BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 27, 2024
By the 1970s, many Maine apple trees were near the ends of their lifespans. Their fields were overgrown, the farmers who planted them forgotten. When Palermo resident John Bunker started rediscovering them, they were mostly “mysterious, anonymous gifts from the past.” Over the next 40 years, Bunker’s hobby grew into a business that has changed the state’s fruit tree landscape on homesteads and small farms, saving and spreading these varieties that could have been lost otherwise, along with other unique fruits, trees and ornamentals. By 1994, his hobby had grown into a full-time job. Jen Ries started working with him 22 years ago and took the lead at the tree division around 2020. Forty years in, Bunker comes across apple trees he sold that have grown large enough for grandchildren to climb on. “It’s very personal for people to plant a tree,” Ries said.