Rare Irish apple varieties are in danger of being lost forever unless people offer information on old orchards and Clare gardener dedicated to preserving and reintroducing rare apples and vegetables apple trees in their area, according to Anita Hayes, of the Irish Seed Savers' Association.
Based on a nine-acre farm in Scariff, Co Clare, since last May, the association is dedicated to preserving and reintroducing to Irish palates the biodiversity of the country's vegetable and fruit heritage. Since the introduction of large-scale cropping and marketing methods and the consolidation of seed companies, the vegetables and fruit available in shops have been reduced to a handful of varieties. These are selected for their appearance and qualities of longevity rather than taste or adaptability to local conditions. On the seed savers' wanted list are apple varieties which sound like a string of racehorses - Aherne Beauty, Tommy and Sweet William. Ones which betray their northern origins and have been rediscovered are No Surrender and Blood of the Boyne. When a rare variety is located, the seed savers will graft it, and reproduce it in their own orchards. They are then available for sale to the public. The varieties are also donated to UCD's national apple collection under the direction of Dr Michael Hennerty.
Last year was a good year. One variety, the White Crofton, was discovered at Castlecoote House in Co Roscommon. "We found several varieties which we thought were extinct, three of them in one orchard, which is quite incredible," says Ms Hayes.
Often, it is an elderly person who will know what the variety of an ancient apple tree is. "The line between something being extinct and surviving is often very fragile. It is the fragile, living link of an older person," says Ms Hayes, an organic gardener.
Much pioneering work in saving the heritage of the Irish apple was done by Dr Keith Lamb, a horticulturist who lives in Co Offaly, and who did a PhD documenting Irish apples in 1951.
Similarly, there has been preservation work with grain, green vegetables and potatoes. The seeds of cabbage, kale and cauliflower, which have been kept in the Wellsbourne gene bank in England for the past 15 years, have been successfully regenerated. "These are being given back to our members so they can grow them again and taste them again," says Ms Hayes.
The seed savers' farm is now a step up from being the back garden of Anita Hayes and her husband, musician Tommy Hayes. The new farm, bought for £20,000, is half-a-mile off the Scariff-Feakle road, facing the hills of east Clare. The association is seeking a £20 sponsorship from people to pay for the mortgage, in return for which a tree will be planted on the land. Ms Hayes and a FAS supervisor and 15 people on a community employment scheme, have cleared the site and installed a large wooden cabin requisitioned from a Dutch oil rig, and built a glasshouse and polythene tunnels. The cabin contains seed storage units with about 500 varieties of vegetables, many of which have been replaced by commercial, non-reproducing hybrids. "People always grew plants for seeding purposes, we have just forgotten how. We often get people remarking on how vigorous the seed is and how well it grows," Ms Hayes says.
The work on preserving grain varieties is being carried on by Michael Miklas in Kilkenny and the other Irish apple base is the Armagh Orchards Trust in Co Armagh.
Older people will remember potato varieties such as the Skerry Champion, Irish Queen and Arran Victory, which were all common and have now been regenerated on the farm. Some farmers have continued to plant favourite varieties and provide the lost seedlings, but most come from the Department of Agriculture's potato collection.
"They are quite happy to have them grown again and people using them.
"Although they do come from a narrow genetic base - which is why we had the Famine - they do perform differently and they all taste differently."
The most common pre-Famine variety, the Lumper, has also been regenerated and given local schoolchildren, who tried it, literally a different sense of history. The other apple varieties on the seed savers' wanted list are: Abraham, Burlington, Buttermilk Russet, Clack-Melon, Codrun Seedling, Davy Apple, Dunkitt, Kilkenny Codlin, Killeagh Seedling, Lady's Beauty, Osborne, Red Kane, Striped Sax, Tom Chestnut and Tullaroan Brandy.