
“In addition to the apple tasting and research, one of our class' favorite experiences from Smokey House was the five minutes of quiet meditation on the hay bales, which gave them the time to soak in the beautiful fall day and sparked feelings of gratitude for the environment they live in.” said Mayer.
A spokesperson for the center described the students as “engaged, curious, and excited about their work.”
Smokey House staff hope that the project not only fostered environmental awareness and scientific curiosity, but also built a lasting connection between students and the land – teaching them the importance of human driven land stewardship and resilient agriculture in building a just and abundant future.
“By the time they left,” said Kelly, “kids shared immense gratitude for their new understanding of apple ecology, the opportunity to enjoy time outdoors, and – of course – the chance to name their very own wild apple variety!”
The goal of the Living Lab at Smokey House Center is to conduct applied research that focuses on a better understanding of the ecological, economic, and social impacts of farming and forestry. At the core of this approach is their commitment to continuing the legacy of hands-on learning, education, and community.
Smokey House Center is located at 426 Danby Mountain Road in Danby. More information on Smokey House can be found at smokeyhouse.org.
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