The Light Between Apple Trees
Rediscovering the Wild Through a Beloved American Fruit
About the history and cultivation of apple trees, Priyanka Kumar’s informative, lively nature book emphasizes the importance of reconnecting with the natural world.
Inspired by her family’s adventures foraging for wild fruit along the Santa Fe River Trail and her own childhood in the biodiverse Himalayan foothills, Kumar took on a year-long quest to understand the history and science of apple trees. Combining sparkling prose with charming photographs, the book describes the gratification of nurturing Kumar’s family’s garden and the value of connecting with “micro-wilderness” areas in neighborhoods. It emphasizes the power of trees to offer sustenance and “regenerate us and the planet.”
Wild apple forests in Kazakhstan, which may be the primary ancestors of apple cultivars, are described in a wistful manner, as is the discovery of grafted heirloom apple trees in Mission Garden near Tucson, thriving where orchards were first planted by Spanish explorers in the 1600s. Ancient apple trees in the Tesuque, New Mexico, gardens established in the 1800s by French missionary Jean-Baptiste Lamy, Thomas Jefferson’s historic orchards at Monticello, and vast commercial orchards in the Willamette Valley are also featured.
Kumar praises the tantalizing flavors and textures of heirloom apples, though noting that just a fraction of the sixteen thousand named varieties of apples are still accessible. She blames declining biodiversity on relentless urbanization; a “hyper-focus” on crop efficiency and monocultures; the loss of small, independent nurseries; and soil depleted by unprecedented amounts of pesticides and fertilizers. Climate change is also a factor. In New Mexico, thousands of acres of forests are “dying of thirst,” and even Yakima, Washington, the nation’s largest apple-producing region, has been affected by rising temperatures.
A captivating cultural history of the heirloom apple, The Light Between Apple Trees delivers an urgent message about maintaining biodiversity during a time of ecological tumult.
Reviewed by
Kristen Rabe
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
