ALCS Marks 18th Year Planting Fruit and Nut Tree Seeds
October 10, 2021
“Every year since 2004 we plant a variety of fruit and nut trees and their seeds on multiple properties across central and northcentral Pennsylvania, hundreds” said Josh First, founder of ALCS.
“It gives everyone involved a sense of achievement and purpose. Whether it is a young tree whip planted in bright sunshine behind a strong wire fence, or a new chestnut seed that a person is tempted to surreptitiously eat, or an overly ripe apple core full of seeds, each bit of DNA placed in Pennsylvania soil carries forward the goal of planting fruit and nut trees for future wildlife and humans alike. And now after so many years of doing this, we are encountering young trees that we planted years ago as tiny whips or just as partially-buried nuts. Even the most hardened urbanites admit it’s exciting to plant something that will produce so much good and which will outlast our own lives and probably those of the next generation, as well,” says First.
One sample of what ALCS planted in 2021: Native butternut seeds from our own one and only butternut tree; Chinese chestnuts and likely hybrid chestnuts from multiple sources across the region; sweet and bitter crabapples; wild Granny Smith apples, and a variety of cores from store bought apples.
