Farmhouse Batch 21

The story of the Eggleston Trees

Each batch of Farmhouse highlights a single origin and the story behind every batch is intrinsically unique. Our fermentation methods do not vary in this series, however the profiles are vastly different. This is our 7th annual harvest of this area so the fruit has gone into a bottle you may have enjoyed somewhere down the line. This our first year of isolating this harvest to highlight this rare and unique fruit. 

Although the exact history of these plantings are unknown, there are ever growing suspicions that they may have been Russian plantings. There are memories of the current land dwellers dating back to their grand parents (late 1800’s) with no claim to anyone planting these trees including the neighbors. Since then, a railroad and a highway have been built through it. 

The fruit we harvest today has undeniable comparisons to varieties of apples found and sometimes cultivated in Russia. Many of the trees that have been un-brambled from the blackberry and hawthorn by Jim and Carol are certain to be rootstocks of the original grafted trees so there is always the possibility that somehow a rootstock made it through England, over the Atlantic pond and all the way west to Oregon with the white settlers that somehow abandoned the land claim. This likelihood is massively more far-fetched than there having been early Russian claims on the land and that having been erased from the history books. The growing suspicions also come from  the wild seeds that sprout new trees in the area. Apples are very recessive in genetics sometimes even capable of seeding a rose-like plant (the mother of all apples). The seeds that re-sprout from this stock are so strikingly close that we may be witnessing a brand new evolution of the apple in foreign lands. Apple history states that the first evolution of the apple from the rose grows and re-seeds in forests in what is now Kazakhstan which mostly borders Russia and is also now under Soviet rule (early 1900’s?). There have also been references to other apple evolutions taking place in now Mongolia/China also a Russian shared border. 

Plants are incredible and we should always study them. 

One way or another, this does re-write some of Oregon history and timelines. I have added some links to articles regarding timelines of Russian colonization and influence on the western US and the native peoples for further consideration.

HERE is a piece that touches on Russian expeditions in the West.

HERE is a link to writings describing early Russian exploration and colonization going all the way to California even naming the area of Shasta.

What even adds to the fascination is that we get to share consumption of a pantry stable example of this library, fermented in fashion to the roots of who and why these trees got here in the first place. 

Additional observations: 

These trees have shown to be incredibly drought and pest tolerant. Supposedly that is how they have survived as long as they have. A standing example of dry farmed, untamed agriculture that does not require infrastructure, just stewardship.

The fruits of this orchard are mostly all pale skinned, the juice that it produces is deeply caramel colored. Although subject to noticeable bruising and sun scaring, very rarely does this bruising affect storage. 

BATCH 21. Farmhouse could have a book.