All about apples at Ridgway Farm

CORNWALL — The Cornwall Garden Club hosted an apple tree workshop at Ridgway Farm on Town Street Saturday, April 26.

More than twenty attendees gathered in the farm’s newly built barn, which when finished will house a store, tasting room, cold storage for fruits and vegetables and someday, a cidery.

After a welcome to the farm, Gordon Ridgway said he hoped the future store would offer “really good local food and a place for people to come and enjoy what we have here.”He expects the farm store to open this year to begin selling homegrown maple syrup and organic produce.

He introduced Peter Del Tredici, formerly of Harvard Arboretum, who is a fellow Cornwall apple enthusiast.

Ridgway’s son, Ian, explained that when he graduated from college in 2019, he searched for something to do to “not just follow in the old man’s footsteps.”He discovered a book called “Uncultivated,” by Andy Brennan, which inspired him to learn cider-making.

Nowadays, he explained, there are basically seven basic varieties of apples in stores. “Older varieties go by the wayside and are lost to history,” said Ian.

He set out to find the older varieties, also known as heritage apples, in historical Cornwall orchards to use them in his grafting. Heritage apples are known for being more flavorful.

Ian began grafting apple trees in 2023 and demonstrated the process. He uses semi-dwarf apple trees for his root stock, which determines the size of the tree. He likes the resulting height. “About 12 feet high.”

The first step in grafting is to select a scion and root stock of similar diameters.Then both pieces get inch-long cuts on a slant to expose wood.These are lined up again and notches are cut in both pieces. “You cut the notch in both so they can hook into each other,” explained Ian.

Next a wound dressing is applied, and a piece of plastic tape is added around the wound for stability. Both keep water and other substances out.

Ian led the group out to the nursery where the newly grafted trees are kept for about two years. He pointed out some with green leaves, saying, “Green means happy.”

Once ready to leave the nursery, the young trees are moved to the orchard and are planted about 12 feet apart.

Ian placed a young tree in a hole big enough to give the roots plenty of room to spread. He made sure that “the graft union is a couple of inches above the soil line.”The young tree was then watered, and soil was added around the roots.

“Certain varieties of apples make better cider,” Ian commented, “generally, those with higher sugar content.” Ridgway Farm has more than 500 trees and 30 varieties of apples growing now.

One variety, Redfield, is known for having red flesh and red skin. It gives the cider a reddish color. Another, Wickson, he said, has “an insane explosion of flavor.”

Ian expects to make cider from his own apples in about five years.