ABOUT THE PROJECT
Preserving New York’s remarkable apples and the stories connected to them.
The Heritage Apple Project works to preserve unique, rare, and historically significant apple varieties in New York, with the long-term goal of making successfully preserved varieties available to growers. Collecting the stories connected to apple trees is an important part of the mission in its own right, whether or not a tree ever enters the living collection.
WHY THIS MATTERS
An apple can hold more than its name.
An old apple tree may carry a variety that has become uncommon, a locally valued seedling, or fruit whose identity has been forgotten. Losing the tree can also mean losing the opportunity to understand and preserve what makes it worth keeping. A noteworthy apple may survive in only a few trees, with little recorded about its identity or significance.
The history can be just as vulnerable: a name used by one family, a remembered flavor, a favorite recipe, or the story of who planted the tree. Those accounts can disappear even while the tree remains. Preserving them is worthwhile even when the apple never enters the living collection.
THE PERSON BEHIND THE PROJECT
Led by Sage Monast, rooted in Rensselaer County.
The Heritage Apple Project is led by Sage Monast and operated through Plantaera Biotech LLC in Rensselaer County, New York. It brings together Sage’s interests in plant propagation, tissue culture, and the apple trees and local histories found across the region.
Sage combines searching for trees and speaking with their owners with the documentation and preservation work needed to build the collection over time.
WHAT WE’RE BUILDING TOWARD
A living collection with a future beyond one tree.
The goal is a documented living collection that keeps preserved apples connected to their source trees and histories, alongside a lasting public archive of the stories people share. Over time, successfully preserved varieties may return to cultivation in gardens and orchards.
Plantaera Biotech LLC is a for-profit business. Future sales of propagated plants are intended to help sustain the project’s continued discovery, research, and preservation work. Availability will depend on successful propagation and suitable plant material.
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